A cool change has eased conditions for firefighters battling an out-of-control blaze in Victoria’s Grampians following the worst bushfire conditions since 2019’s black summer.
But the threat of bushfires was due to continue in the already-scorched region even after hot, dry and windy conditions that fanned out-of-control blazes moved north.
An out-of-control blaze in the Grampians national park scorched more than 74,000 hectares (183,000 acres) of bushland, roughly the size of Singapore. The fire’s perimeter spanned more than 360km.
Difficult terrain and dry conditions were expected to result in the bushfire burning well into the New Year.
Luke Hegarty, a Victorian state control centre spokesperson, said a cool change would give firefighters a chance to establish control lines but they still had their work cut out for them.
“We certainly know it’s not over yet,” Hegarty told ABC Radio on Friday.
Rick Nugent, the emergency management commissioner. said weather for the coming week looked “relatively stable”. “It will enable us to get time to then stabilise the fires we have in the Grampians, continue to look at back burning operations and look to support the community there,” he said.
Friday’s cooler conditions allowed firefighters the chance to contain the Bullengarook fire and the Gurdies fire near Lang Lang, with Nugent praising the “brilliant work” of firefighters who kept the fires within the fire grounds on Thursday despite extremely difficult conditions.
Nugent said while the fires had damaged crops, beehives and powerlines, as well as causing wider environmental damage, remarkably no homes had been destroyed so far.
The fire also damaged three towers on Mount William that provide a range of functions including mobile networks for emergency services, as well as Optus and NBN services.
One tower was restored by early Friday afternoon, but the tower that provides NBN and Optus services was still damaged and Nugent warned people may have to travel further to get phone service.
Nugent said there were 250 lightning strikes overnight as elevated winds came through Victoria, sparking a number of new fires in the Alpine national park area, only one of which was contained as of Friday afternoon.
The other fires not under control at the time, but which Nugent said had “lots of assets” deployed to them, were 9km south of Whitfield, 7km south of Cheshunt and one at Upper Ryans creek.
“We ask that people be really mindful that those fires are there,” Nugent said. “They are small but they pose a real risk if they are not able to be contained quite quickly.”
Authorities on Thursday issued a flurry of warnings to evacuate or seek shelter.
Two emergency warnings remained in place on Friday morning. People in Mafeking, Moyston, Barton, Jallukar, Kia Ora, Jimmy Creek and Watgania were told to seek shelter, while those in Bellellen, Black Range and Pomonal were urged to leave immediately early on Friday morning.
The chief fire officer at Forest Fire Management Victoria, Chris Hardman, confirmed agricultural losses from the Grampians fire on ABC News Breakfast, including sheep, beehives, sheds and “other assets”.
“When we say we lose some sheds, somebody could have $1m worth of equipment in a farm shed, so we must be mindful that even those losses can be significant for the agricultural community and local communities in those areas,” Hardman said.
He said Friday’s weather outlook for the region was “reasonable”.
“It’s high fire risk right across Victoria, except in the north central [district] … but it is so much better than it was yesterday and people have been working hard to get folks back into their homes as quickly as humanly possible.”
While the cool change was bringing Victorians some reprieve, hot, dry and windy conditions pushing into parts of central north-eastern New South Wales were bringing extreme fire danger on Friday.
Total fire bans were declared for the Hunter, Greater Sydney, North Western and Northern Slopes regions.
