By Kyra Gillespie
As the fires that engulfed the Bunyip State Park last month begin shrink and smoulder, a bigger battle is beginning.
For the residents directly impacted by the fires, there’s years of work ahead recouping, recovering losses and rebuilding.
While the task ahead is long and daunting, helping hands are emerging thick and fast to ease the burden.
The Bunyip Recreation Reserve has been transformed into somewhat of a gypsy commune; scores of Blaze Aid volunteers have set up with their tents and caravans to assist farmers and landowners rebuild fencing destroyed in the fires.
Barb and Bill Christensen are staying in their caravan at the recreation reserve; the pair are one of the founding members of Blaze Aid and have been volunteering for ten years.
It started when there was a fire on farmer Kevin Butler’s property back in 2009; he set about recruiting volunteers to rebuild not only his fences but the hundreds and hundreds of kilometres of fencing that had be razed to the ground.
“People came to help Kevin rebuild fences, and from there Kevin started to help other people – Blaze Aid just grew from that,” Barb said.
“It always has been about people turning up and helping with disasters; it just got bigger and bigger and now it’s practically Australia-wide.”
Barb said the Bunyip effort was a big one, and more volunteers will be needed.
“We’ve been going out each day; so far there’s been a lot of pulling down fences and rolling up barbed wire, but now we’re starting to build a few new ones.
“It’s a good vibe down here; when we all come in from the days work we talk about where we’ve been and what we’ve done for the day. We spend a lot of time talking to the farmers, and do a lot of listening as well. A lot of people are a bit depressed as there’s a lot of work to be done.
“We’ve got a good amount of volunteers here, but we’ll need more as time goes by. There’s always things to do.”
Tens more volunteers have put their hands up to feed the work-weary volunteers, with hot dinners and breakfasts being served seven days a week, every week.
Longwarry resident Junelle Wilson has been coordinating the food-side of things.
“We have anywhere between 40 to 60 volunteers to feed a day,” Junelle said.
“They have come from all over the country and set up their caravans, swags and tents at Bunyip to go to fire-affected properties.
“There’s currently over 110 registrations from affected properties, and over 600 kilometres of fencing that needs building. It’s a huge project.”
Junelle and her team, partnering with Bunyip Community House, have set up their headquarters in the netball rooms in Bunyip. There, they coordinate meals, food drop offs and groceries to feed the volunteers.
Breakfast is served at 7am and dinner at 6pm at the town hall.
“A lot of farmers have said the work that Blaze Aid is doing is better therapy than they can ever ask for,” Junelle said.
Most of the Blaze Aid volunteers are retirees over the age of 60; getting out to farms and undertaking physically taxing work.
“We’ve had some young ones but the majority of volunteers are over 60. They come back filthy,” Blaze Aid volunteer coordinator and Bunyip resident Sue Anderson said with a laugh.
“They start by clearing the old fences, and when the new materials arrive we allocate a team to help them.
“People have been very generous with their time and their machinery, but we could certainly use more teams, and we’re experiencing a shortage of tractors as many of them were lost in the fires.”
Sue said coordinating hot showers and food for the volunteers is proving difficult and the organisation welcomes any help.
“We’re very conscious that we’re sharing facilities with the tennis and netball club; they’ve been hugely supportive but we don’t want to impact on their normal procedures. We need more portable showers down here.
“It’s really hard, relentless work; it’s seven days a week. We’ve got enough work for at least four months.
“It’s a massive effort but so rewarding; people tell us this is the one bright spot on the horizon for them. It can be really overwhelming trying to do things like this by yourself, whereas with a team you can get it done so much quicker.”
Those interested in helping with the volunteer effort are encouraged to contact Sue Anderson on 0407 834 443, John Anderson on 0412 382 184 or the Bunyip Community House.
For updates visit #FeedtheBlazers and Blaze Aid Bunyip on Facebook.
