AMAZING RESPONSE FROM VCC EMERGENCIES MINISTRY

At approximately 11:30pm Saturday 17th March, numerous large fires began in the South West of Victoria around Terang, Hawkesdale and Cobden.

People evacuated to Relief Centres with over 400 people in the Cobden Relief Centre throughout Saturday night.

VCC Emergencies Ministry had volunteers in the Warnambool Emergency Relief Centre from 12 midnight and the Colac Emergency Relief Centre from 6am Sunday morning.

Since 6am Sunday morning, VCC EM have had teams in Relief Centres in Warnambool, Camperdown, Colac, and Cobden. We were unable to access the Relief Centre in Port Campbell.

Our emergency operations centre was open from 6am on Sunday morning and staffed with volunteers. It remains open for the foreseeable future.

We have had 3 Incident Activity Coordinators supporting the management of the response, which has been fantastic. Our systems are working.

We activated the whole of Barwon South West volunteers who have provided the majority of the workforce to date.

Other areas were called in including Ballarat, Macedon Ranges and Western Metropolitan Melbourne.

The support to the community is just beginning with outreach to start in the coming days.

If you can support our efforts by responding to calls for assistance or you feel you can spend a couple of days in the area in the coming weeks, please call the State office and register your availability.