POWER woes and smoke pollution tied to bushfires have prompted separate upgrade works in Victoria and the Riverina.
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The RACV is putting in solar panels and batteries at places of last resort in the North East, while the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment has improved air quality stations at Rand and Deniliquin.
Tallangatta's Rowen Park has become the first site to be bolstered under the RACV plan which involves $1 million in equipment being donated and installed in bushfire-prone areas in Victoria.
Forty solar panels have been erected on the roof of the pavilion at the oval over the past week, providing an extra 15 kilowatts of power to add to an existing six-kilowatt system.
Battery storage supplying 28-kilowatt hours has also been added.
Other sites to benefit under the program will be the former Stanley Primary School, Wodonga Foodshare, halls at Biggara, Cudgewa and Harrietville and the Dederang Recreation Reserve.
They are among 28 locations selected across Victoria after 100 were originally nominated.
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The work is designed to ensure if the power fails, the emergency centres will be able to keep operating.
In Tallangatta's case that would allow the commercial kitchen to continue as well as lighting and power points.
Meanwhile, the Black Summer bushfires have also inspired upgrades to the Rand and Deniliquin equipment.
"Air quality monitoring stations at Deniliquin and Rand were upgraded in July 2020 to measure particles less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter (PM2.5) and particles less than 10 micrometres in diameter (PM10), in addition to total suspended particles," an environment department figure said.
That brings the sites into line with Lavington which already measured particles to that degree.
Five descriptions, good, fair, poor, very poor and extremely poor, and colours extending from green to brown accompany the figures.
"These categories present air quality information in a format that is simple and easy to comprehend and will help Australians make informed decisions during air pollution events and take steps to reduce personal exposure," the spokeswoman said.
The air quality mark for Lavington incorporates particle levels as well as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and visibility which are also measured at the station.
