Property damage assessments underway in Pelham as fires continue
Fire crews are assessing property damage on Tuesday following the outbreak of a damaging bushfire which tore through parts of the upper Derwent Valley and remains active.
Tasmania
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FIRE crews will spend Tuesday morning assessing the extent of property damage caused by an out-of-control bushfire which tore through parts of the upper Derwent Valley yesterday.
Tasmania Fire Service chief officer Chris Arnol said a 1300ha blaze which started by lightning strikes in the rural area of Pelham about 3pm yesterday damaged “a handful” of upper Derwent Valley structures.
“I don’t know the exact details of the damage at this stage or what structures have been damaged. It could be sheds, it could be homes,” he said.
“Having said that, crews saved a significant number of structures last night. Yesterday we were actively protecting homes near Honners Rd with 120 firefighters there at the fire’s peak.”
Mr Arnol said air assessments over the state this morning found one active blaze which had ignited overnight following the 468 lightning strikes which hit the state’s land yesterday.
“The one ignition we found this morning at Swan River between Swansea and Bicheno was a good result as far as lightning detection goes,” he said.
“That said, fires can still pop up so it comes back to people being aware. We’ve still got very high fire dangers across the state today. If fires pop up we want people to report them because we aren’t sure we’ve got them all detected.”
Mr Arnol said 67 fires started yesterday and two remain of concern on Tuesday – the Pelham Rd blaze which remains at Watch and Act warning and a bushfire at Mangana Rd, Fingal.
The 1500ha Fingal bushfire was also at Watch and Act level as at 10am Tuesday.
He said overnight rain brought some reprieve to fire conditions but said crews were finding it difficult accessing the Pelham Rd blaze.
“Access is difficult to that fire not only because of the smoke but there is some power infrastructure and trees down,” he said.
Mr Arnol said a 600ha bushfire was burning at Flinders Island on Tuesday morning that wasn’t of great concern to firefighters.
Bureau of Meteorology state manager Simon McCulloch said conditions would be favourable for firefighters across Tuesday and over the coming days.
“At this stage we can’t really see any bad days for fire conditions over the next four or five days,” he said.
“Weather conditions should be fairly helpful for firefighters today. Cooler conditions are expected across the state with temperatures in the low twenties.
“We’ve still got high fire dangers but no where near the severe or extreme levels experienced yesterday.”
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