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Red Cross Bushfire Response
11 December 2006
Red Cross volunteers are working throughout the state to support their communities. They volunteer in relief centres, registering and comforting evacuees, they feed hungry fire fighters, or provide first aid care. Here are just some of them...
(Photography by Shannon Reddaway)
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First Aiders Mohammed Alam (of Preston) and Catherine Wilson (of Ringwood) take time off work to volunteer. The pair work long days at the staging ground at Bairnsdale to ensure fire fighters receive good first aid care. Treatments dispensed have ranged from saline eye washes to bandaging an injured head.
Said Mohammed: "I wish this didn't happen, but I'm glad I can help out. I'm a Red Cross volunteer because I like its Fundamental Principle of Humanity; it's amazing what Red Cross gives me the opportunity to do."
Also an SES volunteer, Mohamed volunteers for Red Cross in six different programs - from driving people in need to essential medical |
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 | appointments, to providing emotional and practical support to people attending the emergency department at the Northern Hospital.
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Eloise Ridder and her grandmother, Helga Ridder, were among those taking refuge at the relief centre at the Bairnsdale Racecourse on Sunday, 10 December.
The Ridder family live on a property just outside Bairnsdale. Helga lives in a flat on the property, owned by her daughter, Nicole, and her husband, Philip.
With Philip and his dozer at the fire front building firebreaks, Nicole decided to stay and defend the property. However, she wanted her grandmother and daughter to feel safe, so she took them to the relief centre, where Red Cross volunteers took them in, providing meals, comfort and support.
"I'm very grateful for what the Red Cross has done for us," said Nicole. "My husband is at the fires and I've been battling away on my own, getting everything ready to defend our property.
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| "I was worried about what to do with my mother and daughter; the two of them being at the relief centre tooka weight off my mind, and meant I could concentrate on what I was doing. I really appreciate what the Red Cross has done, it is priceless."
Said Helga: "I'm very grateful to Red Cross; it's good to know there is somewhere we can go to be safe and away from it all. I want to say a big thank you to the volunteers.
"We live on open grassland and it was getting very, very scary. We felt safe at the relief centre, and everybody was so friendly.
"The whole community works really well together, and it's given us great comfort. I've never had an experience like this before."
| First Aid volunteer Nikhil Dudeja of Bentley tends to 14-year-old Wendy Dawson at the Bairnsdale relief centre. |
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| Kaylene Chambers of Clifton Creek takes refuge at the Bairnsdale relief centre with her two children, Mason (left) and Amelia. |
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Red Cross communications volunteers (from left) John Patterson, of Upper Beaconsfield, Robbie Ashlin, of Bairnsdale, and Mark Dods, of the Mornington Peninsula, help out at the relief centre at the Bairnsdale racecourse.
They are responsible for sending the details of evacuees registering at the relief centre down the line to the |
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 | State Inquiry Centre (SIC) in Melbourne, where volunteers can then answer inquiries from relatives and friends of evacuees, concerned about their whereabouts.
The SIC phone number is 1800 727 077.
| Red Cross First Aider Mohammed Alam tends to fire fighter Tim Paterson from Heywood. |
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High resolution images are available for media use. If you would like to obtain these please contact us via the details below.
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Media contacts:
Jacqui Pringle
Senior Marketing and Communications Officer
Australian Red Cross
Telephone 03 8327 7756
Mobile 0448 571 484
viccomms@redcross.org.au
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