Vic High Country Fires

I think you will need to wait & see as the fires are still out of control, at the moment a lot of the popular areas are no go, with both access roads & tracks closed. Try the DSE website for more info.

This link may answer your question.

FIRES IN THE HIGH COUNTRY

Baz.

I think it will be a big wait and see. A number of fires are burning because of the remoteness they can't access and one of the largest at the moment they are trying to control. If it's anything like 3 years ago then you would not go anywhere near the place and the forecast for the next 4 days is hot dry and windy. The fires went for 50 days in '03.

Here's a link to a good fire update site.

Site Link

click the map of aussie and tick the disclaimer box and zoom in to see where the fires are.

Leroy

I'd say scrap any plans to head to the mountains this xmas/new years...

Hi Moose

We still hope to be there in HC in Dargo area over Xmas, its a little to early to call just yet but under 1/3rd of the area is currently affected , the 1/3rd that is affected is some of the best country though.

Huge areas to east of the state - Omeo way etc are currently unaffected, as are
the main forrests to around 100km NE of melbourne which are popular areas.

On weekend we camped in one popular area sheepyard flat east of Mansfield, and its acess has now been closed , however large areas to the NW are open.

In reading some of the other posts, it might be reasonable to assume that there will be pressure on remaining places and lack of facilites/water etc.
However it has been our experience in several of these times that a lot stay away
or are ill prepared and that we have had some of our best camping experiences around times like this.

We spent a week in Nth Simpson this year with no external supplies like water and so being a bit self reliant is no issue.

One point I note that Mike made is that of radio reception in some of these areas, this is quite valid as design of most modern car radios on the AM band has reduced their sensitivity on average by 20db or so which is a lot.

This can be improved by as simple a fix as carrying 10m or so of wire, stringing it out and clipping it to the aerial. This works particularly well during daytime and if you can't pick up local stations and listen to news then I wouldn't stay there.

These days authorites close down areas very fast , and so for us it will be constant monitoring of sites linked in this post and being flexible in our plans.

Robin Miller

When we were at Mansfield 3 weeks ago about to head bush, one of the locals was forecasting that the High Country will be closed out because of the dry conditions and the huge fire risk. Looks more likely to happen now so maybe nobody will be heading up there until significant rains occur.
The country was so dry and fighting the fires on the ground would be well nigh impossible. More electrical storms forecast for here on Friday/ Saturday. Bugger. We have a fire burning nearby at the moment that has taken out 120,000ha so far and hot and windy conditions forecast. The area is uninhabited and no access into it. Containment is being done by driving dozers and graders around the perimeter to create a fire break.

After the last fires, 2003, and earlier, once the fires were out a lot of tracks were closed due to burnt trees across them. There is also a risk, although slight, to 4wd'ers and tourists regarding limbs falling from burnt trees. Unfortunately this was enough for Parks to close tracks off to the public for some time.

As others have stated, it is too early to tell. There are public meetings being held regularly in the townships of Dargo, Licola, Valencia Creek, Coongulla and Glenmaggie. There is a real risk to Valencia Creek and Dargo at this time.

The DSE/Police have now stated that Friday won't be as bad as first thought - now it is Saturday, with temps forecast for 36 wind northerly winds.

We'll have to wait and see.

The current word from local firies that I have spoken to today are that they expect the major fires up there to combine into one fire encompassing about 600,000 HA, and it is likely to be burning to some degree all summer.
The same is being said as with the 03 fires - they only thing that will stop this completely is the sea!
If the forecast 40'C on Sat and 60 kph winds happen, that may be sooner than they think.
You can forget about the High Country this summer.

Link to 4WD Vic:
Has a few maps of where the fires are and one that shows just about the whole area is currently closed.
I was going down Xmas/New Year but looks very doubtful.

