Farmers face dangerous fire conditions as machinery sparks halt harvest
Farmers are battling the impossible choice between fighting fires and harvesting crops as machinery blazes ravage thousands of hectares during record heat.
A spate of fires started by machinery have burnt thousands of hectares of farming land in southern NSW and Victoria, and set harvest back by days.
Catastrophic weather conditions hit the region on Thursday and Friday, with severe wind gusts and the mercury climbing to more than 40C on Friday.
Rural Fire Service Riverina Group Captain Alan Brown said tough conditions meant things could really “spin out of control, quickly”.
He said most of the fires in southern NSW were machinery related but there had been some other extremely rare events that resulted in fires too.
In the eastern Riverina a whirly wind had lifted a windrowed canola crop up so high that it hit the power lines and started a fire.
In a different incident, Mr Brown said a large amount of unharvested crop was burnt in the Borambola fire that started late last week, burning a total 630ha.
The fires had also burnt pasture paddocks and got into country where it was more difficult to control.
Mr Brown said those fighting fires were the same farmers wanting to harvest crops, and were constantly stopped because of the conditions, prompting him to urge caution of fatigue.
“They are working at night when the conditions are cooler to get crops in,” he said.
Meanwhile, there were also concerns about access to water due to the dry spring.
Dams were at a much lower capacity and fire trucks were calling in bulk water.
At Markwood in North East Victoria, the cause of a 385ha fire last Thursday that destroyed two homes and partly damaged another remains under investigation.
CFA assistant chief fire officer Peter Bell said the fire, which also saw sheds, vehicles, pasture and fences burnt, started on the side of the road.
“It hasn’t been deemed suspicious at this stage,” he said.
Fortunately there were no stock losses in the fire that had the “combined recipes” of heat, wind and dry grass.
“We feel for the people who lost their homes, but were able to save a lot of properties,” Mr Bell said.
“We were only five days into summer when this fire got going.
“It’s very dry, the moisture in the ground is very dry and dams aren’t as full as what they used to be.
“The situation is getting worse by the day and we’ve got a long summer ahead.”
