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    Forest Fire Management base camp at Horsham Showgrounds.
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    Operation officer Pat McCarthy briefing firefighters at Forest Fire Management base camp at Horsham Showgrounds.
  • Hero image
    Operation officer Pat McCarthy briefing firefighters at Forest Fire Management base camp at Horsham Showgrounds.
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    Forest Fire Management base camp at Horsham Showgrounds.
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    Forest Fire Management base camp at Horsham Showgrounds.
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    GRATEFUL: Andrew Crawford and Geoff Ballinger serve firefighter Dan Dyson at base camp at Horsham Showground. Firefighters receive breakfast, lunch and dinner – all catered in a brand-new, specially-designed kitchen.
  • Hero image
    GRATEFUL: Andrew Crawford and Geoff Ballinger serve firefighter Dan Dyson at base camp at Horsham Showground. Firefighters receive breakfast, lunch and dinner – all catered in a brand-new, specially-designed kitchen.
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    ON TRACK: Base camp manager  Barbara Bednarek ensures facilities and food are prepared for 250 firefighters at Horsham Showground. Pictures: PAUL CARRACHER
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    Base camp manager Barbara Bednarek at Forest Fire Management base camp at Horsham Showgrounds.

Horsham Base camp home for 250 firefighters

Horsham Showground is home to a base camp catering for up to 250 firefighters from across Victoria and interstate.

The tent city was installed within 48 hours late last week, with firefighters arriving on Sunday to be deployed out to either the Grampians or Little Desert fires.

There are 250 tents – most in the five air-conditioned marquees on site, but some are out in the open, plus firefighters have access to a laundry, showers, toilets, a dining area and a recreation room with televisions.

“It’s a little tent city,” Base camp manager  Barbara Bednarek said.



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“We are housing 250 firefighters here. So we sleep them, feed them and get them out on the fire ground.

“This is the only base camp at the moment, and a lot of other crews are spread around in motels, caravan parks, and anywhere else they could house them to try and get them as close to the fires as possible.”

Ms Bednarek said firefighters received breakfast, lunch and dinner – all catered in the brand-new, specially-designed kitchen.

“We normally provide them lunch packs to go with them, and if they’re out there longer than what we expect, we then do meal packs for them and send those meal packs out to them because we don’t want them coming back really late at night and then eating,” she said.

Ms Bednarek said while the tents, showers and toilets came from Altona, local contractors were used where possible.

“We’ve sourced plumbers and electricians locally because of tents that are cooled, we needed to run plumbing to them, obviously electricity to them so everything’s working,” she said.

“We try to use as many local businesses as possible to help us set this up.”

Ms Bednarek thanked Horsham Agricultural Society, particularly executive officer Andrea Cross, for their assistance.

“Having that local knowledge here is absolutely fantastic,” she said.

“These are great facilities. It’s the fact that normally we would have to put up an extra big marquee for the mess, which is where they eat.”

Mrs Cross said it was confirmed on Thursday that base camp would be set up at the showground.

“By that afternoon, the trucks, with equipment, were starting to move in,” she said.

“It has demonstrated to us as an organisation how valuable our little spot here on the river, in the heart of town, is.

“It started off maybe they were using about a hectare – now it’s grown to probably two and a half hectares of space they’re using for bedding down 250 firefighters.

“It really highlights the fact that this precinct here is a valuable service to the community in times of emergency. I guess a real highlight for me was one of the firefighters said he’s fought fires throughout Australia and Canada and said this is the best base camp he’s ever been to.”

Mrs Cross said Maydale Pavilion would still be used for the food and wine festival, 150km Feast, on February 22-23.

“It’s not going to have an impact on the feast, I’ve just had to go to plan C for the food truck and wine festival, so that’s the beauty of this space – that we can continue to be flexible, which they definitely need to be,” she said.

“When you’ve got an emergency like this, you’ve literally got to just step aside and let them do what they have to do to keep us all safe.”

Mrs Cross put a call-out on Sunday for volunteers to help assist at the firefighters’ meal times.

“I think community also want to help  with these calamities, unless you’re involved in the fire front, people want to help and base camp is quite different to fire refuges because this is a professionally run operation and the opportunity to help is quite rare,” she said.

“I’m just hoping the community can also get behind us with our feasts and make it worth our while so that we can continue doing the good work that we do here – as it’s a major source of income for us.”

The entire February 5, 2025 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!