‘Huge flank of fire’: West Wimmera hit by biggest blaze in 60 years

Farmers have lost thousands of stock, fencing and crops in the devastating blaze on the SA-Vic border. Here’s how you can help.

The New Years blaze that hit Poolaijelo on New Year’s Eve was the biggest the region had seen in 60 years. Picture: Rob Pilmore

Farming communities are rallying around landholders who have lost stock and fencing in a New Year’s Eve blaze in West Wimmera.

BlazeAid president Kevin Butler said at least 14 farms had been hit by the fires, with some completely and some partially destroyed.

“There is thousands of stock being put down and still being euthanised,” Mr Butler said.

The blaze started in Wrattonbully on New Year’s Eve, and quickly crossed the border into Victoria.

Teams of volunteers fought the blaze on Friday night and into the weekend. On Sunday emergency services downgraded the alert level for the fire but roads remained closed as the fire continued to burn through some areas on Monday.

Grazier and transport operator Rob Pilmore said he had been on the ground since Saturday helping to fight the fires, and was now co-ordinating donations and support for the farmers who had been affected.

A sudden southerly change on Saturday “caught a lot of people out”, he said.

“A lot of people thought the fire had passed them,” he said, but when the southerly picked up the fire transformed from “a couple of inches high” to “a huge flank”.

“The fire, on several properties, has had total wipe-outs of livestock,” he said.

Mixed cropping and livestock farmer Celia Scott said her property had been in the path of the blaze.

She managed to move her livestock on to a summer crop and out of the path of the fire, but she lost about 283ha (700 acres) of paddock and about 40ha of wheaten hay that had been baled and waiting for transport.

Ms Scott, who has been the fire captain at Poolaijelo for five years, said the fire was the biggest she had ever experienced, and was the largest the region had seen since the 1950s.

“There was so much feed in paddocks and the fire was coming at such speed. In all my years living in the country, I’ve never felt that level of helplessness,” she said.

She said the community’s ability to fight the fire had been affected by a lack of telecommunications.

“As rural Australians, we talk about (telecommunications) all the time and we don’t get heard,” she said.

When the blaze changed direction, volunteers fighting the fire found themselves unable to communicate with landholders whose properties now stood in the path of the fire, she said.

“The way that the fire burnt, the wind change that came through, the strength of the fire and the direction of spread (was really powerful),” she said.

“Without phone and internet, we couldn’t communicate and get the word out that (the fire) had changed direction.”

“Fortunately we didn’t lose any lives and we didn’t lose any homes, but it was more by chance than anything.”

At a community meeting on Monday, support organisations and community members met to begin planning for the region’s recovery.

Ms Scott said the support the community had received so far had been “amazing”.

“It makes you realise that, as a community, the concern and care that has been shown towards all of us out here has been huge,” she said.

Mr Pilmore said he was organising direct donations to farmers in the area and was also co-ordinating offers of agistment for stock.

BlazeAid is co-ordinating fence repair and donations and will have volunteers on the ground repairing fences from January 17, Mr Butler said.

While some farmers were “fairly well insured”, he said there were other farmers who had “only just purchased properties” and were in “a very parlous situation”.

To donate or volunteer with BlazeAid, contact Kevin Butler on 0418 745 994

To donate hay or offer agistment, contact Rob Pilmore on 0408 555 574