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Community Update – 1300 hrs 3/02/03

Incident Control Centres are operating at Swifts Creek, Orbost and Bairnsdale for the Bogong South Complex

By Gippsland Fire Information - 3rd February 2003 - Back to News

Tune in to the following radio stations for updates on the situation: ABC Gippsland on 100.7FM or 720AM, High Country Radio on 97.3, 3TR on 99.9FM, Cooma 2XL on 92.1FM or ABC Bega on 810AM

The Fires

The massive Bogong Complex fire has now burned through over 400,000 hectares of country in Gippsland, stretching from Dargo in the west to Tubbut in the east.

Spotfires north of Dargo and north west of Swifts Creek and lightning strikes in the east around Mount Sugarloaf and Mackieson Spur are still causing concern.

Light winds will result in smoke from the fire and from backburning operations covering much of Eastern Victoria.

The fire situation is expected to intensify again over the coming days and affected residents are advised to maintain preparedness levels and remain alert.

Fighting the Fires

Regional Fire Manager David Tainsh has acknowledged the tremendous effort put into fighting these fires by both Departmental and CFA crews:

"These people have been working tirelessly over the past month to safeguard our communities and get this fire contained," he said.

"This is a long campaign and there’s a lot of work still to be done, but we have some terrific teams out there, doing everything they can to suppress this fire."

Incident Management Teams have redeveloped strategies to contain the fire after Thursday’s extreme weather conditions and are working towards implementing the new plans.

Successful backburning operations have been carried out overnight in the Snowy River National Park and quieter conditions have allowed more backburning and containment line establishment around affected communities.

In the Dargo area, crews are working on the spotfires north of the town and on major strategic fallback lines.

Asset protection in the Swifts Creek, Omeo Valley, Deddick and Tubbut areas continues to be a high priority. A backburn is planned for the Nunniong area to meet with the south eastern containment line.

Additional resources are coming in from America to assist our Incident Management Teams.

Monitoring the Fire

Another linescan aircraft is arriving tomorrow from America to assist in the tracking of the fire.

The Weather

There is no real change predicted, with light northerly winds and slightly higher temperatures expected over the next couple of days.

Where to from here?

Community meetings are listed in the Contingency Plans section below.

Community noticeboards are displaying information at: Omeo Hall, Omeo Fire Station, Omeo Staging Area, Benambra Fire Station, Blue Duck Hotel, Swifts Creek General Store, Ensay Store, Ensay Little River Inn, Cassilis Winery, Bemm River Store, Buchan Information Centre, Karoondah Park Staging Area, Gelantipy, Orbost Fishing Store, Newmerella Shell Service Station, Orbost Neighbourhood House, Marlo General Store, Briagolong Hotel and Briagolong General Store, Dargo General Store, Cann River Post Office.

How will it affect you?

School closures:

Primary schools at Bruthen, Buchan, Dargo, Goongerah, Omeo, Tubbut, Clifton Creek, Swifts Creek and Swifts Creek Secondary College (due back on February 10 unless otherwise advised)

Residents in high risk communities are reminded to enact their fire plans now to protect themselves and their properties. Make the decision about whether to leave, or to stay and defend your property in plenty of time.

Communications can be disrupted in fire-affected areas. This means people in more isolated areas may not be able to be individually contacted in the event of a serious outbreak.

Due to the inaccessibility of some areas it may not be possible to get firefighters to help you when you need them. This makes planning ahead all the more important for your safety and that of your livestock and other assets.

Phone trees have been established in a number of communities to assist with disseminating information quickly to people that might be affected by the fires. Phone trees have proved invaluable for those communities who have already experienced the fire close by. See the end of the Update for information about Telstra’s call diversion service for those that lose their phone service during a fire.

The Omeo Oval remains the designated refuge area for residents in the Omeo and Benambra areas. For residents in the Swifts Creek and Cassilis area, the Swifts Creek Secondary College is your

designated refuge area and for Ensay residents, the Ensay Hall or Bruthen Hall if preferred. For Buchan residents, the Buchan Recreation Reserve is your designated refuge area.

Other Emergency Refuge Centres are: Tubbut Hall, Bonang Hall, Delegate River Tavern, Karoondah Park, Gelantipy.

Bombala High School and Delegate River Primary School are refuge and registration sites for the movement of people in the area.

