Mayoral Column 5 February 2020

We have just experienced another weekend of increased fire activity and danger with a number of homes lost in the Bumbalong Road and Colinton areas.

Our thoughts are with those who have lost their homes.

For the first time, we saw the closure of the Monaro Highway due to fire crossing the road and the widespread loss of telecommunications across the region on Sunday.

Thanks to the quick response of Telstra and emergency services we saw our important telecommunications restored on Sunday afternoon. The Monaro Highway re-opened on Sunday.

Fire has now spotted east of the highway in the Michelago, Tinderry and Jerangle areas. We will wait and see what the remainder of the week will bring and hopefully all fires remain at an advice level.

Last week, community recovery meetings were held in Numeralla and Bombala where government agencies were present to discuss the recovery process with bush fire affected residents and business operators.

In Numeralla, around 50 people attended the meeting. A surprise visit was made by four members of the Australian women’s cricket team, the Southern Stars.

The Bombala community meeting was held at the Showground with government agencies, our local member and Recovery Minister John Barilaro, and the Australian Defence Force all in attendance.

A community sausage sizzle was provided before the meeting. Those in attendance had the opportunity to hear from representatives from disaster welfare agencies and have one-on-one consultations with the representatives.

For bush fire affected residents in the Rockton and Bombala areas, a community recovery assistance point has been established in the Bombala Community Centre.

People will have access to government agencies, Council’s Local Recovery Officer for the Bombala region Robin Guthrie, internet and phone services. The recovery assistance point is open from 10am to 2pm on Thursday 6 February.

On Friday 7 February, the Department of Human Services will bring their full mobile service centre to the Bombala Community Centre. This will operate from 9am to 4.30pm. This will be the only government service available on the day.

Councillor Peter Beer Mayor of Snowy Monaro Regional Council