A LOCAL charity is All Fired Up to support and empower farmers to be prepared for the bush fire period by inviting rural property owners to apply for financial support to upgrade or renew their private firefighting equipment.
BlazeAid President Kevin Butler and his wife Rhonda of Kilmore East founded the volunteer-based organisation in 2009 after the Black Saturday bushfires impacted their rural property. The devastating fires endangered livestock, properties and emergency responders and was one of Australia’s all-time worst bushfire disasters. Blazeaid recruited an army of volunteers to assist families and individuals around Kilmore to rebuild fences and the movement grew to include all of rural Australia to clean up after natural disasters such as fires, cyclones, droughts and floods.
All Fired Up—Funding Farmers Private Fire Fighting Units is designed to help farmers upgrade or renew their own firefighting equipment which will help relieve the demand of CFA fire trucks across the hotter months.
The initiative reflects BlazeAid’s commitment to community resilience, disaster preparedness, and supporting farmers on the front lines of bushfire risk. The grant is also designed to support the CFA by financially assisting farmers to upgrade or purchase any equipment deemed necessary for a safe and effective fire response including pump upgrades, baffled water tanks, fire hoses, nozzles and hand tools, UHF radios, personal protective gear, first aid kits and any equipment deemed necessary for a safe and effective fire response.
Mr Butler spoke with Victorian Country Hour radio host Warwick Long as he launched the new initiative on the program last Thursday.
“I remember after the Kilmore-Mickleham fires in 2014, Brendon Clancy said to me if only we had one or two more firefighting units, we could have saved the house,” he said.
“If we can all be on alert, with well-prepared fire equipment ready to go, we’ll hopefully nail these fires and BlazeAiders will have less fences to repair and less tears to dry up after fires. The CFA fire trucks cannot be everywhere when you have a fire bigger than Ben-Hur, and that’s what’s coming up this year.”
Mr Butler also said a local fire captain will need to sign off on the necessary upgrades, with five or six criteria to meet.
“Gratuitously, the BlazeAid board was unanimously on deck to launch the program,” he said.
“Blazeaid relies on donated moneys, and we are very, very well supported by great businesses, and mums and dads across the country. We all want to make sure the money goes to the right place.
“The CFA captains and lieutenants, they are volunteers like a lot of us, and they will authenticate the application.
“This is for people who already have skin in the game. Typically they will have their own vehicle and a slip on, the tank, the engine and the pump. We are not keen on trailer units but the slip on units are invaluable.”
