December 7, 2006
London, Ontario, Canada
Photographer states :: ... Fortunately there were no reported fatalities.
Sydney Morning Herald
A weather expert has predicted hot and windy conditions forecast for Sunday will pose a threat to life and property, as fires continue to rage throughout Victoria.
"Whilst temperatures will rise tomorrow, I think the winds will only be about 20-30 kmh at most, so in a relative sense moderate winds,'' Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Scott Williams told the age.com.au.
He believes temperatures will rise again on Sunday and a change Sunday night could produce gusty winds up to 60 kmh.
"Sunday night into the early hours of Monday morning with the wind change coming through I think poses the greatest threat to life and property in that the fire front will change direction and behaviour as a result of that change.
"It's fairly nasty, there's no doubting that.''
DSE spokesman Kevin Monk said firefighters were preparing for severe fire conditions on the weekend.
"It's really tomorrow and Sunday that are going to be the extreme days although it will reach extreme in the north west of the state (today) and we still have firefighters monitoring those fires that were in the Casterton area," he said.
Residents prepare to flee
Victorian residents in fire-affected areas are preparing to evacuate their properties ahead of the bushfires that are expected to increase in size and ferocity over the weekend.
Darren Peverill lives on a 120 acre property between Briagolong and Munro and is today busy preparing for the blaze. His wife and six-month-old son will leave the home first thing tomorrow morning.
"They've opted to leave - well I've sort of talked them into it,'' Mr Peverill told theage.com.au this morning as his wife was preparing to evacuate.
"I've got quite a few brothers and brother-in-law who will come and help me out and she'll (his wife) go back into a safe area which is Sale - hopefully Sale's safe anyway."
"We're right in the firing line. My viewing distance is about seven kilometres I suppose, so that's about the notice I would get, I would see the fire coming about seven kilometres away but I think the conditions will get worse ... I don't think I will see it coming at all. It will just happen.''
'I expect it to be very hard'
A third of the 40 residents of Woods Point, about 120km north east of Melbourne, have evacuated, with those remaining preparing to fight any fires.
Commercial Hotel keeper Kirrily Pay was one of those staying in town.
"We're just doing last-minute jobs around the place to prepare for it and then we're waiting for the wind to change,'' she said.
"Right now there's no wind but the smoke's very thick in town.''
Ms Pay said residents were concerned about tomorrow's extreme weather conditions.
"I've never been in this situation before. I expect the flames, I expect it to be very hard.
"Everyone's adrenalin is running.''
NZ firefighters deployed
Firefighters called in from New Zealand, New South Wales and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade are being deployed this morning to help Country Fire Authority volunteers.
NZ's 45 alpine firefighting specialists are heading to Benalla, while 100 NSW Rural Fire Service personnel will assist in Gippsland and north-east Victoria.
Temperatures in the high 30s tomorrow, combined with hot northerly winds, threaten to push more fires together and create one massive blaze with the potential to burn up to 600,000 hectares.
Fires destroy 150,000 hectares
Seven fires are burning to the north of Heyfield totalling approximately 13,500 hectares.
The Edi Upper/Black Rangefire merged with the Black Range/Rose River fire. Mount Howitt and Macalister Springs fires have merged with the Ovens fire and now encompasses more than 74,000 hectares.
The Darling-Cynthia fire, north west of Dargo, is currently burning out of control and covers an area of over 30,000 hectares.
The majority of fires in the Mt. Terrible/Jamieson area have joined, covering an area of about 8700 hectares.
The West King fire has now covered 10,000 hectares and continues to burn.
"The situation is quite grave. There is a lot of fire out there caused by lightning and it is extremely dry," CFA duty officer Gary Weir told theage.com.au this morning.
So far the Victorian fires have burnt more than 150,000 hectares.
LATEST INFORMATION
For updated bushfire information, call Victorian Bushfire Information Line on freecall 1800 240 667 or visit dse.vic.gov.au/fires or cfa.vic.gov.au.
Callers who are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech/communication impairment may call the TTY service on 1800 122 969.
People planning to visit areas that are fire affected should visit the Parks Victoria website at parkweb.vic.gov.au or ring the hotline on 131963.
theage.com.au, with Jane Holroyd
