Marine Rescue Geraldton’s Tristan Rausch recognised at WAFES Awards for commitment to volunteering

A young Geraldton volunteer has been recognised for his commitment to emergency services, continuous training and operational assistance during coastal erosion. Geraldton’s Tristan Rausch, 24, received the Marine Rescue Youth Achievement Award at this year’s Western Australian Fire and Emergency Services Awards on Sunday, September 8. The Marine Rescue Geraldton volunteer helped the team deal with coastal erosion at Point Moore, which forced the demolition of the local command centre. Mr Rausch comes from a family of volunteers and has followed in his father’s footsteps, completing 19 training courses, has been endorsed to become a rescue skipper and sits on the rescue group’s executive committee. “Since I was little, I’ve always been at the fire station because Dad was the captain of the Dalwallinu VFRS and mum was a secretary there, and then once I become of age, I was a part of the cadet program there,” Mr Rausch said. After taking a brief pause from volunteering to complete his agricultural studies, the Rausch family moved to Geraldton and joined Marine Rescue Geraldton. “When Dad joined up about 12 months later, I sort of thought I’d join up and give it a crack when I was 19, and that’s when I started my progress,” Mr Rausch said. Almost five years on, Mr Rausch said the volunteer role has given him a sense of self-confidence and pride, as well as a feeling of accomplishment whenever he assists in helping the community. “It gives me something to do and help our community out. I’ve been able to meet a whole heap of new faces, you know, get myself out there sort of thing. A lot of the community knows me now,” he said. The young volunteer is focusing on promoting the group and bringing more awareness to the work being done on the water. He said since the demersal fish ban, call outs have been lower than average and the volunteers were mostly attending to tow backs and break downs. “The other weekend, we had a father and his daughter flip a dinghy just off the back beach and we got down to the boats, pretty well had them in the water ready to go, and then they managed to flip it back over themselves, jump back in and race off,” Mr Rausch said. “So I guess they were having a bit of fun. So we got stood down on there.” The Department of Fire and Emergency Services awarded the 24-year-old for his display of maturity, willingness to assist operationally and provide help in the group’s management. At the event held in Burswood, 15 awards were presented across three categories — individual, team and youth. DFES commissioner Darren Klemm said he was proud of the first responders in northern WA given the extreme conditions faced in recent years and the Mid West-Gascoyne was fortunate to have dedicated volunteers and staff ready to respond to disasters. “Last year’s northern bushfire season was unrelenting, with firefighters responding to more than 220 bushfires which burnt an incredible 10.7 million hectares,” he said. “Our SES volunteers were put through their paces when an ex-tropical cyclone threatened Carnarvon and continued to provide vital support to hikers who injured themselves at Karijini National Park.”