Community getting behind Pomonal bushfire victims, support available

Two of the those fires grew to collectively burn over 7000 ha of land including through the towns of Dadswells Bridge and Pomonal.

Pomonal was particularly unfortunate as the small community lost 44 homes, but as residents are returning from relief centres in Ararat and Stawell, the community is getting behind them and pitching in with support.

Owner of Barney's Bar and Bistro in Pomonal, Colin Macaffer, set up a Go Fund Me Page not long after evacuating to safety himself.

As of 2pm on Friday, February 16, the Go Fund Me page has received $65,211.

Another person throwing support behind those affected by the Pomonal bushfire disaster is Celina Day.

She set up the Pomonal Grampians Recovery Volunteer Network Facebook page hoping to connect people looking to help with others who can help deliver support.

Stawell Toyota acted as a drop-off point for community members in Stawell looking to donate goods to the affected Pomonal residents.

On Friday, February 16, Uniting Care transported a truck full of donations to Pomonal for residents in need.

Ambulance Victoria is helping connect residents in Pomonal to the internet following major outages as a result of the fires.

The vehicle, with satellite capability, was deployed to the Pomonal Community Hall to provide high-speed broadband internet to residents.

A drinking water trailer will be available at the Pomonal General Store to fill bottles and containers as the local water supply has been compromised.

Member for Mallee, Dr Anne Webster has requested federal emergency minister Murray Watt activate commonwealth funding for victims of the bushfire emergencies.

"The Federal Government must step in and support fire victims as they begin to recover from this tragedy," Dr Webster said.

"I have been in constant contact with the Minister's office and I am thankful for their assistance, but we now need to see funding flow through so people can begin to get their lives back together.

"I am requesting that the Minister look for further funding for our communities as I know there is more funding available. I am asking the State Government to step up as I know there is further cleanup and rebuilding funding also available."