Here's how you can help the bushfire crisis in Australia

Currently, many people are offering up their time, resources and money to make a difference. Many people have chosen to donate to:

-Bendigo Bankwhich acts as a conduit for donations to national and state bushfire disaster appeals. They’re also providing a Bushfire Assistance Package for people affected by the crisis.

• Red Cross Australia is collecting donations for their Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund. People affected by the fires can also register to let family and friends know they are safe.
• The Salvation Army of Australia are coordinating a Disaster Appeal Fund to provide financial and material assistance, mental health support, housing support and counselling for people affected by the bushfires.
• St Vincent de Paul Society have created a Bushfire Appeal to provide instant and long term assistance for people who have lost their homes through the fires.
• Food Bank Australia are coordinating the Bushfire Emergency Food Relief Appeal to provide food to those affected.
• Celeste Barber has raised over $50 million dollars via Facebook for the Trustee for NSW Rural Fire Service & Brigades Donations Fund. You can also donate here to contribute.

You can, of course, choose to donate to any of the above listed services and organisations who are doing extraordinary and important work. We’ve also put together a list of places to donate that may be under-resourced or left out of mainstream conversations below. These lists are by no means exhaustive and there are many more organisations, centres and people, doing incredible work to support this crisis across Australia.

Although government-funded organisations are leading the firefight - such as the RFS, CFS, CFA, DFES, RFBAQ, TFS - they are also reliant on the local brigades that are part of the country towns where the fires are happening. Members of these rural brigades are almost always local and most of them are volunteers. Every day, just in NSW, over 3,000 firefighters have been battling fires on the ground, of which 90% of them are unpaid volunteers. If you want to direct your help to firefighting efforts, here are some places you might like to check out:

• NSW Rural Fire Services which benefits volunteer brigades. You can also choose to donate to a specific fire brigade.
• Specific local brigades via the CFA Donations webpage.
• You can also make direct donations to the Country Fire Service in South Australia through their CFS Foundation.
• You can also choose to donate to the Rural Fire Brigades Association Queensland or to a specific brigade in RFBAQ’s donation website.
• For Tasmanian brigades, find Tasmania Fire Services here.
• For a list of WA services and brigades, visit DFES here.
• For services in the Northern Territory, find out more here.
• Learn more about rural fire services in ACT here.

Over a billion animals have already perished, with millions more at threat. The following organisations are focusing on rescuing and rehabilitating our wildlife:

• Mallacoota Wildlife Shelter, part of one of the most affected towns of the Gippsland region in Victoria, have their own Fire Relief Fund here.
• The Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park has also been highly affected by the bushfires and have created the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Fund for veterinary costs, koala milk and supplements, among other things.
• Kangaroo Island's Ligurian Bees have lost a quarter of their population and 400 of their hives. You can help rebuild bee feeders and launch a breeding program by donating at Save the Ligurian Bee.
• WIRES Australian Wildlife Rescue Organisation have created the WIRES Emergency Fund to rehabilitate and preserve wildlife affected by the bushfires. WIRES have also announced that they will be directing funds to organisations who need it, outside NSW, following large international donations.
• Zoos Victoria have created a Bushfire Emergency Wildlife Fund 2020 to provide funding for veterinary assistance and wildlife scientific intervention.
• Through the Bushfire Victims Fund, Animals Australia is distributing financial donations to get vets and expert carers to the fire-devastated areas and help the animals affected by the fires.
• Goongerah Wombat Orphanage, located in Gippsland, is collecting donations to support their wombat orphans.

If you live near affected areas, here are some recommendations to help wildlife animals affected by the fires:

• Do not enter any unsafe bushfire zones. Remember that your safety comes first. If you see something or become aware of a dangerous situation, call your local fire brigade or local wildlife rescue line. You can also call WIRES at 1300 094 737.
• Wildlife animals will be looking for shelter, food and water. If you see any wildlife that are not injured, leave them alone and let them find their way. Don’t intervene unless you see injured wildlife, in which case please take them to your local vet hospital for medical assistance.
• Leave water out for affected wildlife in bowls and dishes, in trees and on the ground. It’s important to encourage koalas to drink from a dish of water, rather than a bottle. Animal shelters have warned that if koalas drink a lot of water from a bottle, the water may run into their lungs, so it’s key that they’re able to lap water from a dish rather than from a bottle.
• Do not leave food out for wildlife. Animals can get sick from eating food they are not used to, so it’s recommended you refrain from feeding them. If you find an ill or injured animal, remember to call your local vet hospital for advice or WIRES.
• Keep your pets inside your home to protect wildlife. Remember that animals escaping from the fires may be weak and stressed, making them more vulnerable to bites from pets such as dogs and cats.

