Drought depletes bushfire volunteers

Drought depletes bushfire volunteers

12 October 2007

published by www.abc.net.au

The Country Fire Service (CFS) says drought conditions in parts of the mid-north and on Eyre Peninsula in South Australia have depleted the number of volunteers available to deal with the bushfire season ahead.

Euan Ferguson from the CFS says that the number of volunteers is higher than in previous years, apart from areas where the drought is taking a toll.

“Many farming families are reaching the end of their financial resources and are being forced into making some hard decisions,” he said.

“We’ve also seen the influence of mining starting to draw some of our farming families away.

“We are aware that there is a potential that the rate of drift of the population away from farming areas may increase over the next six months.”