Mobile Bushfire Recovery Outreach a Success

Published on 26 February 2020

Snowy Valleys Council’s Chief Executive Officer Matthew Hyde said the mobile community meetings had been well received by fire affected communities.

“We had over 250 people attend the sessions across 19 locations with many taking the opportunity to learn more about recovery services available, while for others it was a chance to share their stories and raise concerns,” Mr Hyde said.

Following on from the mobile meetings, Bushfire Recovery Assistance Points opened across the region.

Mr Hyde said opening stationary Assistance Points provided the opportunity for people to seek assistance in their own time, at their own pace.

“The NSW Office of Emergency Management has been working closely with Council helping to coordinate the services available at the Centres,” he said.

“The centres are designed as one-stop points with many support services and agencies in attendance including Service NSW, Legal Aid, NSW Health, CentreLink, Red Cross, chaplains and insurers”.

Mr Hyde said council is also contemplating another round of mobile recovery sessions, this time with a focus on the Government’s clean-up.

“We know the key issue for most affected residents now is the details of the Government’s clean-up project and we met with Lang O’Rourke this week to better understand what their process will be and try to pin down actual starting dates and other details,” Mr Hyde said.

In the meantime Mr Hyde said Council has a range of FAQs regarding the clean-up listed on council’s Bushfire recovery webpage www.svc.nsw.gov.au/recovery.

“We encourage people to access the site to learn more about what we currently know about the clean-up process and we will continue to lobby for more information and update the web page as new details are released,” he said.

Council’s first round of bushfire recovery mobile outreach saw council staff and  government agency representatives meet with affected community members across the region in local halls, clubs and RFS sheds.

As part of the make safe and clean up program, the NSW Government and the Commonwealth are covering the full cost of cleaning up eligible NSW properties that have been destroyed by bushfires.

Both insured and uninsured properties used for residential, small business or primary production purposes are eligible for the clean-up program.

To opt into the program, affected residents and landowners are asked to call Service NSW on 13 77 88 to register as soon as possible.

Photo credit – mobile community outreach at the Maragle RFS shed in Tooma.