The district's volunteer firefighters will receive more than $220,000 worth of new equipment as a result of community donations during the extreme bushfire season last summer.
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From new apparel including t-shirts, shorts, cold climate jackets and broad brim hats to equipment such as defibrillators, remote area lighting, rear view and dash cameras, wildfire thermal imaging cameras, structural thermal imaging cameras and new hoses and quick fill pumps, the equipment boost will better equip volunteer brigades in District 15 to help their communities.
Meanwhile, some members will skill-up with some of the funding to go towards medium rigid truck licences, so more members can drive fire trucks.
Invermay Fire Brigade will receive three new pieces of equipment - a thermal imaging camera, a dash cam for one of the fire trucks and new hoses.
Captain Daryl Rowe said the thermal imaging camera would help the brigade to find possible reignition points in the landscape or in burnt out cars, while the dash cam would be helpful to collect evidence on the way to a job or in the case of an accident while members rush to turn out to an emergency incident.
The hoses will simply boost capability.
During the bushfire season, numerous Invermay brigade members travelled to Gippsland while others put their hands up to assist the firefighting effort interstate.
The small brigade with 21 active members was recently broken into, which Captain Rowe said puts "a bad taste in your mouth", but he said the huge amount of donations showed just how many people supported volunteer brigades.
"Words can't express how much we appreciate community support," he said.
"We aren't in it for the glory, just to support locals, but it is nice to get something back.
"To have the community support like we've got is just phenomenal and we are appreciative of every little bit of assistance we get."
The $4.8 million allocated to CFA brigades across the state for new tools and equipment is a portion of more than $20 million in donations to the CFA during summer.
The remainder of the funds will go directly to brigades and to educating Victorian communities about fires, enhancing online training programs and delivering leadership and development programs for firefighters.