The Bairnsdale Staging Area is being strengthened and a new staging area is being established at Sale. Some resources at the Gelantipy Staging Area are being relocated to Buchan Caves Reserve to better manage the fire as it moves south. There will still be crews at Gelantipy for asset protection.

If people are going to move livestock, they need to do it well before the fire approaches while the road access is OK. Trying to move your stock after the event will be difficult as roads may be unsafe.

Please take care on roads in areas where the fire has burned through. With many fences down, stock may be wandering on the roadsides, creating a hazard for vehicles. The Omeo and Benambra areas in particular are where stock are loose.

Residents are urged to call the Gippsland Community Fire Information line on 1800 668 066 to report stock losses and to get help with the care or humane destruction of injured stock.

DPI Vets and Animal Health Officers are available to assist with these tasks.

DPI and East Gippsland Shire are coordinating burial pits for affected landholders. This is a free service, please call 1800 668 066 for assistance.

Dr Kit Button, Coordinator of the Agricultural Assessment and Livestock Welfare Programs encourages people who have suffered damage in the fire and lost livestock to phone the 1800 668 066 number to report their losses. This will give DPI staff a better picture of total damage and ensure that recovery programs meet the needs of those affected.

If you leave your home or town you are requested to inform the Australian Red Cross staff at your local refuge area, who are keeping track of all movements during the fires for safety reasons.

If you have already registered but you then change your plans it is important to inform the Red Cross. Also, if you leave your vehicle at a staging area they should be informed.

Road closures:

  • The Great Alpine Road north of Bruthen is closed to all vehicles except emergency vehicles and local traffic.
  • Omeo Highway between Omeo and Mitta Mitta
  • Great Alpine Road north of Omeo
  • Benambra-Corryong road, between Omeo and Corryong
  • Benambra Road between Uplands and Colac Colac
  • Benambra-Suggan Buggan Road (Limestone-Black Mountain Road)
  • Bogong High Plains Road between Falls Creek and Omeo Highway.
  • Dargo High Plains Road between Dargo & Mt Hotham
  • Gelantipy Road, north of Buchan
  • Snowy River Road
  • McKillops Tourist Road
  • Cabandra Road
  • Dellicknora Road
  • Benambra-Limestone Road
  • Lower Dargo Road
  • No public access to Bogong High Plains, Bogong Village, Mount Hotham Village and Falls Creek.

Safety Messages

Stay tuned at home and in your car to local stations (ABC Regional Radio on 100.7 FM or 720 on AM band, 3HCR, High Country

Radio on 97.3, 3TR on 99.9FM, Cooma 2XL on 92.1FM, ABC Bega on 810AM)

and keep listening for fire location information, spread of fires and weather conditions to monitor your local situation so you have an up to date snapshot of what is happening.

Tips for today

Look after your eyes

Our eyes are one of our most precious possessions and eye protection is essential when dealing with fire. A build up of dust, ash or smoke may lead to a range of eye problems such as conjunctivitis or vision impairment.

Firefighters must always carry firefighter goggles, which have a wide visor and are anti-fog for smoke and dust.

If residents don’t have access to this type of equipment, a normal pair of sunglasses with UV resistant filter and impact resistant lens will provide considerable protection.

Interruption to electricity supply may occur during bushfires and should be planned for.

Ensure you have on hand:

  • Portable radio and spare batteries (Remember you can listen to the car radio if necessary)
  • Torch and spare batteries
  • Cordless phones with "remote handsets" require electricity to run and recharge the unit battery. Consider what other communication you have access to: a mobile phone, a CFA listening set etc

How prepared are you?

Plan to survive with a Bushfire Plan

  • Have you sat down with household members and worked out your bushfire survival plan?
  • Does everyone in the family understand the plan?
  • Have you decided if you will go or stay on days of extreme fire danger?
  • If you have decided to go, do you have a plan for where you will go?
  • If you have decided to stay, have you done work around your home, so it can be a refuge?
  • Do you know what you will take if you plan to leave and do you have these thing packed together for easy access?
  • Have you planned what to do with your pets on days of extreme fire danger?
  • If you have decided to stay, do you have a plan for keeping alert to fire conditions in your area?
  • Do you have a set of appropriate clothing handy for everyone in the house in case you have no time to leave safely?
  • Do you know how to protect yourself from the radiant heat of the fire front as it passes through?

You must be able to answer yes to all the above questions if you are in an area likely to be affected by these fires. If in any doubt, call 1800 668 066 for more information.

