ID :
42352
Fri, 01/23/2009 - 17:32
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/42352
The shortlink copeid
Woodend fears Ash Wednesday repeat
Residents of a small Victorian town threatened by fires this week fear a repeat of a devastating blaze 26 years ago that killed 47 people.
A fire this week burnt through 163 hectares of scrub and grass only 1km from the close-knit Woodend township after a tree hit a power line.
While firefighters said on Friday they had controlled several blazes in the area, locals remember all too vividly the horror of the Ash Wednesday fires on February 16, 1983.
Roslyn O'Sullivan lost everything in the Ash Wednesday bushfires while living on nearby Mount Macedon.
"Didn't even have a toothbrush - nothing," she said.
"We lost very good friends who died in the fire."
After the blaze she moved off the mountain, but feels no safer in the forest-fringed township of Woodend, around 75km north-west of Melbourne.
"Once you hear the sirens go you want to know where it is (the fire)," she told AAP.
No homes were damaged or stock lost this week but that didn't stop Ms O'Sullivan staying indoors and keeping in touch with a Country Fire Authority (CFA) friend.
"Yesterday (Thursday) was dreadful for me, I was just in panic mode."
With conditions ripe for bushfires, Ms O'Sullivan is praying she won't hear the CFA bell.
"You just hope it doesn't happen anywhere."
The tinder-dry blackened ground will now be monitored by CFA members for embers and hot spots that can create flare-ups with high wind speeds.
CFA Woodend captain Michael Christie said the town was lucky on Thursday.
"We'll be in dangerous spot fires and that will continue for several weeks pretty much until we get rain," he said.
"This time of year the ground is so dry a lot of these trees may be burning down in the root system."
Despite a clear day with calm conditions on Friday, Victoria remains on extreme fire alert.
Firefighters on Friday contained a fire at the Drummond North-Zig Zag Road near Malmsbury, 40km north of Woodend in central Victoria, which threatened homes on Thursday.
Incident controller James Dalton said the aim was to mop up as quickly as possible while conditions were a little better on Friday and Saturday before more hot, windy weather.
"We have the fire contained within a bulldozer line around the entire edge, but the hot, windy weather will be back again through Sunday and Monday, and we don't want hundreds of trees and stumps still burning near the firebreak then," he said.
"There are still three or four days of hard work left in this fire before we can say it has been stopped."
In the state's far east, a fire at Bull Flat, 9km north-west of Buchan, was under control, while a half hectare blaze at Wangaratta was also controlled.
Two small fires at Yambulla near the NSW border were also contained.
A fire this week burnt through 163 hectares of scrub and grass only 1km from the close-knit Woodend township after a tree hit a power line.
While firefighters said on Friday they had controlled several blazes in the area, locals remember all too vividly the horror of the Ash Wednesday fires on February 16, 1983.
Roslyn O'Sullivan lost everything in the Ash Wednesday bushfires while living on nearby Mount Macedon.
"Didn't even have a toothbrush - nothing," she said.
"We lost very good friends who died in the fire."
After the blaze she moved off the mountain, but feels no safer in the forest-fringed township of Woodend, around 75km north-west of Melbourne.
"Once you hear the sirens go you want to know where it is (the fire)," she told AAP.
No homes were damaged or stock lost this week but that didn't stop Ms O'Sullivan staying indoors and keeping in touch with a Country Fire Authority (CFA) friend.
"Yesterday (Thursday) was dreadful for me, I was just in panic mode."
With conditions ripe for bushfires, Ms O'Sullivan is praying she won't hear the CFA bell.
"You just hope it doesn't happen anywhere."
The tinder-dry blackened ground will now be monitored by CFA members for embers and hot spots that can create flare-ups with high wind speeds.
CFA Woodend captain Michael Christie said the town was lucky on Thursday.
"We'll be in dangerous spot fires and that will continue for several weeks pretty much until we get rain," he said.
"This time of year the ground is so dry a lot of these trees may be burning down in the root system."
Despite a clear day with calm conditions on Friday, Victoria remains on extreme fire alert.
Firefighters on Friday contained a fire at the Drummond North-Zig Zag Road near Malmsbury, 40km north of Woodend in central Victoria, which threatened homes on Thursday.
Incident controller James Dalton said the aim was to mop up as quickly as possible while conditions were a little better on Friday and Saturday before more hot, windy weather.
"We have the fire contained within a bulldozer line around the entire edge, but the hot, windy weather will be back again through Sunday and Monday, and we don't want hundreds of trees and stumps still burning near the firebreak then," he said.
"There are still three or four days of hard work left in this fire before we can say it has been stopped."
In the state's far east, a fire at Bull Flat, 9km north-west of Buchan, was under control, while a half hectare blaze at Wangaratta was also controlled.
Two small fires at Yambulla near the NSW border were also contained.
