State Member for Northern Victoria Tania Maxwell has donated $1000 to the Katamatite CFA to replace stolen equipment following a burglary at the brigade's fire station on December 31.
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Ms Maxwell, who represents Derryn Hinch's Justice Party, was disappointed to hear that vital life-saving firefighting equipment was stolen and left the brigade vulnerable and scrambling for replacement equipment.
“Regional brigades provide an invaluable service to Victoria, and during such an intense fire season it is devastating that heartless thieves would take advantage of a volunteer-run brigade,” she said.
Ms Maxwell said given the severity of the current fire season, this burglary was particularly gut-wrenching for the local community and CFA volunteers, and was a blatant case of criminal opportunism.
Katamatite CFA captain John Parnell said the donation would go towards replacing the equipment and increasing the station's security.
Ms Maxwell has called on the Victorian Government to provide more resources for CFA stations across the state.
“I think that the government should ultimately be supporting the funding to purchase, I think they need to be supporting replacement of older vehicles.
“Police don't pay for their own tasers or divvy vans, paramedics don't pay for their own ambulances; I see the CFA's role as just as important and why should they have to fund-raise so hard.”
