Additional equipment, special truck licences and apparel will keep CFA volunteer firefighters safer, better equipped and more comfortable as $4.8m from the generous donations during the most recent bushfire season have been allocated through a tools and equipment program.

All six brigades in the Ebenezer Group, which includes Antwerp, Detpa, Dimboola, Gerang, Jeparit, and Tarranyurk, took up the offer to select items from a “district pick list” program that included operational and administration items, additional safety clothing, and funding for further training.

Four brigades will receive an A-Class Foam System for their tanker, and Dimboola will receive items including meeting tables, a whiteboard, barbeque, washing machine, and T-shirts and shorts for members to wear when undertaking official duties.

Jeparit will have one member upgrade their licence to Medium Rigid to allow them to drive the tanker, and they will receive a vacuum cleaner for use in their station.

Popular items requested by brigades across District 17 include rearview cameras, hats, handheld torches, licence upgrades, and thermal imaging cameras.

Throughout the state, over 250 brigades will receive thermal imaging cameras with a combined value of close to $1 million, and more than $300,000 will be spent up-skilling members with 263 medium rigid, heavy truck and marine licences funded.

One aspect of the funding that will also benefit the wider community is a total of $450,000 for 218 defibrillators, with eleven of these going to brigades in District 17.

More than a third of the total funds came directly from the most successful community fundraiser for CFA during the bushfire season – $1.8 million generated by private citizen and former Portland resident Jodie Silva through a Facebook fundraiser.

Ms Silva said she had created the fundraiser to ensure there was a channel for donations to Victoria and CFA, and she promoted it widely in numerous social media threads.

“My father used to be part of the Forest Commission, so I had that connection to the fire services, and I decided Victoria needed its own fundraiser.
“I said ‘let’s aim for a million’, but I was joking – I never thought we could reach this amount!”

- Jodie Silva
Ms Silva said that as a nurse, she was extremely pleased to see so many brigades take up the option to purchase defibrillators.

“A lot of people wanted the funds to go to CFA, and it’s wonderful to see it’s making a difference for the firefighters directly,” she said.

Acting CFA Chief Officer Garry Cook said CFA had been incredibly humbled by the influx of donations from all over Australia and the world during the extreme 2019/20 season, and members were very grateful.

“It’s great to see these tools, additional skills and equipment filtering through to our brigades and members before the next bushfire season. That’s where they will make a real difference to the vital work they do in keeping our communities safe,” he said.

“More defibrillators on our vehicles mean our members will be safer while training and responding to incidents, while more thermal imaging cameras mean they will be able to safely detect heat sources or hot spots to extinguish fires using that technology.”

More medium rigid licences mean more members can drive CFA’s fire trucks, and the heavy rigid licences will allow members to drive its newly introduced bulk water carriers and large tankers.

“Having additional drivers boosts the brigades’ ability to respond in a timely manner and have additional relief drivers to maintain crews on the fire line and meet our communities’ expectations. Having additional drivers will also be valuable when we are supporting large fire activities around the state and interstate,” Acting Chief Officer Cook said.

“More apparel recognises the valuable work of volunteers by providing them with outfits to wear when representing CFA while working for and in their communities.

“We cannot thank our donors enough; it means so much to our members.”

CFA and Brigades Donations Trust Chair Graeme Jilbert said all donated funds had been allocated in consultation with the CFA volunteer representative body, Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria, and in line with suggestions and requests from members.