A Dunedoo resident said it felt like the end of the world as the severity of the Sir Ivan Fire became evident to families as they attended the Dunedoo Show this month.
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As Kelly Smyth of Dunedoo Central School reflected on the devastating weekend of February 11 and 12 her eyes filled with tears.
“The photos don’t bring it home, it’s when you go out there – it’s utter silence, pure devastation,” she said. “But you go out there and people still smile, they’re grateful they survived it.”
Kelly is among a small group of locals who are working behind the scenes to raise much-needed funds for recovery projects.
A community meeting was held on February 14 with the initial focus being emergency assistance as those east of Dunedoo were left without water, electricity, phone lines and everyday necessities.
The small committee took the plea online and once again the surreal power of social media came to life, attracting the attention of over 100,000 people within days.
“We’ve had overwhelming support in the first few days,” Kelly said.
In fact, she said the support has been so intense that organisers had to put a stop to the donation of clothing, furniture and household goods.
“The focus is now on money,” Kelly said. “Donations are coming in internationally, we’re incredibly lucky.”
As of Tuesday morning the committee had already raised $80,000 to be put toward recovery projects. The Country Womens Association of Australia donated $50,000 of that total from their disaster relief fund.
Kelly said $70,000 of the funding will be allocated to the repair of over 6000 kilometres of fencing that was damaged by the fire.
She commended the efforts of Dunedoo businesses including Delta Ag, Rural Hardware and Stoddarts CRT which are working together in the appeal for fencing materials. BlazeAid volunteers will arrive next week to commence fencing repairs.
Kelly encourages people to contact those business houses to make donations toward the fencing appeal. Donations under $100 can be made via www.sirivanfireappeal.com/donate/
“Absolutely every cent counts,” she said.