Blaze Aid and the people of.

[Dot]

I see there are a few of our members here that are involved with the great organisation of Blaze aid but I doubt that many of us know much at all about it and what it does and where. Soooooooooooo I was wondering would those amongst us who are involved , like to do a bit of a Q&A on here to enlighten us all? I shall start the ball rolling with the Question,,"How is the need for assistance assessed"??

[homeless]

The farmers first have to apply for aid. Usually the ones who need it the most refuse to apply. We even have people whose farms have bee washed away and refuse to seek assistance and we know their family is in strife yet they help with blazeaid. We saw the same thing during the fires here in Vic.

After an application is received we interview them to access what we deem is needed plus we usually get them to highlight their farm on an area map so we know the area we are looking at.

Then usually a experienced person goes out to the farm and has a look around and then decides what needs doing and the state of the farmers holdings.eg is he a battler making do and needing a hand or does he have a squillion dollar estate with 20 workers running around and can do the work themselves.

Once the job is approved then when a team(usually about 5 - 8 workers) is available the farmer is requested to come in and take his crew out to the farm for the first morning. This saves the crew getting lost on the first day and gives them a chance to meet before the crew leave the base. this happens before 8:00 in the morning

The farmer is usually required to be with the crew while work is being done on his farm and also any able body people like big sons etc.

If the team members believe that the farmer is not genuine after working on the farm then the team is removed.

Blazeaid's main purpose is to fence an area on the farm so the farmer can return his stock to the farm and start production. We don't do the whole farm etc.

The farmer supplies all the equipment such as wire post etc and we supply the hand tools for our volunteers.

The farmer is expected (where possible ) to supply morning and afternoon tea as well as some lunch, but this depends on the situation such as a single farmer or where the house is gone etc.

Hope that gives and overview. There is more than that as we soon get our spies in the area and we can very quickly determine the ones who are genuine and the ones who are taking a lend of the system.

We also help in the local community at times. At the moment many of the sites in QLD are flooded in or can't get out to the farms so they are working with meals on wheels to help feed the flood victims and also we have a few teams working at a museum trying to help recover the items that have been submerged in the floods. I assume at the moment they would also be helping prepare for the next as we are expecting a lot of rain and floods from the Cyclone in WA at the moment so a lot of the work been done may have to be repeated.

Regards
Brian

[BruceQ]

Congrats to those of our community that help out in this way. WELL DONE !!

[Dot]

So Brian, can any of us here do anything to assist with things like tools clothes etc?? never know who is reading this forum that may be able to help..

[Jodebtre]

Good morning and goodnight Dotty and G'dday to one and all

We have been off air for quite a while now and have been very busy. We have been volunteering at BlazeAid Monto (Qld). Our day starts with an alarm clock at 5.30 am in the morning, a cooked breakfast by the volunteer canteen staff at 6 am and a muster by the camp co-ordinator by 6.45 am, then we collect our allocated tools from the camp tool area and depart for the farms by 7.15 am. We have smoko on the farms and return back to the BlazeAid camp by 4pm.

The maximum distance we travel from our base camp is 50 km, some of the roads are very badly cut up, the dirt roads are still wet and slippery, so our journey to work can take up to an hour sometimes.

The work to do on the farms is varied and we usually work in teams of four to six. We clear fences of debris, we restore old fences and build new fences. Some of the work is very heavy, some fences are under a couple of feet of mud and have to be dug out by hand or a fence may follow a creek bed and is usually mangled with trees, dead cows and rotting vegetation. Our biggest hazard has been snakes, red belly blacks, king browns and taipans. If bitten anywhere other than the arms and legs you can count yourself as a dead man as there is no way of stopping the venom reaching the heart.

Some of the ladies prefer to help around the camp doing cooking, washing up, laundry, cleaning, office work etc etc. There are many other things to do behind the scenes.

We arrived two weeks after Monto had been flooded so there is a lot of work to do.

We departed Monto yesterday with the threat of more heavy rain and the threat of creeks flooding. We have now managed to get as far as Gympie and are now awaiting the water to recede across the flooded Bruce Highway.

