Kaye Harrison, of Waipawa, has set up a Givealittle page in an attempt to give back to the firefighters. Photo / Warren Buckland
Kaye Harrison, of Waipawa, has set up a Givealittle page in an attempt to give back to the firefighters. Photo / Warren Buckland
A Hawke's Bay local has set up a fundraising page in an attempt to give back to the firefighters who've been battling the blazes across Central Hawke's Bay.
Waipawa resident Kaye Harrison, who set up the Givealittle page on Friday, said herself and other CHB locals wantto give something back to show appreciation to both the full-time and volunteer fire crews.
Seven large scrub fires have burned across Hawke's Bay since the end of January, with firefighters from Hawke's Bay and outside the region tackling the blazes in difficult conditions.
"We were watching the news reports and hearing the sirens going off all the time for the last few weeks, and were all thinking how tired they must be," she said.
"I thought instead of the usual saying thank you on Facebook, that I'd do something about it. Our entire community appreciates them and just want to treat them to something nice as our way of letting them know we thank them."
"The plan is to have a celebration - either a dinner or barbeque with their employers and families, with all the meals and drinks paid for by fundraising.
"We will invite other fire departments that also helped out recently with the fires and any money left over will be given to the fire departments to spend as they wish."
The Makororo Road scrub fire, near Tikokino, was one of seven blazes across Hawke's Bay since Friday January 31. Photo / Warren Buckland
Harrison, who is the third generation of her family to live in Waipawa, said she has not personally been affected by the fires, but "loves them [the firefighters] all" for their hard work.
