General News
13 December, 2024
Brigades respond to multiple incidents in two days, with calls for residents to be more cautious
In a hectic two days for local firefighters, emergency services attended four blazes across the Central Goldfields, highlighting a worrying trend of grass fires in the community.
The series of fires had eerie similarities, with the first two incidents caused by private slashing works igniting the grass and the last two occurring along roadsides.
Local fire brigades were first called at around 11.15 Tuesday morning to a private property along Moonlight Road in Moonlight Flat, less than 10 minutes from Maryborough.
Brigades from Bowenvale, Carisbrook, Dunolly, Maryborough and Wareek as well as units from Forest Fire Management managed to control the blaze by around 12.15 pm after it burned through two hectares.
A near identical blaze in location, cause and size occurred on Wednesday, with first responders at another private property on Moonlight Road arriving at around 12.10 pm.
Four brigades and multiple private units attended the scene which was deemed under control within an hour.
The incidents follow similar occurrences locally, with grass fires on private properties in Carisbrook, Red Lion and Archdale happening in the last six weeks.
Incident Controller Robert Durbridge said the recent increase in grass fires has become a cause for concern.
“It rings a bell loud and clear that you need to do your preparations earlier in the season and not leave it to the last minute,” he said.
“It’s very dry, the fire on Tuesday burnt a lot of ground and it was a fairly fierce flame height and Wednesday was going very slowly until we got a gust of wind that took it into trees.
“It can be very volatile even in this time of year so people need to get their fire preparation done early.
“What people have got to realise is even though they are compliant with all the necessary firefighting equipment on the slasher, they can still be charged with lighting a fire in the Fire Danger Period.
“They really need to get all their ducks in a line and seriously think about when they do it and how they do it so they don’t start a fire.”
At around 3 pm on Wednesday, brigades from Maryborough and Wareek were called to a roadside fire burning both sides of the Maryborough-St Arnaud Road near Bartletts Lane in Alma.
The blaze burnt an acre and a half of roadside grass before emergency services managed to control the incident by 3.10 pm.
Approximately an hour later, a roadside fire was reported along Bendigo-Maryborough Road near Maryborough-Dunolly Road in Havelock.
It took firefighters from Bowenvale, Dunolly and Maryborough as well as three Forest Fire Management vehicles and a helicopter attack to fight the blaze which was deemed under control at around 5.30 pm.
The incident, which burnt approximately three hectares, remains under investigation by a CFA fire investigator.
Police were called to both Wednesday afternoon fires with both circumstances deemed not suspicious.
According to Dunolly Fire Brigade Captain Greg Humphrey, the recent series of fires serve as a timely reminder to the community to be constantly aware of fire danger.
“When you get so many in a few days you start wondering,” he said.
“Just be very careful and remain vigilant when you’re travelling on roads to ensure nothing is dragging behind or beneath your vehicle.”