At least one home has been lost, with more likely in Victorian bushfires
Emergency services say up to 50 properties were saved overnight by aerial surveillance and water-bombing, but at least one home has been lost, with more likely
At least one home has been lost and more are feared to have been destroyed as bushfires continue to burn northwest of Ballarat, in Victoria’s west.
Premier Jacinta Allan said more than 1000 firefighters had worked through Thursday night to save properties and livestock, with a wind change on Thursday evening sending the fire in a northeasterly direction towards Avoca, and emergency “leave immediately” warnings current on Friday morning for Amphitheatre, Elmhurst, Mount Cole and surrounding districts.
“We are sadly hearing reports of property loss that are now starting to come through,” Ms Allan said.
“Given the active nature of the fire and the difficult terrain in the area, it is going to take some time to assess the full extent of the damage.”
“There are crews on the ground from this morning, commencing that impact assessment, work. That will take some time, both to make sure it can be done safely, and given the terrain and the active fire in the area.”
Relief centres are operating in Maryborough, Ararat, and the Ballarat suburb of Wendouree.
Many local roads have been closed, with the Western Highway between Ballarat and Ararat expected to reopen later on Friday.
More than 5000 properties are without power across Victoria — many of them having lost power during Thursday’s wild weather.
Emergency Services Commissioner Rick Nugent said what has been dubbed the “Rocky Road” fire had reached 11,000 hectares in size on Friday morning.
“It is a significant fire, and all available efforts have been made to suppress and contain that fire,” Mr Nugent said.
“There was a significant amount of fire activity overnight as the wind changed and moved through the fireground area, pushing it to the north.”
Mr Nugent said 59 aircraft were in Victoria supporting firefighting efforts, including two large air tankers and a large helicopter from NSW.
“Line scanning was undertaken overnight by the aircraft and has been invaluable to provide the intelligence necessary to understand the extent of the fire and look at suppressing activity,” he said.
“I was advised last night by the air attack supervisor that aerial support has potentially saved up to 50 properties in that fireground, so those efforts are extraordinary in support of the efforts on the ground by our firefighters.”
Country Fire Authority Chief Jason Heffernan said authorities were aware of one home having been lost.
“However, intelligence to myself has indicated there’s likely to be more,” he said.
“We have specialist rapid impact damage assessment teams on the fireground as we speak now, undertaking those assessments, and we hope to have a better idea in terms of total property losses later on in the day.
“I also expect (there) to be significant outbuildings, fence losses and likely to be stock losses as well, given the agricultural areas in which the fire is burning.”
Mr Heffernan said extreme fire conditions, including temperatures in the 40s and strong, gusty, hot northwesterly winds of up to 80km/h had seen the Rocky Road fire grow rapidly after it started shortly after 10am on Thursday.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
“We knew it was going to get worse before it got better, and the Bureau (of Meteorology) were predicting that southwesterly strong wind change to come through the state, impacting the fireground at around 7-8pm, and that it did,” Mr Heffernan said.
“We saw, as predicted, up to 80km/h from the southwest, we saw one of the side flanks of the fire, the northern side of that, turning to the fire front, and make an advance to the north, towards those communities there.”
This Emergency Warning is being issued for Amphitheatre, Chute, Elmhurst, Eversley, Glenlofty, Glenlogie, Glenpatrick, Glenshee, Green Hill Creek, Landsborough, Mount Cole, Mount Lonarch, Nowhere Creek.
— VicEmergency (@vicemergency) February 23, 2024
Leaving immediately is the safest option.https://t.co/2o3KS0R1Ovpic.twitter.com/TlygjJyBAM
Mr Heffernan said the fire was still “very active” on Friday morning, and moving towards the communities of Elmhurst and Amphitheatre, with temperatures having fallen, but winds still blowing strongly.
“In the next 24 hours, we will see some milder type conditions, so we’ve got to get through today and get through the southwesterly winds, then we’ll see a return to milder conditions, milder temperatures and milder winds,” he said.
“I do anticipate at this stage that next Wednesday is likely to be Victoria’s next fire spike day. Whilst the predictions are always uncertain this far out, we are expecting conditions somewhat similar to yesterday: again, temperatures returning to 40 degrees, with strong northerly winds, with a southwesterly bluster coming through later in the day.”
As of 11am on Friday, emergency “leave now” warnings were in place for the communities of Amphitheatre, Chute, Elmhurst, Eversley, Glenlofty, Glenlogie, Glenpatrick, Glenshee, Green Hill Creek, Landsborough, Mount Cole, Mount Lonarch, Nowhere Creek, Bayindeen, Beaufort, Ben Nevis, Chute, Eversley, Glenlogie, Main Lead, Middle Creek, Mount Cole, Mount Cole Creek, Mount Lonarch, Raglan, Warrak and Waterloo.
A watch & act warning was in place for Lexton.
The fire emergency follows the loss of 46 properties in the Grampians, in Victoria’s far west, last week.
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