GiG President Anne Stewart visited the Pindimar/Tea Gardens RFS station in Tea Gardens on Tuesday 4 February to personally deliver the cheque for $500, with sincere wishes that it will help the Brigade continue to protect the area.

Advertise with News of The Area today.
It’s worth it for your business.
Message us.
Phone us – (02) 4981 8882.
Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au

“Our 48 members and 13 Friends of the Galleries (FOGs), all work really hard to keep the Galleries going, and we support local groups with raffles at our seasonal exhibitions,” Anne told NOTA.

“Our Winter Exhibition 2024 recipient group was the Pindimar/Tea Gardens RFS.

“We need you guys, we’ve been here a long time, and we’ve seen some amazing blazes, like the one in Pindimar last year.”

Brigade Captain David Bright was visibly moved by yet another act of supreme generosity from the local community. “The generosity is just unbelievable,” he said.

“A volunteer brigade like ours really needs community help to function properly, to buy things that are necessary to do the job, but are not provided by the RFS organisation, like the new orange radios that we are using on the fireground, which were not cheap.

“This sort of donation all goes towards helping things like that.”

The handheld UHF radios that Captain Bright mentioned are carried with brigade crews in the vehicles and while out on the fireground, and are used to keep in contact and direct movements while fighting bush fires.

Until recently, the PTG brigade has been making do with a set of old radios, hazarding frayed handset cables that did not engender much confidence in the user.

The local brigade has seen more motor vehicle accidents than wildfires lately, and members are keen to enact local Hazard Reduction burns to reduce the ferocity of the next bush fire in the area.

Those plans have however been stymied by recent storms, as well as other considerations outside of the local brigade’s control.

Pindimar and Bundabah remain rated amongst the highest for fire danger in the state, and the Brigade wishes to remind everyone that the MidCoast Bushfire Danger Period is from 1 September until 31 March, or as advised by the NSW RFS.

If you plan to burn during this period anywhere within the MidCoast Council area, you require a Fire Permit from the RFS.

Contact your local Fire Control Centre.

By Thomas O’KEEFE