AU – RRT support the Carrum Downs CFA Jan 2018

Berwick RRT volunteers keeping a close eye on the weather forecast on the 6th Jan 2018 proactively made contact with CFA personnel to offer their services should fire strike as predicted due to the extreme weather conditions.
As a result, RRT Berwick were called on to support the following day, Sunday the 8th of Jan 2018, serving breakfast and lunch to the emergency crews. RRT arrived on site Sunday morning at the new staging area at the back of the Skye CFA station. By 8.20am the Trailer, Marquee and BBQ were all set up and cooking underway.
CFA, DSE, DELWEP and Forest Fire Vehicles arrived and breakfast was served to over 100 emergency service personnel. Roly Lindqvist (RRT TL) met with Jack Dinkgreve from Parks VIC at breakfast (the overall OPS Manager) who asked if RRT were staying on site for lunch, which they agreed to do. So instead of packing up after breakfast, RRT volunteers were sent out for more supplies just after 10am.
RRT Berwick were glad to have the chance to support the emergency crews, not having had much opportunity previously. As it turned out, they found it a breeze as this team have had many hours of practice supporting proactive events!
Here is some feedback from one of CFA ground crew;
What do RRT do well?
All volunteers were so friendly it was really nice to see smiling faces so early in the morning. The food was as if we were at home very comforting and belly filling…kept us going on the fire ground, really appreciated it. Great work, it was so lovely to meet everyone.
What could RRT do better?
I don’t eat bacon for religious purposes and I noticed the bacon was being cooked with the eggs, I still had an egg though, it didn’t taste like bacon so I was happy. Other than that you all do such a wonderful job and I hope you all are all aware of the impact you all have at such events.
Testimonial
After 6 hours of fire-fighting on a truck and on foot we were very appreciative of the see smiling faces, warm breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and COFFEE!!!!! Just knowing that Roland and his team would be waiting for us for lunch was enough to feel like we were at home, away from home! So thank you for making an emergency situation comforting with food!