As winds battered the small Western District town of Moyston and the sky turned an apocalyptic grey-green, local Tim Gubbins was at his property trying to prepare.
He and another CFA member from Terang watched the Grampians fire from their ute and pointed out spot fires sparked in the dense bush.
Farmer and CFA volunteer Tim Gubbins watches the fire next to his property near Moyston.Credit: Justin McManus
As a strong northerly wind fanned the flames, Gubbins noted that a predicted wind change could mean they were left facing the fire front.
But he said he was prepared and was thinking instead of those on the ground who were battling the blaze.
Closer to Pomonal, Anne Pietsch and her stepdaughter Tania were planning to stay on the 60 hectares they own. They had sprinklers going surrounding the homestead and, because of power cuts, also had a generator operating. A truck filled with water was parked nearby.
Pietsch, who lived on the property with her late husband, Roy, for decades, said she was calm.
Farmer Tania Pietsch monitors the fire in Grampians National Park.Credit: Justin McManus
“I’m not worried, not this time,” she said.
She watched as the Pomonal blaze in February headed towards the small town but knew she wasn’t in the line of the inferno. In that fire, more than 40 homes were destroyed but no one was killed.
This time, Pietsch said, she was fielding phone calls from concerned friends and family as they heard about evacuation notices in nearby communities.
But after surviving fires earlier this year and in 2006, she was confident the property could withstand another blaze.
“We know what we’re doing,” she said. “If we need to, we can go down to the dam and get a motor going and get all the big sprinklers going, but we don’t need to.”
She said the CFA had been using their dam, which went down nine metres, to provide water for some of its helicopters.
Her stepdaughter Tania, who grew up on the farm and now runs sheep on it, had moved the stock when this masthead arrived.
She was watching the blaze closely but was hopeful the underbrush would burn slowly ahead of any wind change and take out the fuel load.
Meanwhile, a blaze at Gazette, south of Hamilton, had been successfully brought under control.
Melissa Livingston was trying to get to Dartmoor with her dogs but got stuck in Willaura.Credit: Justin McManus
But there were warnings in place for Willaura. On Thursday morning, Melissa Livingston stopped in town to ask locals whether the road to Dunkeld had reopened.
She lives in Dartmoor and was hoping to make her way back after spending Christmas away from home but was told the road was closed.
Livingston, who was walking her four Pomeranians, said she suspected the road wouldn’t be open for a while. But she said she was fully prepared to camp if she needed to.
“It is what it is,” she said.
She was enjoying looking around with her dogs. Her plan was to monitor the situation from Willaura and head to Ararat if the situation became dangerous.
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