Farmer offers property for recovery efforts in fire-affected Victoria

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Recovery efforts are continuing in Victoria’s fire-affected communities as residents begin the clean-up. One farmer has offered his property as a site for operations.

Transcript

00:01We're here at a recovery centre in Longwood.

00:05We've got a farmer who has donated his farm, shut down all operations,

00:09just so people can bring in bales and bales of hay for the fire-affected communities

00:15in the towns of Longwood and Ruffey.

00:18Now, we've got some volunteers here.

00:20They're wrapping all of the hay at the moment,

00:23and what they're going to do is they're going to wrap them,

00:25they're going to put them on the back of a truck,

00:27and then they're going to deliver them into the hard-to-reach communities

00:31that have been impacted by a fire.

00:34So the clean-up in Longwood is well and truly underway.

00:37We've got volunteers from all over the region that have come out

00:40to help those in the fire zones.

00:42This is just one of the many donation drop-off zones in the regions.

00:47We were escorted yesterday into the town of Ruffey,

00:50joined by some volunteers to repair a fence that stretched over two kilometres.

00:55We had farmers who had their properties burnt to the ground,

01:00and all they were concerned about was to make sure that they had enough feed for their livestock.

01:06And it was just tragic scenes yesterday.

01:09Everything was just blackened.

01:11We had trees all over roads.

01:13We had authorities clearing those roads.

01:16We had CFA volunteers.

01:18We had police.

01:19We had people from the energy companies that were repairing some critical infrastructure

01:26that was damaged in those fires as well.

01:28We spoke to a couple of volunteers who are volunteering here at the Hay Donation Place.

01:34We spoke to a guy called Phil.

01:36He's driven all the way from Chachura, which is about a 40-minute drive,

01:40and this is what he had to say.

01:42I had a very good friend of mine.

01:46Jeannette lost her house up in Crichton Creek down five.

01:52Yeah, lost everything.

01:56Pretty tough.

01:58People were shooting animals and obviously everybody's donating time, money.

02:08It's just a fantastic community.

02:11We also spoke to the farmer who has created this entire operation here.

02:18His name is Neil.

02:20Take a listen at what he had to say.

02:22We hope we've got hay out to everybody at this stage.

02:24We've got emergency supplies to everybody,

02:27and it was an animal welfare thing initially

02:30to get some hay to those animals in the middle of the Birkmount.

02:34A lot of the stock had been shifted off the place.

02:36Obviously there was enormous stock losses.

02:40I haven't been able to fathom what's happened out there yet.

02:43I've had people coming in here in tears

02:45that have been shooting their stock

02:47and euthanising their stock

02:49and thinking they've saved some of them when they drafted them

02:52and they come out and get vet checks

02:54and they have to be put down.

02:58Sorry.

03:00Now there are grant assistance programs

03:02that some of these farmers in the fire-affected communities can apply for.

03:07It's a joint recovery delivery plan from the state and federal governments.

03:13It's around $50 million, but that's $75,000.

03:17Grants of up to $75,000 for each farmer.

03:20And just to check if you're eligible,

03:22go and see your local member or chat to Agriculture Victoria.

03:27And those are just for those communities that are starting to mop up,

03:32starting to clean up, just trying to make sure that they've got a roof over their head

03:36and to make sure that their livestock have been fed.

03:39And just to give you an idea about this fire, Longwood,

03:42it was one of the biggest areas that was impacted by the Victorian bushfires.

03:47It burnt through around 137,000 hectares

03:51and destroyed around 350 structures in the area.

03:57So the clean up is just going to be a massive effort

04:00and it's just going to take days to come to be able to get to everybody.

04:05We're going to get to everybody.

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