Defibrillators, thermal imaging cameras, 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 has been allocated through a tools and equipment program.
Ninety-five per cent of CFA's more than 1200 brigades took up the offer to select items from a "district pick list" program that also included popular items such as remote area lighting, quick-fill pumps and rear-view cameras. Close to 11,000 individual items were selected from the pick list.
Thermal imaging cameras make up the largest portion of funding, with 232 wildfire and 27 structural cameras selected at a combined value of close to $1 million.
More than $300,000 will also be spent up-skilling members after 228 medium rigid truck licences, 27 heavy truck licences and eight marine licences were requested.
In a safety boost for both brigades and the broader community, 218 defibrillators will also be distributed at a cost of more than $450,000.
Close to $150,000 will also be spent on 5000 items of apparel including T-shirts, shorts and hats for CFA members to wear when undertaking official duties.
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!"
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.
District 11 District Planning Committee Chair and Bairnsdale Captain Aaron Lee said the items funded through donations are a major boost to brigades' capability.
"The support of the Victorian, Australian and even international community means a lot and we will go into the new bushfire season with more tools and capability to keep us safer and better equipped," he 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, while 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 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 & 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.
"People donating to CFA want the money to be spent where they make a difference to our hard-working volunteers and it's great to see they'll do that in time for the next bushfire season," he said.
The $4.8 million allocated to brigades through the tools and equipment program was part of more than $20 million in donations to CFA as a result of the Black Summer fires, with further allocations including:
- Close to $1 million towards 10 mobile education vehicles that will be used to deliver bushfire safety education and information to Victorian communities;
- $500,000 to buy more than 300 mobile tablets for use by volunteer trainers and assessors to enhance and expand CFA's growing online training program.
- About $9 million dollars over five years to be invested in a leadership and development program for volunteers.
- $6.7 million that was directly nominated to specific brigades or districts to spend at their discretion.
