***PHOTOS, VIDEO available HERE
The Rapid Relief Team (RRT) has thrown its support behind Victoria’s emergency response to the ongoing bushfire crisis, providing more than 4,000 meals to frontline workers and enabling fast water refills for fire trucks.
RRT volunteers at seven locations are providing breakfast, lunch, and dinner to fire crews as they work around the clock battling out-of-control blazes, with more than 300,000 hectares burnt across the state.
RRT Global Managing Director Anthony Arkcoll said teams mobilised quickly late last week to support the critical work of emergency crews.
“In times like these, every minute matters. Our volunteers are focused on supporting communities and helping firefighters stay where they’re needed most, on the frontline,” said Anthony.
RRT received its first call from support from the Alexandra Incident Control Centre, and the second from Moira Shire Council in response to the fire near Cobram.
Volunteers have been supporting the firefighting effort for 48 hours straight, providing sandwiches, hot meals, refreshments and coffee.
RRT has also brought in its Rapid Water System (RWS) which is enabling Country Fire Authority (CFA) fire trucks to refill rapidly and get back to the fire front faster.
The RWS can refill three trucks every three minutes – a task that would normally take 30 minutes.
CFA Operations Officer Dean Simmons said they were grateful for the quick response of the RRT at their truck stop in Ravenswood.
“We’ve been fortunate with the great work that the RRT has done – they’ve provided breakfast with less than 12 hours’ notice for 500 people, followed up with 400 people for lunch,” he said.
“As these emergency situations develop, we don’t often know exactly how many people we have until after they’ve been fed, but the flexibility of the RRT and the capacity to do a whole range of extra meals at short notice is outstanding.”
As the charitable arm of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, RRT supports frontline workers and emergency services by providing food, donations and other resources, as well as hosting events for the community.
Established in 2013 to assist emergency services in times of disaster and crisis by providing meals and other support, it’s expanded to more than 16,000 volunteers and provides support to the community through charitable donations and events.
For more information on RRT, please go to www.rrtglobal.org/.
Media enquiries: Katie Kimberley 0417 467 215 [email protected]