Pitch festival cancelled, reveller dies as state’s heatwave drags on

A music festival criticised for proceeding over the sweltering long weekend in Victoria’s south-west has been called off early, starting a scramble for attendees to leave the bush as another total fire ban was declared for Monday in the area.

Victoria Police confirmed that a 23-year-old man died after becoming unresponsive early on Sunday morning at the Pitch Music and Arts Festival near the Grampians.

The Pitch Music and Arts festival in 2017.

Melbourne has been sweating through its worst heatwave of the year since Saturday, with the state on high alert for bushfires, and events cancelled across the city, including the City of Melbourne’s signature Moomba parade.

Ticket-holders and concerned family of attendees had slammed the Pitch festival for pressing ahead this weekend despite the Country Fire Authority advising people to stay away as the fire danger rating climbed to extreme on Saturday.

About 18,000 people were expected to attend, most of them camping on-site at Moyston, where mobile reception is limited – and about a 40-minute drive from where a major bushfire, now under control, tore through national parks last month.

The 23-year-old man died after attending the festival over the weekend with the cause of death still to be confirmed.

Victoria Police are preparing a report for the coroner following the death of the man who became unresponsive on Sunday at 1am.

Ambulance Victoria said paramedics treated a man at Mafeking, west of Ararat, and he was airlifted to The Alfred in a critical condition.

Police said he died later on Sunday morning.

AV paramedics were called to two other incidents at the festival with a male in his 20s taken to Ararat Hospital in a stable condition and a male in his 30s was taken to Ballarat Hospital in a stable condition.

Organisers cancelled the remainder of the festival on Sunday and later that night issued a statement saying they were “deeply saddened” about the death.

“Our thoughts are with their family and friends,” the statement read. “We have our Crowd Care team on site to support patrons and staff, and are committed to providing support services to those who need them. We cannot comment further at this time given the necessity to protect the privacy of those affected.”

On Sunday afternoon, after the CFA declared a second total fire ban for the area to cover Monday, organisers announced they had been directed by authorities to cancel the rest of the event.

“Nobody is in immediate danger,” the organisers said. “We encourage everyone on site not to rush, calmly pack up and depart either this evening or tomorrow morning.”

Pitch ticket holders have slammed mixed messaging from organisers on social media. Pitch had cautioned them on Friday to follow CFA advice and stay away – without cancelling the event - then on Saturday afternoon declared that “programming will commence at 6pm today … and continue as scheduled for the remainder of the event”.

Attendees were reassured there was ample, food, water, shade and misting fans as well as some free Wi-Fi and an active police, fire and medical presence on site.

As some concerned parents drove out to collect their kids at the festival anyway, many attendees have already asked for refunds on their tickets – worth between $450 and $500 – which on Sunday organisers said would be considered soon. “Our top priority right now is to get everyone on site home safely,” organisers said. “We have consistently followed the guidance of relevant authorities throughout the entire process.”

Additional buses to Ararat were running from the festival site until 6pm on Sunday and again from 6am on Monday, with staff on hand to assist.

In Melbourne, the temperature did not fall below 27 degrees on Saturday night, “a near-record high” for the city, said senior meteorologist Lincoln Trainor at the Bureau of Meteorology.

Overnight minimums reached all-time highs at Melbourne, Essendon and Hopetoun airports and Lakes Entrance as a warm stagnant trough lingers over Australia’s south-east, pushing up temperatures in South Australia and Tasmania as well.

Sunday was forecast to reach 39 degrees in Melbourne ahead of another balmy night and 37 on Monday, before a cool change arrives on Tuesday.

“But it’ll be a slow uninspiring change, creeping through, probably reaching Melbourne around 7am to 10am,” Trainor said.

No storms or wild winds are expected, and the north of the state will stay hot until Wednesday.

Saturday, the first day of the heatwave, did not quite hit the 38 degrees expected, which would have meant Melbourne endured its hottest run of March days since 1942. Instead, the recorded top was 37.6 in the city.

But Trainor warned: “This heat is still 10 to 15 degrees above the March average. That’s putting stress on the body. That’s dangerous.” The entire south of the state, including Melbourne, remains under a severe heatwave warning.

“The heat has pushed out the sea breeze all the way to the coast,” said Trainor. “We haven’t seen a heatwave like this yet this year.”

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said that cancelling Moomba’s centrepiece parade “was a very difficult decision, particularly in Moomba’s 70th year”. “But we must prioritise people’s health in these extreme conditions,” Capp said, as those in the parade are required to don hot, heavy costumes out in the sun for many hours.

A total fire ban was in place across parts of Victoria on Saturday, but extreme fire conditions eased a little Sunday as gusty northerly winds settled, Trainor said. “ Now the [fire] danger is still high, but just below extreme.”

Several festivals are being held over the long weekend in Victoria, including Golden Plains in Meredith, near Ballarat. Some have questioned the wisdom of holding large events out in the bush during the hottest months of the year, as climate change drives up temperatures and bushfire risk.

Harm Reduction Victoria, whose DanceWize teams were present at the Pitch and Esoteric festivals this weekend, reminded attendees of the risks of drug taking, particularly in the heat.

A pop-up cooling relief centre in Melbourne’s CBD for the city’s most vulnerable had closed in February after running over the summer – but reopened for the long weekend.

“Unprecedented conditions call for unprecedented responses,” said Chris Turner of Cohealth, which runs the service. “We made the call with City of Melbourne on Friday to open the doors so that people have somewhere to get some respite and to prevent more serious health emergencies.”

Elderly people, children, pregnant women and those sleeping rough are especially vulnerable during heatwaves, as are pets and wildlife, but anyone can be affected.

People are advised to stay out of the sun, where it can be 15 degrees higher than the maximum temperature recorded. Temperatures can double within a parked car within minutes, authorities have warned.

If you encounter a heat-stressed animal, call Wildlife Victoria on 03 8400 7300.

with Rachael Dexter and Max Walden

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