By Mikayla van Loon
Looking ahead to an upgraded station, Chirnside Park CFA will be able to deck it out with new furniture and equipment as one of the recipients of the Volunteer Emergency Services Equipment Program (VESEP) grants.
Brigade captain Ben Cash said the $3,333 grant from the State government “allows our money to go a lot further” when it comes to funding projects such as this.
Under the program, the Victorian Government matches every $1 paid by volunteer groups with a $2 co-contribution.
“The grant we’ve been successful for goes towards the purchase of office equipment as part of our overall station extension,” Mr Cash said.
“So the money itself will go towards purchasing new desks, chairs, whiteboards, and different sets of office equipment required to fit out the new section of the station extension, which is, at this stage, on track to get started next year or early in the year.”
With the permit approved by Yarra Ranges Council and plans drawn up for the extension works, Mr Cash said the build relies now on tendering a contractor, something that will need to wait until after the election when caretaker mode is lifted.
“Nothing can be done while we’re in caretaker mode which is fine. That’s the way it works. Hopefully, after caretaker mode finishes, we can take another step forward.”
As the population grows in the Chirnside Park area, the new station will help cater to a growing CFA membership and allow for a better response time leveraging working from home arrangements.
“Some of the equipment will help us create a space for members to work from the station during the day for those who are able to work from home…[and] who are available to respond during the day, which will allow us to get a truck out the door a lot quicker than what we can at the moment.
“To maximize our opportunities for recruitment and response time, with business moving to a more work from home model, we find there’s an opportunity for us to build our daytime response using people who work from home.”
Eastern Victoria Region MP Harriet Shing made the funding announcement on Friday 28 October, with four SES and CFA units sharing in $404,066 across the Yarra Ranges and Cardinia Shires.
“Our frontline emergency workers do a power of work in the most difficult of circumstances and these grants will deliver vital equipment to help them to carry out their important work to make and keep us safe – including in floods, fires, or natural disasters,” she said.
Mr Cash said while his CFA brigade are fundraising all year round to improve the quality of their response, grant programs like VESEP enable the station to be the best it can be.
“We appreciate the opportunity to have these grants each year to go for and being successful this year means that we take another step forward in progressing as a station and becoming a bigger and better station for our community.
“Without the support from the grant, it makes life a lot harder. So we certainly appreciate having the opportunity to go for the extra funding methods, which are above and beyond a normal fundraising effort.”
