On April 13, Albury Wodonga Creatives released the Our First Responders website to pay tribute to and acknowledge the valuable contribution of the first responders during the 2019-20 bushfire season.
The website consists of a series of 6 podcast episodes accompanying images from The Border Mail that document the first person experiences of three local firefighters.
The firefighters featured on the website are Ian Avage (NSWRFS Deputy Group Officer and member of Splitters Creek RFB), Dave Rossiter (Lieutenant Recruitment and Communications, Wodonga West Fire Brigade) and Brent Jackson (first time firefighter, Wodonga West Fire Brigade).
The podcasts capture the firefighters talking about how it felt to be on the fire ground, the day-to-day experiences of being a volunteer firefighter and walk through the events of the Green Valley fires on December 30, 2019 that resulted in the death of firefighter Sam McPaul.
Our First Responders was originally envisioned as a ephemeral public art project with 6 large scale 3 x 4 metre photographs with links to podcast episodes on the external walls of the Manns Central Building on High Street in Wodonga. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the exhibition has now moved to a digital format (the website). It is planned that in the future the physical exhibition will still take place as planned.
Our First Responders is a non-profit project funded entirely through the donation of time, money and goods from people within Albury Wodonga. There has not been any external financial or other assistance from government or other metropolitan centres.
Visit ourfirstresponders.com.au for more information.