More details can be found on our blog – To read the entry, follow this link:
http://www.travelpod.com/z/joderekononhome/1/1361979185

You'll need this password to read it:
Password: horror

The farmers, the farmers' families and the community appreciate all the work put in by the volunteers of BlazeAid and we are rewarded for our work with a grateful smile and a grin from the farmers. This community really does need more help as the floods have now returned once again to Monto.

Anyone can volunteer from any walk of life. Have a look at the BlazeAid website.
http://www.blazeaid.com

monto flooding jan 2013.jpg

[homeless]

Dot if anyone has tools that can be used and can get them to any of the bases they would be appreciated.

We have had people and companies donate stuff such as generators compressors trailers etc as these are needed to make the work easier.

I might list some of the tools and explain what they do.

In the start we did all our work by hand. eg dug the holes with post hole borers, crowbars and some times with bare hands.

At some of the sites we now have petrol borers that two men can bore a hole in a fraction of the time. Most of these have been donated over the years by companies and often farmers we have helped.

Also there is petrol drills for boring holes for the pins to hold the timbers together for the corner boxes.

We now have compressors and have had crimping guns to clip the wires (chicken wire for rabbits and also ring lock fencing) to the straining wires. This is a slow laborious job that can be done in a fraction of the time with a trailer and compressor and a couple of crimp tools.

We need generators at the sites as many of the volunteers bring their caravans and motor homes but they need 240v to stay any length of time. We have problems with councils not allowing us to utilise the power etc at the sites.

There is always the tools such as wire strainers, pliers, cutters and wire spinners (used to roll the wire out along the fence ) as well as the twitchers that the people use to twist the wire as a lot of the ladies etc cant spin the wire by hand. These are a piece of flat bar about 6" long and 1" wide and it has a whole in one end to pass the wire and then it is spun around the main wire. We pay an engineering firm to make these for us as the wire companies charge too much.

We then have the problems of delivery of trailers etc from one base to another. At the moment we have a trailer destined for a QLD base sitting in a base in NSW because we cant get someone to continue the trip up north. Anyone going north want to tow a trailer for a day and get it closer? That site does not have the safety gear etc to operate till the trailer gets there. We have 4 trailers coming back from TAS next month and these have to be towed to QLD.

Safety gear is a huge expense as we have to ensure all volunteers have approved safety glasses and gloves each morning and with a floating population they go very fast. I received 1000 pairs of gloves two days ago and they are all packed to go out tomorrow and we had to order 2000 pairs more. We pay full price for all our stuff and the money comes from the donations.

Any company changing uniforms we would be gratefull of the old clothes in good condition of course. The clothes we are sending out now are BLUESCOPE so I hope more companies merge and have to change uniforms. These are all new at the moment so very handy.

We have Government people come on site to ensure that all people have the correct gear and they have the appropriate safety talk each morning but they wont allow us to claim the tax we have to pay for the gear.

We have to supply appropriate clothing and footwear for people who come thinking it is a fashion parade. Some people forget to take it off before they leave LOL.

One of our big problems we are now facing due to the sport seasons is that the mayors want the bases out so the sport ovals can be used for winter sport. The media have moved on to other sites and they are not getting their faces in the paper anymore.

One council has removed all financial support and are spreading rumors that we charge the farmers to feed the volunteers. The farmer feeds the workers (eg sandwiches and cool water etc) but remember he is getting the labor for nothing so he has 5 - 8 people working all day rebuilding his fences and he has to make a few sandwiches. And that's only if we deem they are financially able to do this. If not then blazeaid ladies make meals to go out to the farms.

So moral support in the towns where the volunteers are working makes a heap of difference and keeps the volunteers there. A town in VIC has asked us to move somewhere else (another town) but still work in their area but they will not use any more of their government fire relief money. They perhaps need it for an overseas trip.

This is happening a lot as they know that Blazeaid will not leave the farmers whilst there is work to be done.

We had one site in QLD that did not start as the council insisted that all volunteers book into the caravan park and pay the going rate as they did not want to upset the CP owner.

