Luke Herezo is an everyday man. He’s a Cobram local, he has a full-time job and a family.
As the new Cobram SES unit controller, he also leads an exceptional group of people who are called upon in times of emergency.
It's a journey that started in 2006.
“I had an older brother who was a member at the time while I still was in high school finishing Year 12,” Mr Herezo said.
“Joining was a way to give back to the community.”
Like all new SES personnel, Mr Herezo went through rigorous training to respond to all sorts of emergencies, including road rescues, water rescues and storm damage.
“It was a bit of an overwhelming experience with a heap of training and everything was new,” Mr Herezo said.
“But all the SES members were very supportive.”
Asked what he enjoyed most about training, Mr Herezo said it was learning about how to conduct road rescues, which, according to the new Cobram unit controller, was a favourite among most recruits.
Over the years, Mr Herezo has attended numerous large disasters, including the 2016 floods and the 2010 Christmas storm in Melbourne.
He has also attended many road rescue operations, including the April 2023 horror Strathmerton crash which killed five people.
Asked how he balanced his role in the SES with both work and family duties, Mr Herezo said the SES was an accommodating organisation.
“We always run it so that SES is secondary,” Mr Herezo said.
“So work and family obviously come first... if you can go to an incident, you go. If you can’t, you can’t.”
In 2015, he was appointed deputy controller and during the intervening nine years until 2024, held temporary posts as unit controller.
He was officially given the role of unit controller permanently on Wednesday, May 1.
He can hold the host for up to six years.
Asked how he felt about his permanent new role, Mr Herezo said he was delighted to be leading an exceptional SES team.
“(The new role) Is just another way to give back to the community and obviously with a really good team behind me, it makes it a little bit easier,” Mr Herezo said.
As unit controller, Mr Herezo will lead the management team and oversee the unit's business operations.
“We (unit controllers) just build off the foundation that the previous management teams have left us, and we look to recruit and build the capacity of the unit with vehicles and training,” he said.
As for anyone wishing to join the Cobram SES, Mr Herezo said there was a role for everyone.
“Whether you want to do admin, road rescue, storm, flood response or whatever... just pop on down and see us on a training night or follow the links on the website and get in touch.”