Tony Kemna, of Far Out Fishing, has certainly gone far above the call of duty since Mallacoota was hit by the bushfires.
He completed his first rescue run on New Year’s Day, leaving Lakes Entrance at 2am, on his boat, Far Out II, after his fellow fishing community in Mallacoota put a call out for generators, gas and essentials such as bottled water.
The journey is 380 kilometres return and takes eight hours all up.
“They urgently needed generators and the navy and other government departments had too much red tape to get through, so I decided to get them up there,” Tony said.
Tony was one of the first boats to arrive after the initial fire.
“People were in the water meeting my boat as I docked. They were all wanting to get out, but I had to be very careful with the way the conditions were. I evacuated families the first few trips, then things got rough.
“A couple of trips it would have been just too rough. It would be too traumatising, especially for children, when conditions turned bad.
“Most trips coming back at night I was relying on radar and GPS as the smoke was just that thick.
“I took a Channel 7 film crew up with me the first trip to get the message out. It was a very difficult trip, but we needed to get publicity of how dire the situation was.
At that stage there was no navy or helicopters, but an Esso oil rig boat was there first with supplies.
“The smoke was so thick you couldn’t see the front of the boat,” Tony said.
Tony’s boat is nine metres in length not the biggest boat but he has many years of experience on the ocean.
He has a great relationship with the Border Police and Water Police.
“They did not want private boats heading up to Mallacoota, in case they ran out of fuel. It is a long way up there and back,” Tony said.
He conducted seven runs and was thinking that would be it, but has been contacted to do another one.
Other than one tank of fuel, Tony has funded all of his trips himself – a great financial sacrifice.
“Mallacoota is close to my heart and helping out is what it’s all about,” he said.
Tony has been astounded by the generosity of so many people.
“Eight Mates Freight has been phenomenal. They have organised supplies, no matter what is requested, and transported them to Lakes.
Then the locals have appeared to help load up,” Tony said.
“Many businesses have donated so much, Bursons in particular with the generators, Danielle and Frank Milito, Caltex Service Station, organised 27 gas bottles for the first load and the local community came in and donated funds.
“Sam from Foodworks donated carrots for the horses, Lakes Plumbing, Gippsland Jersey with milk, East Gippsland Water just to name a few. It has just been unbelievable.”
The entrance into Mallacoota is very shallow at the moment meaning many bigger boats can’t get in.
IMAGE: Far Out Fishing charters owner, Tony Kemna, has swapped deep sea fishing for rescue missions in recent weeks, supplying much-needed goods and evacuating families at Mallacoota while it deals with the bushfire threat. (PS)
