Minister for Police and Emergency Services Stuart Ayres has thrown his support behind the NSW State Emergency Service’s (NSW SES) Wear Orange Wednesday (WOW) Day.

WOW Day (12 November) is a national day of recognition of the 40,000 SES volunteers across Australia with the public encouraged to show their appreciation in a highly visible way, by wearing orange – the official colour of the SES uniform.

“Whether you’re at work, school or home I encourage everyone to wear a bit of orange to show support for our incredibly hard working SES volunteers,” Mr Ayres said.

“These are the people we turn to in times of need with flood rescue, tarping roofs, clearing fallen trees, community education, operational logistics and much more.

“We only saw last month the vicious wrath of Mother Nature, with severe storms lashing NSW, and it’s the men and women of the NSW SES who were working around the clock in atrocious conditions ensuring the safety and welfare of others.

“These are people who give up their own time to look out for their communities.

“The NSW SES alone has around 10,000 men and women who volunteer, coming from all walks of life and range in age from 16 to 80.

“Be it a tie, socks or a shirt, pull out some orange clothes tomorrow and let’s get behind our volunteers,” Mr Ayres added.