Selby Fire Brigade CFA volunteers will begin door knocking through the town’s streets as part of their annual Winter appeal this June.
Residents have received a letter from the brigade’s captain in their letterbox letting them know that on Sundays, they may come across a CFA member or two at their front door; collecting donations and forming connections with old and new locals.
“We like to keep a presence with things that are going on…if we can keep interest, it means that come the fire danger period people are actually looking, and we can put messages of community safety on [Facebook] as well,” Selby Fire Brigade Captain Ian Lewis said.
“[In Winter] there’ll be occasional car accidents or oil spills on the road that we deal with, occasionally we’ll get tree branches coming down or trees falling across…if they impact cars, houses or powerlines, we generally will get called out to those,” Mr Lewis said.
Throughout Winter, the brigade will post on social media to ensure locals have their chimneys properly prepared, their heaters safe and smoke alarms are ready to go with working batteries.
The funds from this fundraiser will go towards additional resources including the brigade-funded heavy tanker and ultralight vehicles, the latter of which is used to reach places otherwise difficult to access in larger trucks. These vehicles help with large call-outs to big events across the State or even interstate.
“When you find larger incidents occurring away from Melbourne, a lot of the additional resources that get thrown at those are coming from the outer edges of [the city],” Mr Lewis said.
“We are always looking at improving our equipment to enable us to do things better or faster.”
The number of Selby Fire Brigade members is sitting just shy of 50, with 22 operational members servicing the area alongside a support team holding down the food and cooking meals when needed, and the captain is hoping these numbers can expand as the state emerges out of various lockdowns.
“We’ve had about 60 properties change hands in the last two years; and that’s an opportunity to get in and engage with people about what their expectations are with respect to fires in the area and what their behavior is likely to be,” Mr Lewis said.
“Walking the streets is an opportunity to talk with residents, but we might also find there could be somebody that’s willing to become a member and help us in some way.”
You can donate directly to the Selby Fire Brigade using the account details here:
BSB Number: 633-000
Account Number: 154775753
Account name: Selby Fire Brigade
Bank Name: Bendigo Bank
Donations are tax deductible, and you can get a tax receipt for your donation by reaching out to treasurer@selbyfirebrigade.com.au.
