CFA units from Ovens-Eurobin [Beechworth], Tatong and Whitegate will each receive donations of $4000 during a presentation at Apex Park, Wangaratta, at noon, Friday, February 19 2010, The Nationals Member for Murray Valley, Ken Jasper, said today.

Mr Jasper said the donations, from the Glenvale Private School, are part of $206,000 in donations to 47 CFA brigades involved in last February’s tragic Black Saturday bushfires.

This money has come from the profits realised through the sale of the excellent hardcover book, Firestorm – Black Saturday’s Tragedy, he said.

This professionally compiled and produced book, the work of Glenvale Private School students, containing 240 colour pages of incredible photographs and first hand accounts from survivor’s of one of Australia’s worst natural disasters, has turned into a bestseller in its category of true stories.

Students, parents and staff from the Glenvale Private School Nathalia campus, will be in attendance for Friday’s presentation.

Glenvale School spokesman, Bruce Garrett, said many of the communities near Glenvale campuses were directly affected by the fires and this was one of the motivations for producing the book.

Firestorm helps us to understand, empathise and share in this awful tragedy and opens our eyes to what our fellow Australians endured during that mighty inferno, Mr Garrett said.

The first cheque presentation was held at the Kinglake Fire Station, where 12 brigades received donations totalling $62,000. Other cheque handovers have been held at Churchill, Lilydale, Moe, Bendigo, Coleraine and Warragul.

Firestorm publishing team member Rod Greenfield said they had tried to identify brigades in fire affected areas and others nearby who rallied to help on that fateful day, which were in urgent need of funds to purchase vehicles or equipment to increase their fire fighting power.

The appreciative response we have had from brigades across Victoria who had heard they were in line for a donation has been very rewarding indeed, he said.