A volunteer firefighter wants everyone to keep supporting the Upper Murray towns devastated by the summer bushfires.
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Wodonga West brigade lieutenant Dave Rossiter says a new outdoor exhibition in central Wodonga will help remind people of the impact on the affected communities.
Our First Responders, comprising six large panels of Border Mail photographs and accompanying information and podcasts, has been installed on the Mann building in High Street.
Just seeing the whole horizon on fire really drove home how big this was. There was no way we were going to stop it
- Dave Rossiter
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This week curator Aimee Chan was able to unveil the project as originally conceived.
Mr Rossiter was among those interviewed for the podcasts, describing how his crew headed to the fires on December 30.
"We were out for about 22 hours, our first appointment," Mr Rossiter said.
"The whole evening was just going from ... one calamity to the next. We actually helped save a house and two elderly occupants down the Nariel Valley road."
A firefighter for 15 years, Mr Rossiter said the summer fires were "up there with Black Saturday" in terms of sheer size, although thankfully with fewer lives lost.
He related particularly to one of the display images, which depicted a long line of fire stalking the landscape.
"You've got that little lonely fire truck down the bottom there going, 'How do we get this out?' - that's the sentiment of the night," he said.
"Just seeing the whole horizon on fire really drove home how big this was.
"There was no way we were going to stop it."
Dr Chan felt proud of how the community came together to create the installation.
"Every cent was donated by small business - there was no government funding, no large corporation involved - or just volunteerism," she said.
Our First Responders served as a public tribute to firefighters "but also as a space for us as a community to come together".
"Reflect, process, pay tribute and heal together, which I think is important ... particularly going into the next fire season," she said.
"I hope that people will stop and think and remember and not just forget among all the COVID news that we've been going through."
