INDIVIDUALS and community groups can get help in their preparation for bushfire season with almost $1 million in grant funding available.
The state government has extended the Regional Capability Community Fund for an extra two years until 2020.
The fund began in 2015 with grants of up to $2500, from a pool of about $480,000 each year, available to put towards equipment to assist communities to better protect themselves from bushfires and other natural disasters.
Emergency Services Minister Chris Picton said these were a good way to support services.
“We are extraordinarily thankful for the amazing contribution our over 15,000 emergency service volunteers make across the state – but we recognise that farmers and local communities need their own capability to respond to emergencies as they occur,” he said.
“This grant scheme has already delivered enormous benefit to communities through the provision of firefighting equipment and protective resources and I’m delighted to announce we’re extending this scheme to 2020 – with almost one million more available to grant applicants.”
In the past three years, more than 600 landholders have received grants, assisting them to buy hundreds of farm fighting units, bulk water storage tanks, personal protective clothing, radios and other equipment.
Applications are prioritised according to geographic location, existing capability, access and distance to emergency services and other individual risk factors.
The majority of the acquisitions are also made locally, allowed more than $2.6m in local economic benefits in regional SA.
- Details: safecom.sa.gov.au
