Crash causes fire havoc

By Melissa Meehan
FIRE from a two-car collision at the intersection of Power Road and Churchill Park Drive left Endeavour Hills residents fearing for their homes in scorching heat on Friday.
The crash around mid-day caused one of the cars to burst into flames on impact.
Flames spread to long dry grass along the road side and then to nearby paddocks.
More than 350 fire fighters including CFA volunteers battled the blaze for over eight hours.
They were joined by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, CFA, Department of Sustainable Environment and Parks Victoria staff with more than 80 fire vehicles and four helicopters including the “Elvis” firefighting helicopter.
Local brigades from Endeavour Hills, Rowville, Hallam and Narre Warren battled in extreme temperatures and tricky terrain with the fire threatening Churchill Park Golf Club and many houses.
Geoff Deacon, community education co-ordinator CFA Yarra Area, said that the fire sat on the boundary of the CFA’s Westernport Region and Yarra Region so both areas worked to confine the blaze to 45 hectares.
“The 44 degree heat and strong wind change made it difficult to contain but we were able to control it by 8pm Friday night,” Mr Deacon said.
He said fire fighters continued to monitor and blackout the scene until Monday.
Casey Traffic Management Unit Acting Sergeant Allen Inderwisch, who was at the scene, said the two vehicles collided about 11.50am.
“After the collision one car caught on fire and it spread to the surrounding Police Paddocks Reserve,” Act Sgt Inderwisch said.
“As a result of the collision two people received minor injuries and were cared for by ambulance officers.”
Road closures surrounding the fire continued throughout the weekend, halting Endeavour Hills’ charge towards the VSDCA 1st XI cricket finals on Saturday.