Looking after pets and livestock:

  • Think about how to protect your pets and include them in your Bushfire Plan.
  • If you decide to leave, plan to take your pets if you can.
  • Organise cat baskets, horse floats, dog collars and leads in plenty of time.
  • If you decide to stay at the house and fight the fire, pets should be sheltered from radiant heat with you as the fire front passes.
  • Identify your pets by putting a phone number and address on a collar tag in case they go missing.
  • On high fire danger days, larger animals such as goats and horses are best placed in a paddock that has been well grazed. Horses should not be locked  in small areas or stables, but moved to an open paddock with little vegetation so they can move freely.
  • Horses are good at moving themselves to safe open areas and suffer minimal burns if left to do so.
  • All equipment including rugs, halters and flyveils should be removed from horses, as the plastic may melt and buckles may burn the animal.

Injured Wildlife

The bushfires will have a dramatic impact on local wildlife. Wildlife not killed outright will suffer burns, smoke inhalation and eye injuries. Those animals not injured may find it difficult to find shelter and food.

Many of these animals will have sought refuges from the fires and may find their way into your garden or in the vicinity of your property. Please spare the time to search around your property for animals sitting on the ground or perched low in a tree.

You can help surviving wildlife by leaving out fresh water in a safe place, away from cats and dogs.

If you find an animal that you think has been a victim of the fires contact WILDLIFE VICTORIA RESCUE – 0500 540 000 or 0428 540 000. Please do not deliver injured wildlife to any DPI offices!

Preventing electricity problems – what can you do?

Already during these fires more than 160 power poles have been destroyed by fire.

In most of these cases the fire took hold at the base of the poles, ignited by grass and

other vegetation at the base of power poles.

Residents are being asked to help retain the power supply in their area by clearing around the base of power poles back to bare earth where possible.

Contingency plans

Staff from the Department of Primary Industries and the CFA are endeavouring to ensure that communities most likely to be affected by the fires in the region are kept well informed and up to date with the situation as it develops.

This section of the Community Update is directed at those communities to help

prepare them for the possibility of fire threat.

Community meetings will be held at the following places over the coming week:

  • Monday 3 February: Bemm River Fire Station 2.30pm
  • Monday 3 February: Rotunda Gardens, Bruthen at 4.00pm and at 7.00pm
  • Monday 3 February: Baum Park, Cann River 7.00pm
  • Tuesday 4 February: Genoa Community Hall 2.00pm
  • Tuesday 4 February: Mallacoota Mud Brick Hall, 7.00pm

A community contact line has been set up for anyone affected by the fires to obtain information relevant to their situation.

This number will give you information on every aspect of the fire situation in Gippsland, your bushfire preparation and planning and further contacts that you might need. It is also to report stock losses and get help to treat injured stock.

Please note: this number is for information only, not for reporting fires.

The Gippsland Community Fire Information Line is: 1800 668 066

Call 000 or your local fire station to report any new fires.

Family & Personal Counselling support (based in Bairnsdale) can also be accessed through our fire information line,

1800 668 066

TELEPHONE HELP

Telstra Country Wide is offering free call diversion for people affected by the bushfires.

This allows you to receive all calls to your home phone to another phone, either fixed or mobile.

If you have suffered loss of property and no longer have access to your usual phone service, please call 1300 134 239.

Strategies for the longer term

East of the Snowy River, the Yalmy Road is to be prepared as a strategic fire break. Logging contractors will work to prepare the road as a base line from which to backburn and to establish containment lines.

The Department of Primary Industries will work with the CFA, communities and commercial plantation owners in the Tubbut/Deddick Valley areas to develop a plan for the protection of assets and private property.

Last But Not Least:

I'm a Photographer, Not a...

A photographer for a national magazine was assigned to take pictures of the NE fire. He was advised that a small plane would be waiting to fly him over the fire.

The photographer arrived at the airstrip just an hour before sundown. Sure enough, a small Cessna airplane was waiting. He jumped in with his equipment and shouted, "Let's go!" The tense man sitting in the pilot's seat swung the plane into the wind and soon they were in the air, though flying erratically.

"Fly over the north side of the fire," said the photographer, "and make several low-level passes."

"Why?" asked the nervous pilot.

"Because I'm going to take pictures!" yelled the photographer. "I'm a photographer, and photographers take pictures!"

The pilot replied, "You mean you're not the flight instructor?"

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com



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