Source: https://www.zoo.org.au/fire-fund/

Indigenous communities are one of the most affected by the fire crisis among us. We’ve spoken of the homes lost, lives taken and animals perished - but First Nations peoples are intrinsically linked to their land. Culture and country are integral to Indigenous identity. When our country burns, tens of thousands of years of cultural heritage is lost. Ancient artefacts, Indigenous food and medicine, and sense of place are being incinerated.

• Neil Morris has created a Fire Relief Fund for First Nations Communities that provides support to First Nations people's affected by the fires.
• Donate directly to the all-female indigenous firefighting crew in Lake Tyers.
• Donate to the Firesticks fundraiser which aims to train, empower and protect communities using traditional cultural fire & land management practiceshere.
• Lobby for First Nations people to be put in positions of power and for their land to be given back. They are the traditional custodians of the land, with tens of thousands of years of knowledge of how to take care of it and reduce the impact of natural fires. Sovereignty was never ceded.

• People with disability impacted by the fires can contact IDEAS Disability Information at 1800 029 904 or NDIS at 1800 800 110 for information and support. The NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) has recollected important contact information and support for people with disabilities affected by the bushfires.
• You can also donate to IDEAS Donation Fund to support people with disabilities affected by the fire.
• Check Youth Affairs Council Victoria for useful resources for Victorians with disability affected by the bushfires.
• Deaf Emergency Information has created a series of videos to provide people with hearing disability with useful information on how to keep safe during bushfires.

Rates of domestic violence increase in emergency disaster settings. One way to support women who’ve experienced violence is to donate directly to women’s shelters that are based in affected and rural areas of Australia. Here are a few:

• Country Women’s Association of Australia (CWA)helps women living in regional, rural and remote Australia. They have also created a CWA Drought Relief Fund you can donate to.
• Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter helps women in crisis in NSW and relies on donations to do their work. We encourage you to look them up.
• Women’s Council helps women and refugees in rural and remote areas in Western Australia, check their website to know more.

Entire communities have been demolished in the bushfires and potentially worse is yet to come. These communities are not only in need of donations, resources and volunteer help but also support in the coming months and years. Once it is safe to do so, one of the best ways to directly support affected communities is to travel there and spend money in any way you can. To support them to get back on their feet, we’ve created a list of where to donate:

• The FRRR (Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal) has created a Disaster and Resilience Recovery Fund to help communities affected by the bushfires to rebuild after the disaster. The fund is directed to support long-term community-led projects aimed to repair the social fabric as well as the infrastructure of affected communities.
• Habitat for Humanity has a bushfire appeal which directly goes to their Disaster Recovery Appeal, helping to rebuild communities after the fires. You can donate here.
• You can also follow the Instagram account @spendwiththem and @emptyesky which highlights bushfire affected businesses you can support.

We’ve all had our mental health impacted by the absolute devastation and terror that is this natural disaster – but men’s mental health is often one of the most under-resourced and unsupported issues in a situation like this, whilst being one of the biggest contributors to male suicide. Here’s some organisations that support men’s mental health:

• MensLine Australia offers support to men through their online counselling or via phone on 1300 78 9978.
• Beyond Blue offers counselling with a focus on men’s mental health. You can reach them online or call them at 1300 22 46 36.
• The Rural Adversity Mental Health Program (RAMHP) connects people from rural NSW to local mental health services and are also trained to respond in times of natural disasters and severe adversity.
• You can find online crisis counselling through Lifeline or call them at 13 11 14.
• Will Connolly (aka "Eggboy") and Magda Szubanski are raising money to help bushfire victims long-term with trauma and mental health support. You can donate to their cause here.

The air quality of Australia has been unhealthy and hazardous for months now. In fire-affected regions, as well as major cities, air pollution has been recorded as over 11 times the level of “hazardous”. Two people have died as a result of this air pollution, one young woman with asthma and an older man whose asthma lead to a cardiac arrest. Emergency call rate for previously undiagnosed asthma attacks has gone up by 17%. Air pollution also leads to UTI’s and sepsis, and undoubtedly a range of other complications that we are yet to be aware of. We need to take this seriously and protect ourselves.

• Keep yourself updated on the air quality in your area here.
• If the air pollution is high, take measures to protect yourself. This includes staying indoors where possible; closing all the windows and sealing any drafts; refraining from exercising outdoors; making sure you have your medication (puffer if you have asthma, etc) on you at all times; wearing a P2 mask (making sure the seal is tight); and using an air purifier if possible; and if you’re using an air conditioning unit, setting it to inner circulation only. Check CAR’s Bushfire Smoke Factsheet for information on what are the health impacts and how you can minimise exposure.
• Find more information here.