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Vol. 17 No. 27
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Wednesday, January 14, 2015
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Fire risk remains
A
BY LAUREN HENRY
Wimmera fire chief has warned people to remain on high alert to the summer’s fire risk.
Department of Environment and Primary Industries’ Wimmera fire and land district manager Russell Manning said that while parts of the region had welcomed rain in the past week, the landscape remained dry. Rain totals from Monday night up until 9am yesterday were: Hopetoun 11.4mm; Edenhope 14.2mm; Kanagulk 22.2; Longerenong 34.8mm; Horsham 26.4mm; Nhill 30.8mm; Stawell 27mm; Warracknabeal 35mm; Ararat 13mm; Mt William 40mm. Mr Manning said a couple of days of rain didn’t make up for a dry spring and summer last year. “There’s an extreme underlying dryness in the soil and it would take significant rain to return to normal,” he said. “We’ve had a dry spring and summer and that’s why these fires are really difficult to contain. “The rain has been patchy and we’ll still be managing these fires for some time. “As we continue on with summer, people need to be really mindful of campfire regulations. “February is traditionally a month when we get a lot of fires and high fire risk days.” Mr Manning said on Monday that 18 fires were still burning in forests in the region. Specialist hover exit crews, dropped into inaccessible forest areas by helicopter, continued to put out hot spots in the Rockland-Rees Road fire in the Black Range State Park, south of Horsham, early this week. The Rocklands fire has so far burnt more than 4000 hectares. Horsham had about 25 millimetres of rain over the weekend and Nhill welcomed almost double that amount. But Mr Manning said Kanagulk, near the Rockland-Rees Road fire, had no rain on the weekend and a Rees Road gauge had three
millimetres. In fact, department fire fighters detected a new fire near Rocklands on Sunday. “All fires have containment lines around them but the Rocklands fire is in really rugged country,” Mr Manning said. “Our crews have done an extraordinary amount of work and are still working hard to control these fires.” Mr Manning said people needed to continue to obey road closure signs, which are blocking public access to areas that have burning trees. As well as managing the Rockland-Rees Road fire, the department had to attend to fires in the Little Desert National Park. A severe thunderstorm sparked 15 fires in the park between Dimboola and Nhill, causing a fire which burnt 13,000 hectares. Lightning also caused fires on several private properties. Seven department taskforces, each made up of 20 fire-fighters from across Victoria, 14 aircraft, including eight fire-bombing fixed wing, two water-bombing helicopters, an air crane and three fire spotting aircraft, and 15 machinery such as bulldozers and excavators were involved in the managing the various fires. The public land fires come after a 5000-hectare grass fire in Moyston earlier this month which affected 90 private properties. The state and federal government is offering disaster assistance, with emergency relief and emergency re-establishment assistance available to affected landowners in the Moyston district. Member for Lowan Emma Kealy and Member for Ripon Louise Staley have called on the State Government to replenish Moyston’s stock and domestic water supplies, which were severely impacted by fire-fighting efforts. “I am taking up the issue with the Minister for Water to call on her to work with GWMWater and boost local water supplies as soon as possible,” Ms Kealy said. • More on Moyston fire, see page 13. • Editorial, page 7.
NEW YEAR, NEW LIFE: Orange-bellied parrot chicks are a new addition to Halls Gap Zoo. Pictured is keeper-in-charge of orange-bellied parrots Danielle Perri getting up close to a two-week old chick. To read more about other new additions to Halls Gap Zoo, see page 7.
IN THIS ISSUE • Arson awareness • Hospital chief’s 50 years • Childcare issues plague rural towns Read it online: www.theweeklyadvertiser.com.au
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