Fiendish hands with violent fingers, lash all around.

Confusion, consuming us, we fall weeping.

Such cruelty.

We rise amidst, the suffocating cloud, to be carried by the wind.

Drifting we travel, falling, falling in tears blanketing the land.

Black ribbons stretched along the shore, abandoned by the tide.

A billion souls drifting, drifting in the wind.

Onward across the blue to foreign shores, never to return.

Earth turns, still falling, returning home.

Those left, tired now.

Time now, we can fall on our scorched but beloved land.

Talking to my brother who works in the Emergency Services, he made the point many of us have forgotten: it's not just the firies who have worked hard this fire season.

Many emergency services personnel have worked the fires since they started up north. They are exhausted and have foregone their holidays for the 2019/2020 end of year.

All emergency service personnel should be commended for the effort they have made while the fires have raged. But they need to be afforded a special break.

RSPCA is providing assistance to fire-affected people with pets. Items such as pet food, bowls, bedding, collars, leads, flea and tick treatments, water troughs and horse blankets can be accessed. The number to call is 1300 278 3589.

Eurobodalla Branch has been busy distributing donated food and other items to charities and collection points around the shire.

Many people who have lost their homes are now faced with having to surrender their pets - so sad. For that reason, we are in urgent need of more foster carers. Carers are provided with all requisites, and have support available at all times. Please ring 0424 228 425 if you can help.

As one of numerous residents evacuated to Narooma in the New Year's Eve bushfire, I had some memorable experiences. One aspect which truck me was how much worse the unavailability of power made the experience for the many folk trapped in Narooma, as well as the usual residents. Those anxious to leave when the window of escape to Canberra opened, could not do so (even when there was fuel availability) because petrol pumps were not operating. Very few businesses opened, affecting availability of food and other necessary items, and reducing the options for any activity other than sitting in the evacuation centre. It became evident that the South Coast depends on power supply from the north: one slender line of supply easily taken out by bushfire. I had the vague idea we had moved to having local supplementation from solar farms, but this is apparently not the case. How vulnerable does this leave us?

Hopefully, while we are all thinking about what has happened, there might be some moves at a macro as well as micro level to make our communities more robust. No, I don't mean buying more petrol and diesel generators, although that has clearly happened. Homes, businesses, and public facilities need to make appropriate decisions about how dependent they want to be on mains supplies. You couldn't even use the public toilets in Narooma as the flushing system was electronic. How appropriate was that?

There has been enormous damage and loss of buildings due to bushfires in NSW and particularly in our electorate. Regional areas like our coast already suffer a shortage of qualified people in the Building Trades and with massive reconstruction due there is likely to be a shortage of skilled personnel to rebuild. Renewal may therefore take years with cost blowouts unless we have additional qualified local builders, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, concreters, tilers and roofers. I suggest State and Federal emergency funds be immediately directed to TAFE to revitalise Building Trades courses and to enrol local apprentices in the upcoming first term of 2020. This will provide much needed training and employment of locals while rebuilding and boosting our stressed economy. Additionally, such a plan will give hope to many of our younger unemployed and provide job skills into the future.

I am overwhelmed by the generosity from She Fashion Narooma. After hearing I had spent my 76^th Birthday in the Evacuation Centre, the owner spontaneously presented me with a beautiful pink scarf.

Dianne Miller, Narooma