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Post Info TOPIC: Major fire out of control in Victorian High Country
rockylizard


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Major fire out of control in Victorian High Country
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Gday...

I have just taken this from the Victorian Country Fire Authority site -

Mount Hotham, Hotham Heights and Dinner Plain

Effective: 31/01/13 7:16 PM

Expires: 31/01/13 8:15 PM

Incident Information:

There is a large, fast moving bushfire in the Mount Hotham, Hotham Heights and Dinner Plain area. It is travelling in a south easterly direction.
This fire is expected to impact anytime within the next hour.
  • This bushfire is approximately 5000 hectares in size and is out of control, currently creating spot-fires approximately 0.5 km/s ahead.
  • Relocation is not advisable.
  • The Great Alpine Road is closed between Harrietville and Dinner Plain. The Dargo High Plains Road is closed between High Plains and Dargo.
 

What to do:

 
  • Act immediately- you are in danger. There is a risk to lives and homes.
  • Homes are not designed or constructed to withstand fire in these conditions.
  • Consider shelter options close by. This may include a private bunker (that meets current regulations).
  • Last resort options include a stationary car in a cleared area, a ploughed paddock or reserve or body of water like a swimming pool or dam.
  • If you cannot leave the area take shelter when the fire arrives - protect yourself from the fire's heat.
  • If you are away from home; do not return.
  • If time permits, check your neighbours to see if they are monitoring conditions.

It sounds like there is a real threat to property and lives ...... what a tumultuous world we are living in cry

(hope the font is not too small - it is working strangely for me)

Cheers - John



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aussietraveller


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Australia is certainly a country of strange extremes with Raging fires in Victoria and massive flooding in Queensland and NSW, I really feel for the residents of both areas and I hope any of our forum friends in these areas are safe and stay safe.

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brickies


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I would only hope that everyone who are on the road read these reports and kept away from such area

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Gerty Dancer


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OMG! Its so scary to hear that warning. Hope everybody stays safe and they get some rain very soon.

Bless all those firies, they seem to have been working non-stop for weeks.

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Boothie


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I want to say something, but my belief in the Australian bush to repair itself stops me from mouthing off.

Last burnt when and why burning now?  Did not matter before it all became a tourist resort.

Okay, I mouthed off, but the country needed burning.



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Gerty Dancer


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Controlled fuel-reduction burning would be a good idea, problem is who's going to do it? Who's going to pay for it? The state governments dont seem to want to spend the money, nor local councils, and National Parks dont seem to be able to afford much.

I think the land where the fires are currently was burnt in the 2003 fires... does anybody know if thats true? If so, its too soon for the bush to  regenerate after the hot fires then.

In answer to Retreat, they are apparently still studying the effects of grazing, its not as cut-and-dried as you might think. See following links.

http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/parks-and-reserves/whats-new/bushfire-risk-management

http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Environment/Australian-Landscapes/AlpineGrazingAndFire.aspx



-- Edited by Gerty Dancer on Friday 1st of February 2013 10:58:21 AM



-- Edited by Gerty Dancer on Friday 1st of February 2013 11:15:19 AM

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brickies


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Control burning at the right time can can stop the build up of fuel which is a problem when a fire starts

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Retreat


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Maybe the re-introduction of cattle grazing into the high country would help prevent fires for an adjustment return to the government rather than a cost passed on to taxpayers.

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Retreat


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Retreat wrote:

Maybe the re-introduction of cattle grazing into the high country would help prevent fires for an agistment return to the government rather than a cost passed on to taxpayers.

 



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rockylizard


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Gerty Dancer wrote:

~~~~~ I think the land where the fires are currently was burnt in the 2003 fires... does anybody know if thats true? ~~~~~

 Gday...

You are correct Gerty. 

The first photo is taken from Danny's Lookout at Hotham Heights about a week ago - the area this fire is now burning. The white amongst the trees that looks like snow is the still dead trees, killed in the 2003 fires.

The second photo was taken in 2011 on the road to Cabramurra from Corryong - the trees will never revive from the 2003 fire.

This country is so inaccessible away from the major road/s that when lightning starts a fire (which is what started this fire a week ago down at Mt Feathertop) it burns for weeks and the firefighters can only try to contain it until it burns itself out.

Cheers - John



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brickies


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Many years ago the local and Bush fire brigade would do this for practice and training , But was only done in cooler months when the weather was right

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brickies


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In the Queensland pine forrest when the floor of forrest started to have to bigger fuel load they would set fire to the floor of the forrest in the cool weather with the right conditions this was done by air with special little balls that ignited on impact with the floor of the forrest

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Gerty Dancer


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rockylizard wrote:

This country is so inaccessible away from the major road/s that when lightning starts a fire (which is what started this fire a week ago down at Mt Feathertop) it burns for weeks and the firefighters can only try to contain it until it burns itself out.

Cheers - John

Thanks John, great photos.

That was how the fires that burnt 500 homes in Canberra started.. lightning out in the forests in inaccessible country. By the time it reached country where they might have been able to fight it, the weather was hotter and the fire so huge it was unstoppable, its amazing more people werent killed.



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Mr B2


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Not only Mt Hotham is burning, But the one at Baw Baw is still going as well. We have had rain last night, But not enough to put either of them out,

Stay away from these area's, as there is only one road in or out, and you could get caught in the middle with fires before and after you, Then you are in it, and no way out,

The last bush fires at Kinglake and Marysville, The bush has regrown and is now worse for bush fires than it was then, as the new growth is all the way up the trees now,

I live in the area, My property is tinder dry, It would explode if a spark was dropped into it, Its quite a worry,

Only rain will put these fires out, The Firies do a marvellous job, but it really is beyond their capability, They can only try to control the edges.

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Cheers, Brian,
Gerty Dancer


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Good luck Brian, I appreciate how worrying it is. You can do your best by clearing around the house etc, some people have sprinklers on their roofs, but its b****scary!

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