CFA plea for volunteers to be patient Stephen Taylor steve@baysidenews.com.au CFA brigades on the Mornington Peninsula have been inundated by volunteers wanting to join up to fight the state’s unprecedented bushfires. However, while their interest is welcomed, the sheer volume of applicants is causing problems. Peninsula Fire Brigades Group officer Timothy Desmond said all brigades welcomed interest from volunteer their time, but 18 applicants in just the past week was too many to handle. “The Country Fire Authority is one of the most respected fire services in the world [and] we sincerely appreciate people wanting to step up and help their community,” he said. High fire activity across the state meant that all eight all peninsula brigades had supplied volunteers and staff to “support crews in NSW earlier in the season and to East Gippsland while still maintaining a local response capacity”. “Since 1 January we have deployed 56 members - some on multiple occasions - and another nine leave this Sunday (19 January). Dromana, Flinders, Mt Martha and Rosebud tankers are working in the Swifts Creek/Orbost areas.” Widespread publicity of the fires triggered a strong public response. Mr Desmond said “numerous people” had asked about being a volunteer with the Boneo, Dromana, Flinders, Main Ridge, Mt Martha, Rosebud, Rye, Safety Beach and Sor-
rento brigades. While the response was “fantastic” volunteers should realise they “won’t be fighting fires this fire season”. “Basic firefighting training is required to make sure our mem-
bers are equipped with the right skills and knowledge to stay safe and provide the right advice and assistance to the community under challenging and often dangerous circumstances,” Mr Desmond said. “As you can imagine, our brigades
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L I V E E N T E R TA I N M E N T a l l da y / F R E E K I D S E N T E R TA I N M E N T / F R E E FA C E PA I N T I N G / F R E E K I D S C R A F T / F R E E B R E A K FA S T * / M A R K E T S TA L L S B Y E M U P L A I N S M A R K E T P L U S S O M U C H M O R E ! P R O U D LY B R O U G H T TO YO U B Y T H E U N TO L D E V E N T S C O . M O R N I N G TO N P E N I N S U L A S H I R E I S P R O U D TO B E A M A J O R S P O N S O R
w w w . u n to l d e v e n t s . c o m . a u * L I M I T E D B A C O N & E G G S A N D W I C H E S A VA I L A B L E , F I R S T I N B E S T D R E S S E D ! F r e e S T R E E T pa r k i n g , d o g s o n l e a d S W E LC O M E , A T M O N S I T E
– along with many other emergency services – are extremely busy and it is expected to be a very long fire season, so please be patient with us. You might not hear from us for a while, until things settle down, [but] we will contact you.”
Recycled water for the greens FLINDERS MP Greg Hunt years ago added his voice to those fighting to stop Melbourne Water discharging partially treated sewage into the sea near Gunnamatta. The protesters, led by the Clean Ocean Foundation, successfully forced Melbourne Water to lift its wastewater treatment to Class A, although hundreds of thousands of litres of water are still pumped daily through the ocean outfall. However, more uses are being found for the recycled water and Mr Hunt was pleased to visit Mornington Golf Club this month where $300,000 from the federal government is being used to bring water to storage dams. Recycled water will be pumped through a pipeline to the dam from where the outfall passes Emil Madsen Reserve on Wooralla Drive, Mt Eliza. The golf club is adding another $300,000 to the project which “will be used to improve ecological outcomes for the course, the community surrounding the golf club, as well as provide consistent water supply in case of emergency”, Mr Hunt said. “One of my proudest endeavours as an MP was working with the local community to clean up the Gunnamatta outflow. “Now, this much improved recycled water will be put to good use on the peninsula.” Golf club President Roger Crossland said the club had been speaking with businesses close to the pipeline “with regards to any possible shared benefits they may derive from the installation of the pipeline {from Mt Eliza]”. The club’s general manager Craig Murdoch predicted the first flow of recycled water into the dams “will be noted as one of the [club’s] most important achievements and pivotal moments”.
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