As of yesterday afternoon, the bushfire in the Wallaby Rocks Road area near the Zumsteins remained out of control, travelling in a northerly direction towards Wartook.
Firefighters conducted burning-out operations in the Asses Ears area, south of Wartook, yesterday in an attempt to slow the fire.
A Watch and Act message was also in place for the Victoria Range in the south end of the Grampians, travelling from Strachans in a northerly direction towards Mt Thackeray.
Southerly and south-westerly winds in coming days will push the fires in a northerly direction, before an expected wind change on Saturday, with an easterly wind set to create concern for communities on the western side of the Grampians. The untouched bushland on the western side, with fewer roads and tracks, will make it difficult for firefighters to contain the fire due to a limited ability to conduct suppression operations.
The fires are expected to grow in size and burn for weeks, adding to the Yarram Gap fire on the eastern side of the Grampians, which is now under control, but firefighters continue to monitor hotspots, treat hazardous trees, clear tracks and rehabilitate control lines.
The majority of the Grampians National Park remains closed, but Halls Gap and Pomonal townships remain open.
A base camp is expected to be set up in Horsham to house visiting firefighters, and allow them to be deployed to both the Grampians and Little Desert fires.
Forest Fire Minister of Victoria chief fire officer Chris Hardman said this week’s fires started in particularly remote and inaccessible areas, and would likely meet up to make one large fire, creating a ‘campaign fire’ for emergency services to tackle.
“ The communities most at risk at this time include the Wartook community and the Halls Gap community again,” he said.
“Those fires do, in the next few days, have the potential to continue to spread and impact those communities.
“Firefighters are planning to do
everything in their powers to protect the communities of Wartook and Halls Gap from the progression of this fire over the coming days.”
Mr Hardman said firefighters would attempt to keep the fire to the south of Mount Victory Road.
“That’s going to be one of the key strategies that firefighters will utilise, and then they will work on the fallback options and make sure the township protection around Wartook and Halls Gap is in place when those fires eventually reach those communities.
“At this stage, we’re not looking at evacuating Halls Gap.
“Certainly access into Halls Gap from the Grampians Road will be available for an undefined period of time, but from the other side on Mount Victory Road, that road will be closed.”
The 76,000-hectare Yarram Gap fire in the Grampians, started by lightning on December 17, has burnt about one third of the national park.
But Mr Hardman said the new fires would spread into the two thirds of the national park that was unburnt.
He urged people to keep up-to-date about the current situation, which could regularly change, and access more than one source – through the Vic Emergency app and emergency service broadcasters.
“It could change very, very quickly. Knowledge is power when it comes to these events,” he said.
Heatwave forecast
Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Kevin Parkyn said wind direction, no matter what the direction, could produce a rapid fire spread.
“The two things that take it to the next level from a significant fire day to a critical fire weather day is the instability in the atmosphere; the fire generates its own lightning, downstream of the fire that exacerbates the fire at the ground level, but also starts new fires,” he said.
“And the second component is the wind change. Any wind change and the fire is problematic and can exacerbate the fire behaviour further and push it in a different direction, affecting communities. We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again.”
Mr Parkyn said a hot dome would remain over Victoria for the next seven to 10 days.
“Once we get into the weekend, don’t be surprised if we see heatwave conditions unfold across the state and continue to intensify into next week,” he said.
“Beyond that, the crystal ball is probably a little bit cloudy at this stage, but we need to be prepared.
“The landscape’s dry. If we continue to see these hot conditions, that’ll just continue to dry the landscape.”
The entire January 29, 2025 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!
The entire January 29, 2025 edition of AgLife is available online. READ IT HERE!