Farmers in bushfire-affected areas west of Ballarat are receiving a helping hand to recover from February's massive blaze.
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While an army of CFA volunteers and other firefighting agencies helped defend property from the inferno, a new army of helpers has moved in to coordinate some of the vital first steps in farm recovery.
More than 2000km of farm fencing was destroyed in the fire, which began near Mount Cole on February 21, and Blaze Aid volunteers have set up camp and started to help rebuild farm fencing.
Blaze Aid Buangor camp coordinator Graeme Allen said about 65 properties in the area had registered for Blaze Aid assistance to clear destroyed fencing and start to rebuild.
So far there's about 800km of boundary fencing that needs replacing, and another 1500km of internal fences that was burned.
Mr Allen has been volunteering at Blaze Aid camps for about five years and, with a project management background, is in high demand when new camps need to be established after natural disaster has swept through an area.
There are about 25 Blaze Aid volunteers in the Buangor camp, working on properties within the Mount Cole-Raglan fire area.
Some volunteers who live locally come to work for a day, some come for two to three days, some for a week and some for even longer.
"They are from all over. We probably have three or four local people and the rest come from anywhere - Melbourne, other regional areas, some from interstate and some are on the road touring in their vans," he said.
About half of the volunteers have worked on previous Blaze Aid projects.
"They like the camaraderie and they catch up with people they have worked with at previous camps," he said.
Mr Allen said some of the property owners around Mount Cole, Raglan, Buangor, Beaufort and the small towns surrounding were new to the area and did not have fence building expertise, some did not actually live on the property or might have day jobs elsewhere that would mean it could take months to rebuild fences that a volunteer team could do in weeks, and some full-time farmers needed a hand to rebuild fences because they still had to run their farm as well as rebuild.
"The business of the farm doesn't stop because there's been a disaster," he said.
It costs around $5000 a week to run a Blaze Aid camp including feeding and accommodating volunteers. The Blaze Aid organisation fundraises to cover all the costs of the farm fencing, equipment and camp costs.
Ballarat farm machinery supplier Brandt this week donated two tractors to Blaze Aid to help them rebuild farm fences in the region.
The charity was established in 2009 after the Black Saturday bushfires. Farmers Kevin and Rhonda Butler lost about three kilometres of fencing on their property, allowing hundreds of sheep to escape causing a traffic hazard to emergency service vehicles.
Mr Butler put an ad in the local paper asking for help to rebuild his fences and a team of about 25 volunteers came forward. The fences were rebuilt within a week. The couple decided to "pay it forward" and help neighbours and the organisation snowballed from there.
Federation University head of psychology clinical services and programs Associate Professor Megan Jenkins said community support played a big role in recovering from major incidents.
It is even more important when communities experience a series of events as Ballarat has in recent months with the bushfires, the disappearance of Samantha Murphy, the Ballarat Gold Mine collapse and other incidents.
"When you have even one big event like this it can obviously have a ripple impact on the community but when you have a series of events it can lead to us feeling that our world is perhaps not as safe as we thought it was, or feel it's more dangerous as a place to live.
"They are really normal thoughts to have," she said.
Dr Jenkins said it was also important to recognise the world has not stopped, to realise there's still joy in life, and to engage in things that "bring comfort and joy".
"There's also a sense of connection and resilience that the community has really banded together. For many people that's really comforting to know, even if its difficult times, that we have a community that is strong and keen to support one another.
"We've seen that in terms of people searching for Samantha Murphy, people offering accommodation and food to those impacted by bushfire ... there's a lot of examples of good in the community and we need to take time to look out and acknowledge that."
