By Lauren Henry

Communities across the Wimmera and beyond have wrapped their arms around those left devastated by the Grass Flat fire on January 9.

A significant amount of donations, including food, clothes and vouchers, have poured in, with priority given to those people who lost homes in the fire.

The fire destroyed 17 homes and at least 15 sheds and outbuildings in Grass Flat, Arapiles, Natimuk, Quantong and Vectis.

Natimuk Bowls Club, one business premises, and countless possessions were lost as the blaze burnt through 8372 hectares of land.

The past week has seen a huge local response to support people in those communities affected by the fire, with the clean-up underway and the recovery phase beginning.

But government bureaucracy has meant fire-affected residents in Quantong, Vectis and Arapiles have only been given access to disaster recovery payments yesterday – more than a week after the State Government announced that applications for support were open to fire-affected residents.

The application portal initially deemed Natimuk eligible but not Quantong, Vectis and Arapiles residents.

Member for Lowan Emma Kealy, who has been advocating to the government to urgently resolve what she described as ‘residents cruelly cut off’, said some people were also having trouble accessing emergency relief payments.

The payments were said to be available for eligible Victorians who lost their homes to fire, or who were required to evacuate due to emergency warnings. 

“You only get the emergency relief payment if you evacuated. So for those people fire-fighting on private appliances, they’re not eligible,” Ms Kealy said.

“If it was too late to leave and you had to stay in place, then you don’t get the payment.

“We know how important private appliances are to regional Victoria – Horsham would’ve burned if we hadn’t have had the private appliances.”

Ms Kealy said it beggared belief that a fire could ravage multiple areas, and yet a government would deem only one town eligible for support.

“Premier Jacinta Allan even posted a photo of the fire’s impact on Quantong on social media, yet a week later the government application portal was still telling people with properties in that photo that a disaster recovery payment was not suitable for them,” she said.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable. It’s hard enough for residents trying to come to terms with the loss of their home to find out they cannot access financial support, but harder still when a government system is coldly telling them the reason they don’t qualify is because they haven’t been impacted.

“This negligence and disrespect has added further distress during an already harrowing time, and it’s far from how any government should engage with communities in their time of need.”

The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment helps people if the disaster caused major damage to their home or major assets that they own at their home. The payment is $1000 per adult and $400 for each child under 16.

Ms Kealy encouraged communities to continue to support affected residents in any way possible, whether through practical support on the ground, or by making a donation through the Wimmera Fires GIVIT page at fundraise.givit.org.au/fundraisers/wimmerafires2026. 

“We need to continue to look after each other and ensure those impacted are supported today, tomorrow, and for the many months of recovery ahead,” Ms Kealy said.

The entire January 21, 2026 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!