Thank You From North Coast Rural Fire Service

On Monday 18 November we made the tough decision to postpone Transformers IV – Aged Care Beyond 2020. With fires burning out of control across the North Coast safety was a major concern.

The silver lining to the postponement of Transformers IV was that we were able to divert two days worth of catering to Rural Fire Service volunteers working on the Liberation Trail fire, which has been burning since 30 October 2019 and has burnt more than 180,000 hectares.

This ABC video highlights the plight of the Liberation Trail volunteers.

Food received included:

• whole fruit
• scones with jam and cream
• frittata
• a mix of salads and coleslaw
• sliced bread and cold meats
• cheese and crackers
• cake slabs
• lasagne
• vegetable curry and rice
• cookies
• 260 bottles of water

There was enough for two days of lunch and dinner for 130 fire fighters and supporting volunteers.

Tabitha Hobbins, Regional Administration Coordinator | North Coast NSW Rural Fire Service sent the below thank you..

“The Coffs Harbour Fire Control Centre is currently fighting the Liberation Trail Fire, which started on 30th October and currently extends from Nana Glen in the south east to Gibraltar National Park in the north west. We are assisting the Ulmarra Fire Control Centre (near Grafton) who have operational command of this fire. It has so far burned 182 000 hectares and is being controlled. This means that is it currently burning within the boundaries of existing containment lines or planned back burns, so it is not yet under control, but neither is it completely out of control.

All the RFS firefighters are unpaid volunteers, so we try to ensure that they are well fed and hydrated each day. These are all just ‘normal’ people, most with jobs and families who come from 38 local brigades including: Red Hill, Woolgoolga, Bonville, Boambee, Sandy Beach, Repton, Mullaway, Country Club, Orara, Nana Glen, Thora, Coramba, Karangi, Urunga and Solitary Islands. They are assisted on the fire ground each day by firefighters from National Parks and NSW Forestry Corporation. NSW Fire & Rescue has also been of assistance.

We have been helped in catering by several local Lions Clubs (Bonville/Sawtell, Urunga & Pacific City), the ladies of the CWA, some volunteers from BCU, and of course, your good selves. Coles in Harbour Drive and Toormina, as well as a local Woolworths have donated groceries, and several other local small businesses and members of the general public have generously donated water, food and other items of use to the firefighters such as lip balm, eye drops, sports drinks, non-perishable snacks and other items. This has been much needed as the amount of fire currently in the landscape is unprecedented and we are catering for a LOT more than we normally would at this time of year.

Many thanks for your generous donation. It was well used out on the fire ground and the FCC staff enjoyed some salad, scones and fritatta too. Everyone was very grateful.”