CFA cash boost

By Dion Teasdale
THE STATE Government has given Launching Place CFA much needed funding to help buy a new $250,000 fire truck.
Minister for Emergency Services Tim Holding visited the brigade’s Don Valley home station last week to announce the funding.
Mr Holding told a packed fire station the brigade would receive more than $66,300 from the State Government as part of the third round of the Community Safety Emergency Support Program (CSESP).
The money will be added to a $133,000 grant from the CFA and a $50,000 contribution from the brigade to buy a new 4WD heavy tanker.
Launching Place CFA was without its two fire trucks last year after one reached its use-by-date and the other was written off in an accident in May.
In December the Mail reported that Don Valley residents and CFA members were concerned that the only truck housed at the Don Valley station was a cardboard cut-out.
Launching Place CFA captain Brian Williams said the funding announcement was timely and greatly appreciated.
“I’d like to thank the Government for this grant. On top of our own fund raising and an investment from the CFA, it means we can purchase a new tanker for the area,” he said.
“There is only so much we can ask the community, only so many sausage sizzles we can hold to raise funds, so the support of the Government is greatly appreciated.”
Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato, who raised the brigade’s request for funding in Parliament earlier this month, said she was thrilled by the funding announcement.
Ms Lobato thanked Mr Holding for responding to the needs of the Launching Place and Don Valley communities and congratulated local CFA volunteers for their fund raising efforts.
“Members and their families make so many sacrifices for the benefit of the wider community. I commend their dedication to what is often a difficult task and I am delighted that the Minister could be here today to announce this grant,” she said.
Mr Holding said he was pleased to visit the Launching Place CFA and deliver good news for the region.
“I am pleased that the Government can make this contribution to the work you people do to protect your community,” he said. “The lifeblood of the CFA is the volunteers who support the community they live in and the Government values this hard work.”
Other emergency services in Ms Lobato’s Gembrook electorate were also successful in receiving a CSESP grant, including Gembrook CFA ($45,333), Belgrave South CFA ($70,000) and Emerald SES ($33,563).