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Cooler, Calmer Conditions Will Assist Backburns

The southern sector of the Bogong complex of fires spread further south and east in the extreme weather conditions experienced over the past two days

By DSE/CFA - 3rd February 2003 - Back to News

The southern sector of the Bogong complex of fires spread further south and east in the extreme weather conditions experienced over the past two days.

Fire and embers driven by strong northerly winds put communities from Hotham to Gelantipy on high alert and made tracking the position of the fire difficult for Incident Controllers and firefighters. A number of houses, buildings and machinery at Wulgulmerang were damaged in the further progress of the fires on Thursday.

Priority is still on protecting private property and homes. The calmer conditions after recent extreme weather and fire behaviour will help firefighters to concentrate on backburning and consolidation of control lines in preparation for more bad weather early next week.

An Erickson Skycrane is operating out of Mount Hotham and will assist in rounding up spotfires today in the Brookville and Cassilis area. Four firebombers, two helicopters and two fixed wing aircraft are also ready to be deployed when weather conditions permit.

At Orbost, three helicopters and five firebombers are on standby to attack the eastern edge of the fire.

Spot fires East of the Snowy River have been contained overnight by firebombers and aerial observations will be kept on them today.

Lightning strikes on Thursday caused a number of other fires. Fires have been contained in Dellicknora, Coopracambra and Errinundra.

Our fire crews are also being assisted by specialised firefighters from New Zealand and America.

30 New Zealanders are at Swifts Creek and 23 US "Smokejumpers" and "Hotshot Superintendants" are being deployed to backburning operations at Gelantipy today. Queensland and New South Wales fire crews also continue to assist our CFA and DSE/DPI fire fighters.

A huge effort has been put into identifying and mapping the location of the fire and associated spotfires after the recent flare up. A clearer picture should be evident in the next few days, but specific information is understandably difficult to achieve in the more remote areas.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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