Vic: Total fire ban as fire threat intensifies: corrected repeat

AAP General News (Australia)
12-21-2006
Vic: Total fire ban as fire threat intensifies: corrected repeat

By Catherine Best and Danny Rose

MELBOURNE, Dec 20 AAP - Communities in Gippsland and Victoria's north-east are preparing
for horror bushfire conditions tomorrow as a massive fire front rages towards them.

With Premier Steve Bracks warning the worst of Victoria's bushfire season could be
yet to come, a total fire ban was declared across the state for tomorrow with high north-westerly
winds and searing heat expected to wreak havoc for firefighters.

Authorities fear the extreme fire danger could last at least two days, with a change
not expected until late Friday.

Residents in the historic Gippsland town of Walhalla tonight were on tenterhooks as
the fire front rages just 500 metres from the town's doorstep. Nearby Maidentown is also
on high alert.

Meanwhile, the alpine resort town of Mount Buller in the state's north-west is cornered
by fire advancing from three directions.

An urgent alert has also been issued for Sheepyard Flat, Tobacco Flat and Howqua Hills
in the Mansfield area after the blaze broke containment lines.

Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) spokesman Pat Groenhout said conditions
tomorrow were expected to be as severe as last week, when more than 30 houses were destroyed.

He said the fire-front would likely pass through Mount Buller tomorrow and was perilously
close to Walhalla, but could not predict whether properties would be at risk of being
lost.

"It's hard to say at this stage, obviously we have a strong set of messages out there
to residents to put in all their protection work," Mr Groenhout said.

"Essentially the next two days are going to be pretty sustainable severe fire weather
right through until Friday night."

Mr Groenhout said the community of Dargo in Gippsland was surrounded by fire and vulnerable
if a wind change occurred in any direction.

He said tomorrow's strong northerly winds would bring the fire to within kilometres
of the regional centres of Traralgon and Morwell.

Blazes have so far blacked out 750,000 hectares in two weeks, with Mr Bracks warning
the worst could yet be ahead.

He told reporters in smoke-shrouded Melbourne today the threat of further fires remained
very high, as the state was "tinder-box dry".

He also pointed to two dates burned into the state's history books - the Black Friday
bushfires of January 13, 1939 which claimed 71 lives, and Ash Wednesday, February 16,
1983, which claimed 47.

"This is a very dangerous period in Victoria - the driest conditions we've had, probably
since `83, maybe since 1939," Mr Bracks said.

"And these fires are not going to go out quickly.

"We know the only thing that can eliminate these fires is a large rainfall in Victoria
(and) there's no prospect of that on the weather forecast currently ... this is a long
fire fight."

The weather bureau is forecasting some rain for the weekend, but not nearly enough
to douse the fire threat around the state.

Mr Bracks today joined New Zealand's Emergency Management Minister Rick Barker to visit
two Kiwi firefighters who remain in hospital in Melbourne.

Eleven Kiwi firefighters were injured near Mansfield in the state's north last weekend.

Some of the men were forced to seek refuge in a ditch, and their faces and hands were
scorched as the fire-front raced over them.

Mr Barker has dismissed claims the firefighters were either placed in the wrong spot
or not wearing the right safety gear.

All 47 New Zealand firefighters helping fight blazes in Victoria will return home this weekend.

A fresh batch of about 50 emergency personnel was today driving to Victoria from Canberra
with six fire trucks and an ambulance.

AAP cmb/evt/nf

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES VIC 2ND N/L REPEAT

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