Firies chilled with fridge donations

Almost 100 Kwinana residents gave firefighters a proverbial pat on the back last week when they dug deep to raise more than $3000 to pay for a new fire station fridge.

Kwinana South Bushfire Brigade volunteer Tim Wilson said the team was inundated with offers of cases of beer to thank them for their hard work during an unusually busy bushfire season.

But Mr Wilson said what the brigade's 30 volunteers really needed was a new fridge to store their water and cool drinks, after the 20-year-old industrial fridge at the Bertram station reached the end of its lifespan.

He said the volunteers could not believe it when generous strangers raised more than $3000 in just one day, through crowdfunding website Gofundme.

"Everyone wanted to come round and drop off drinks, but the brigade really needed something more long lasting," Mr Wilson said.

"The response has been crazy - we were able to buy two new 1000 litre fridges to replace the old ones."

Brigade second lieutenant Anna Fryer said volunteers had been called to almost 70 bushfire emergencies since the middle of December - more than double the number of calls on the same time last year.

Mrs Fryer said volunteers used the big fridges to store drinks to take out on the road when they were called out.

Mrs Fryer's husband Duane, a fellow volunteer, said the brigade were "feeling the love" from the community.