22 Nov 2017 Benalla Ensign, Benalla VIC (General News) Northern Victorias emergency services will receive a muchneeded funding boost with more than $5 million in grants announced by State Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes. Benalla CFA will receive nearly $4000 for equipment to enhance operational capability and volunteer welfare. Ms Symes said she was pleased that nearly one third of the 300 successful grants had been approved to Northern Victoria CFA, SES and other emergency service organisations. The funding helps emergency services pay for operational equipment, including vehicles, trucks, tankers, watercraft, trailers and minor facility upgrades. This Labor Government funding is a massive injection into local CFA, SES, and other emergency service organisations across country Victoria, Ms Symes said. I and the local communities know that our dedicated hardworking volunteers do an amazing job keeping our local community safe and they deserve nothing but the best equipment. This funding boost will help our CFA, SES and other emergency service organisations to purchase vital equipment to keep our communities safe in an emergency situation. Benalla CFA community safety co-ordinator Phil Rees said funding like this was extremely important in assisting volunteers. We hope some of this funding will go to help out our volunteers as in many cases we are still responsible for funding a lot of our own equipment, Mr Rees said. Across Victoria the grants package assists all our emergency services volunteer organisations, including: $9.55 million for volunteer CFA brigades; $2.05 million for SES units; More than $750 000 for Life Saving Victoria clubs; More than $320 000 for the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association; Almost $290 000 for other volunteer organisations; and Almost $50 000 to cover additional costs incurred by volunteers. The state government is also allocating almost $2.5 million in statewide initiatives. For more information about the grants, visit the Emergency Management Victoria website: https://www.emv.vic.gov.au/ Caption Text: Jaclyn Symes Licensed by Copyright Agency. You may only copy or communicate this work with a licence.