Jingellic Rural Fire Service and Local Recovery

My name is Lisa Maras, my parents and other family members live in Jingellic.  It has been devastating and heart breaking to see what has happened in the Upper Murray to many families, businesses, farms, homes and animals from the recent fires.

My Dad (Alby Maras) is an active member and volunteer for the Jingellic Rural Fire Brigade, he is also the captain.  He and many other volunteers and fire fighters have been extremely busy fighting the terrible fires over the past weeks. 

Dad has recently been appointed as a member of the Jingellic Recovery Committee to help this small town recover from the devastation from much needed donations.   Dad and other members of the Jingellic Recovery Committee will ensure that all money that is fund raised will go to those who need it most.  

The donations will also go towards buying new equipment and equipment which got damaged during the fires.  This small station also needs new walkie talkie's, laminated and printed town maps.

The donations will also help with recent flooding in the area which means that waterways are now contaminated from ash, rain water for many is also affected from ash, falling trees need to be cleaned up and much much more.

I have just been informed that the valley's and creeks are black from the ash and the flooding which occurred on the 20th of January.  Many fish and platypuses are dying, there are some rare species of platypus that live in the creeks that may die.  There is a local farmer in Cudgewa who is currently rescuing the platypus and farmers are having to move stock due to contaminated waterways.

I have been speaking with a local resident from Jingellic who is very thankful for the hay which has been delivered to the area, however they are in desperate need for hay cats to protect the hay from the weather.  Many sheds have been destroyed which means the hay needs to be covered to feed to the stock.  

I have also heard a story about a local volunteer firefighter from Jingellic that left his own property to fight fires and protect others.  Whilst he was out fighting the fires and protecting others, his tools got burnt, he has lost his toolbox, toolkit and many of his tools.  So if anyone can donate any of these items or know anyone, please get in contact with me. 

BlazeAid are coming to Jingellic next week to help repair damaged fences, but in order to fix the fences, they need the materials.  I will list the specifics in due course (and as soon as I can) of materials required.

Myself and some close friends are hosting a fundraising event on Saturday the 8th of February which is already booked out.  

We have been busy collecting donations from many businesses whose generosity to date has been outstanding.   We will be hosting a raffle at our fundraising event in which we have sold 93 tickets as well as auctioning some of the great prizes which have been donated.  We will also be collecting monies from raffle ticket sales made on the night which will ALL be donated to this little township in Jingellic to ensure it gets all the equipment it needs to be able to operate as well as the other larger fire stations in larger towns who are fortunate enough to have much more equipment.  

I know that there are some people that would have liked to attend the fundraiser but can't and this page is for all those people and businesses who would like to donate whether it be a cash donation and or a donation for our raffle. 

We will also use this page to personally thank all the kind generous people and businesses who have donated.  

So if you weren't lucky enough to secure a spot at our fundraiser and you would like to donate, here's your chance, you can click on the Donate button on this page and share, share, share so others can also donate.

Let's help these little townships recover as quickly and efficiently as possible.  

WE NEED DONATIONS!

Thank you everyone, EVERY $1 COUNTS! 

Let's do THIS!