We have another site that is in discussion as they are frightened as the oval is in a built up area the volunteers will have rowdy parties at night and disturb the locals. They are also concerned that they will leave too much rubbish and will use too much power.

We will not set up a base unless the volunteers can camp free ALL in one area and have access 7 days a week 24 hours. This is where they live whilst working and the tools etc are stored and where they eat and the co-cordinators interview the farmers and prepare the daily teams to go out in the morning.

Hope this is not too long and boring but I am just trying to give people and idea of what we do and some of the difficulties we have whilst donating our time and skills.

Perhaps some other blazeaiders can put in some input of what they feel working on the sites as much of mine this years is in the background doing tools and receiving and distributing stuff from Kilmore. I do know what is going on in the background so it gives a wider view and I have been involved since the 2009 fires.

Regards
Brian

[PandJ R away]

The post was not to long Brian.

Sometime quality info requires detail which means longer posts. Time and effort well spent.

Thankyou

John

[Peter]

A very informative post whicle explains a lot of what Blazeaid undertake. One would hope that at some time the local community become aware of their council requiring the volunteers to reside as paying customers in a caravan park and that valuable assistance and support to the local farmers was lost. As a young chap I spent a few years as a jackeroo and stockman on stations and know the hard and time consuming work involved in repairing fences after a flood event.

It is a fact today that not many graziers and farmers are in a position to pay the high wages for staff and many operations are only a family affair. I am friends with one family on a 400, 000 acre cattle property and it is a husband and wife team and from time to time their childern come home to help out when they can.

I am not currently in a position to assist as this time however should the occasion arise in the future I would certainly like to assist.

I have friends on stations and farms and know that they do appreciate all the support both practical and moral that they receive.

Thanks to all Blaze Aid volunteers.

Fire and flood 18 months apart. Only two people husband and wife on 400,000 acres

P1070337.jpg

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[Dot]

I think a lot of us oldies with disabilities and health issues feel that we might be more of a hinderence in such areas but there are lots of things we can do if we just ask, it might just be washing dishes or making sandwiches but every little bit helps, IF we ever get away from here I reckon we might be looking at doing something to help.

[homeless]

In most instances the local people don't know what their councils are up too.

You have to remember that for many people to get to these positions they are very efficient in manipulating the local media and the ones that matter.

We had a mayor who got very upset when a media group came to a camp and he was not advised prior to the visit so he could be present and get his photo taken.

To get around one we had to advise the farmers that had registered for work that the base was closing due to X and Y. The poor mayor was not impressed when he got a lot of calls late at night from many farmers in the area and the threat to go public. He made a very nasty call the next morning and it all went downhill from then.

Many times the only time you see big local identities is when there are media around or the local people will see them in their robes etc.

We have had some mayors that have been terrific. The mayor at Charlton in 2010 was always around the base and was always there to see that all was well and organise anything we wanted or needed, but then they are one of the best RV friendly towns and why I volunteered to go there. We had a mayor from an area not effected by the fires in 2009 and he drove a ute many miles to deliver a load of potatoes and there was no media.

Blazeaid as an organisation have to tread very quietly as we rely on local support and if the organisation is painted as trouble makers, then the acceptance would be hard to get. One of the reasons we are not happy with one particular council reporting that any farmers needing help HAVE to pay for Blazeaid volunteers food.

Great to see Jo's report and this feeling is what most of the volunteers report. Many of our volunteers keep coming back repeatably. Some of the mainland volunteers in TAS are now planning to move north to other bases.

To volunteer you need only one day of your time if you wish but most tend to overstay

Many farmers now are just the husband and wife and often one or both have other jobs to make ends meet.

Even Kevin who runs blazeaid runs a farm as a couple as their family are all left and live in the city. He also runs a small trucking business as well as Blazeaid. At the moment he is doing all this and has sheep needing care and he is working till late at night to look after his sheep as well as all the other pressures. That is one of the reasons I am here at Kilmore to try and release the load by doing small jobs around the farm as well as handling the gear and doing some signs for the bases when time allows.

Regards
Brian