00:02Maureen Donnellan is scared to drive her car these days, not because the 79-year-old fears
00:09the roads, but because she's not sure when she'll be able to get fuel.
00:13It feels like COVID all over again. It's that horrible restriction of movement. It's very cruel, really.
00:23This motel was the only place the town's 700 residents could buy unleaded.
00:28But more than three weeks ago, the owner decided it was too expensive to order any more,
00:35saying the business has been struggling to cover the increasing cost of fuel,
00:40together with the day-to-day expenses of running the site.
00:44To buy into a business in town and then cut off the only fuel supply available for unleaded fuel
00:50is, to me, very disappointing.
00:52The nearest unleaded fuel bouses are more than 30 kilometres away.
00:56After weeks of dry bouses, the owners have just made a delivery of fuel to the town,
01:03but the Birchip community is unsure about its long-term prospects.
01:08In the meantime, residents are rationing the fuel they have left,
01:12as Maureen wonders how she'll cope with her busy social calendar.
01:16October would be the one month we'd all be going places.
01:20This is running on fumes.
