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First Forest Fire Of Season Contained Quickly

Fire crews from the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) responded quickly to the first fire of the season in state forest last Friday August 19.

By Department of Sustainability & Environment - 22nd August 2005 - Back to News

The fire started on the Murrungowar Road, 20 kilometres north east of Orbost and spread rapidly in the mild, windy weather conditions, reaching five hectares before being contained.

DSE Orbost Incident Controller Michael Turner said that the cause of the fire was not yet known, but that it was a timely warning to everyone to be vigilant about fire, even this early in the season.

"We believe this fire may have been deliberately lit, but whatever the cause, it shows how fast a fire can grow and how quickly we need to respond to jump on it and get it contained," Mr Turner said.

"It's not unusual to see fires at this time of year as the weather begins to warm up and this one shows how dry some parts of the forest are, in spite of recent rains."

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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