Assistance for Bushfire Affected Communities

As at 7am this morning there were 28 fires burning across New South Wales, including four significant fires in our region, Tingha Plateau (near Tingha and Gilgai), Bruxner Highway (near Tabulam), Wallangarra (north of Tenterfield) and Linton (east of Barraba). The heroic efforts of Rural Fire Service volunteers with the support of their communities have continued for several days. The milder conditions of the last couple of days have allowed the Rural Fire Service to perform back-burns to try and contain these fires.

If your life is at risk or you notice an unattended fire, call Triple Zero (000) immediately. Continue to stay up to date with the bush fire situation by checking http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au, listening to your local radio station or by calling the NSW RFS Bush Fire Information Line on 1800 679 737. For information on road closures, check http://livetraffic.com. Roads may be closed without warning.

Disaster assistance has been made available for Armidale, Inverell, Kyogle and Tenterfield communities affected by the bushfires that commenced from February 11 onwards through the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA). Assistance measures available include:

• help for eligible people whose homes or belongings have been damaged;
• support for affected local councils to help with the costs of cleaning up and restoring damaged essential public assets;
• concessional interest rate loans for small businesses, primary producers and non-profit organisations;
• freight subsidies for primary producers; and
• grants to eligible non-profit organisations.

For information on personal hardship and distress assistance, contact the Disaster Welfare Assistance Line on ‪1800 018 444. To apply for a concessional loan, grant or freight subsidy, contact the NSW Rural Assistance Authority on ‪1800 678 593 or visit www.raa.nsw.gov.au

Local Land Services veterinary officers and biosecurity staff are on the ground assisting communities affected by bush fires. Landholders who need assistance with emergency fodder, livestock or domestic animal assessment should call the Ag and Animal Services Hotline on 1800 814 647. Financial help is also available to transport stock to other properties due to fences or feed being burnt out. For livestock related assistance, call the NSW Rural Assistance Authority on ‪1800 678 593.

For wildlife rescue call WIRES on 1300 094 737. All wildlife that is sick or injured needs to be assessed by a vet before coming into WIRES care. It is critical to get sick and injured wildlife vet treatment as quickly as possible. Do not approach snakes, monitor lizards (goannas), bats (flying-foxes or microbats), large macropods (kangaroos or wallabies) or raptors (eagles, falcons or hawks). These animals require specialist handling and MUST be rescued by trained wildlife rescuers. For further information, visit the WIRES website.