Families flee as fires rage across southwest Victoria

A wedding party of 150 people came close to disaster as fires raged throughout the weekend in Victoria’s south-west.

Phil and Maree Beasley standing in the burnt remains of their home in Terang, Victoria. Picture: Stuart McEvoy.

Sara Moyle knew she and the 150-strong wedding party at her farm were in danger when they started seeing embers in the sky.

“It was a horrific bushfire night and we were right in the line of fire,” she said.

The Moyles were just one family affected by a series of bushfires in southwest Victoria at the weekend, blazing through up to a dozen homes, hundreds of cattle and 40,000ha of land.

The fires were in a large area in Victoria’s prized Western District grazing and cropping country.

Ms Moyle’s daughter, Elle, was hosting the nuptials of a friend at the family farm in Gazette, 247km from Melbourne’s CBD, on Saturday night when they were suddenly surrounded by the fire.

“There was a power failure earlier during the reception,” she said.

“It was after we sorted that out that we smelled smoke and within 10 minutes we were surrounded. We got everyone immediately to shelter in the stables.”

Ms Moyle got into her car and drove up to the country fire volunteers and told them she had 150 people in her stables. “The country fire volunteers were absolutely amazing. After we called 000, they got everyone safely escorted out of the property.”

Firefighters, including Ms Moyle’s husband Nick, stayed behind all night to fight the blaze. Nobody was hurt but the house in which their son Harry was staying and two sheds were destroyed. “No lives were lost and that’s the main thing,” Ms Moyle said.

Emergency services were still trying to control four blazes across the region though the warnings were downgraded and nobody was being asked to evacuate as of last night.

Victorian Deputy Premier James Merlino announced payments of up to $1900 for bushfire victims to spend on emergency food, clothing and water.

Victoria Police closed roads around the fire zones yesterday, limiting access to Cobden, Terang and Camperdown.

A CFA staging point was set up near the Fonterra processing plant as firefighters battled strong winds which carried smoke from the fire lines into town.

Terang couple Phil and Maree Beasley looked over the devastation of their family home yesterday, finding only burnt bits of cookware and crockery intact.

Next to the ruins of their house, 190km southwest of Melboune, their shed remained untouched and the Beasleys considered themselves fortunate. “All our family is in the area,” Mr Beasley said. “We’ve been lucky enough. Friends of our family have given us a house to stay in.”

Mrs Beasley said while it was the first time she had had to rebuild after a bushfire, her parents had lost their home in the Ash Wednesday bushfires. “They were able to rebuild again; we can too.”

The Beasleys’ neighbour, a dairy farmer, managed to get one lot of stock out while about 45 cows were lost on Saturday night.

Nearly 800 people reportedly sought shelter in relief centres yesterday and the state’s emergency services received up to 400 ­requests for help.