A grass fire in Lyndhurst damaged 50 hectares of property and a shed but no other buildings.
By Nicole Williams
A SPARK from a farmer slashing grass started a 50-hectare grass fire in Lyndhurst, only two days after the fire danger period was announced.
Firefighters were called to what was initially a small grass fire near Glasscocks Road about 2.40pm on Wednesday 25 January.
CFA duty officer Arthur Haynes said the fire was started by a farmer who was slashing long grass on his farm to reduce the fire risk.
He said the fire may not have been noticed by the man immediately.
“We’re pretty sure it started from a slasher cutting grass, which caused a spark but we’re not sure how long after the slasher the fire started,” Mr Haynes said.
“It goes to show that now the fire restrictions came into force, on 23 January, how things like this can happen – and it does happen.”
More than 30 CFA vehicles, two water bombers and 100 crew members were involved in the firefight at the height of the blaze, which threatened the Jayco factory after a wind shift.
“What caused trouble, because it wasn’t big or that hard, but we had a wind shift and it took off by surprise on the one flank the firefighters didn’t have contained,” Mr Haynes said.
“This gave us a big head fire and pitched it towards Jayco.”
The fire, which burnt approximately 50 hectares over four hours, destroyed one shed and threatened the boundary of premises and a home but caused no other damage to buildings.
One firefighter was treated at the scene by Ambulance Victoria suffering from heat stress.
Mr Haynes reminded residents to comply with fire danger period guidelines and ensure they have appropriate equipment, including water or other extinguishers, when working in grassy areas.
Before the fire, Southern Metropolitan Region operations manager Trevor Owen said all Victorian residents – especially those living in high risk areas – needed to be fire ready, particularly during the fire danger period.
“Victoria has experienced wet weather recently, but we are one of the most fire-prone regions in the world and it only takes two weeks of hot, dry and windy weather to create dangerous fire conditions,” he said.
“Due to favourable growing conditions across Victoria in 2011, there is an above-average grass fire risk this fire season.”
The declared period means open fires are restricted and require a permit and cooking fires and barbecues must be properly constructed.
For more information about the restrictions, visit www.cfa.vic. gov.au.
