The Mogs, as they are affectionately known, are back in action and ready to help during emergencies this upcoming bushfire season.
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These purpose-built, transformer-looking vehicles may be designed to drive through floodwaters, but this summer they'll be helping our firefighters.
SES volunteers got behind the wheel of the Mogs at Seven Mile Beach to put their driving skills to the test.
The vehicles can operate in floodwaters up to 1.2 metres, and during the past year they've been used for floods, medical evacuations and to assist other emergency services.
SES Flood Rescue Taskforce operational training officer Rob Sainsbury, who is also a Kiama unit volunteer, was part of the training session.
![SES volunteers undertaking training in the service's Unimog vehicles at Gerroa. Picture by SES SES volunteers undertaking training in the service's Unimog vehicles at Gerroa. Picture by SES](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/yqbYpxNMru7TBX8VR5QF63/7653bd97-4c30-4dcb-8585-5944571ca1d3.jpg/r0_475_4032_2742_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We're training up guys for the bushfire season coming up so they'll be able to support all the other emergency services," he said.
"We'll be able to support the other emergency services with getting personnel into difficult terrain and also logistics into difficult terrain."
Mogs can carry six people, but in an evacuation they can also hold evacuees in the rear of the vehicle.
Moss Vale SES unit volunteer Kurtis Demkin was among the trainee drivers who were tasked to drive across rough and sandy terrain during the training on August 24-25.
"It's very different to a lot of the other vehicles I've driven. It's quite a large vehicle, they're very complicated, they've got a lot of systems in there to learn and get used to," he said.
"They do handle very differently from the sort of stuff we drive day-to-day.
"As the trainers put it, we aren't really testing the vehicle's capabilities, it's more about testing the driver's capability and judgement," he said.
NSW SES purchased six Unimogs in mid 2022 after the Lismore floods, and they were invaluable during flooding in the NSW Central West in November, 2022.
There's six across the state, including one in Kiama, that were acquired during a $4.6 million investment in June 2022.
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