Shoalhaven City Council's bushfire recovery co-ordinator has thanked residents for their patience as the bushfire cleanup mission begins and is focused on ensuring the region comes out better than it was before the crisis
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The Shoalhaven faced a mammoth bushfire season with around 82 per cent of its 4,660 square kilometres pf the city burnt to the ground.
The region was undeniably one of the worst areas hit in NSW.
Shoalhaven City Council bushfire recovery co-ordinator at Vince Di Pietro,said rebuilding the community is the council's priority.
"Our top three concerns are the physical clean-up, emerging mental health problems and getting businesses back on their feet," he said.
"Recycling is a big part of that solution because there is a lot of waste and debris, but also, every home has solvents and cleaners that need to be disposed of properly."
The recovery mission includes a built, economic and tourism, social and environment team. Each team reports to the committee about how things are progressing.
"We go through strict and disciplined headlines - what's the current state, what's changed and what do we need to update," Di Pietro said.
In January residents were evacuating to beaches and homes completely out of reach, but conditions have improved significantly.
"We thank you for your patience. I do know that now there are no live-able dwellings without water, power or sewerage," Di Pietro said.
"Communication is 99 per cent right but there are still people in Kangaroo Valley where this is not the case."
Part of Council's recovery mission includes a roll-out of 12 mobile recovery hubs. Starting on Friday, March 6, each hub will travel to affected communities to offer support.
"Experts on-board the hubs are tailored to the places they visit and anyone in the area can come up and ask them questions," Di Pietro said.
The next step for the council is recruiting tradesmen to assist with rebuilding.
With countless homes, sheds and fencing destroyed manual labor is a necessity.
Tradesmen can register their skills, services and company on the Shoalhaven City Council website.
"We have the tradies and the talent, we just need to get their names somewhere so people can call them," Di Pietro said.
Mr Di Pietro acknowledged repairing the damage won't be possible overnight, but the recovery plan is a step in the right direction.
"If someone told me 90 days ago that we'd be evacuating Australians with the Royal Australian Navy on the South Coast of NSW I would've laughed at them. But it happened," he said.
"The plan has a vision: Shoalhaven emerges out of this is better than it was prior to the fires."
All information and updates on the bushfire recovery plan can be found on the council's website or on its social media feeds.