Not really answering the question, just an observation... Did a Sydney truck run on Monday night. From Euroa onward, there was the faint smell of fire and the haze across the landscape from the smoke. This cleared at the border and I was thinking to myself that it had been a while since I'd seen that much smoke laying about... As I got into NSW, the hills are burning right behind Holbrook(The town with a submarine but no water...???)... The smoke from this one was visible right up to Coolac. Definitely a nasty time for fire-fighters and the worst thing is knowing that every year we hear about deliberately lit blazes... How long 'til these d-heads resurface...???

Anyhoo, all the best to those putting it on the line to sort this out... Wonder if this will be enough to make the gov reintroduce fuel reduction burns, just keep the DSE out of it ;-)~

Moose according to the DSE the projected area that the fire could burn at this point extends from Myrtleford in the North to Jamieson & Woods point in the East, Mt Hotham in the West pretty much right down to the ocean at Bairnsdale. This covers 3/4 of the popular high country tracks including Craigs Hut, Wonnangatta, Licola & Talbotville. Although the fires are currently relatively small there are well over 40 separate blazes which are expected to all join up unless heavy rain falls which at this point looks pretty unlikely. Even if they are stopped the many of tracks will remain closed due to the danger of fallen or hanging trees. In 2003 it took over a year for some areas to be declared safe & reopened.
The upper Murray area of the high country (burnt in 2003) is not currently under threat (1 small fire near Corryong) & may be an option but I would not recomend it after xmas unless it rains as it is very dry with an extreme fire danger.
In a weeks time if it hasn't seriously rained I suggest holding off on your High Country plans. Tassie may be a better option.
Cheers Craig...........

I would love to know how many fires were caused by lightning strikes and how many were due to the assistance of the DSE.

Just like the Grampians fires in January of this year, the Grampians' seasonally closed tracks have been cleared entirely for months but are still closed off.

The DSE will be looking at getting as much track closure time as possible out of the HC fires, even those tracks that are not fire affected will probably be closed.

After reading "Flames across the Mountains" initiated and compiled by Leanne Appleby of Benambra following the Jan '03 fires, the DSE boys might want to start wearing flack jackets.

Our club has evacuated all bleep from club property at heyfield and cancelled Xmas this weekend too.

Some of these posts sound like an over reaction to me.

Events may well be taken out of our hands over the weekend, and while safety
must come first , the last thing some of these communities will need in the weeks
ahead is a second disaster by thousands of potential tourists not turning up and
spending their dollars.

The authorities will need to be right on top of this and provide good detailed feedback and not unnecessarily close off areas lest they create this themselves.

Robin Miller

From Outers.

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Im with DSE, been working 15+ hour days at the Jameson fires since 6:00 Saturday morning. Finally got home for a rest this afternoon before the weather gets hotter on the weekend. Back to Mansfield tomorrow afternoon for night shift.

It's so unbelievably dry, an ember is all it takes across control lines and away it goes into the distance. Doesn't matter what aircraft, people or trucks that are there, if you don't control it in the first 30 seconds, its all over and you have to have a go on the next ridge or spur.

This season is a shocker already and we are only in the first week of December, we have basically been working week long shifts at fires since the last week in October.

Some of the fires are in the 2003 area and it's hardly even slowed it down.

It needs to rain and rain hard.

BE SAFE - Plan now, if your unsure, get your stuff and get out of the way well before the fire arrives. If your prepared, Good Luck.

VicRoads wishes to advise of the following road closures due to the bushfires:
MANSFIELD FIRES

Buttercup Road at Greenways Road, Merrijig

Carter Road from Mt Buller Road

Howqua Hills Road (Howqua Track) from Mount Buller Road

Howqua River Road at Running Creek Camping Reserve, Howqua

Mansfield-Woods Point Road between Jamieson and Woods Point

Steiners Road, Howqua Hills

Stirling Road from Mt Buller Road

Stony Creek Track from Mansfield-Woods Point Road at Corduroy Gap, Jamieson

Warburton-Woods Point Road

WANGARATTA FIRES

Boggy Creek Road from Moyhu to Myrrhee

Kilfeera Road / Benalla-Whitfield Road at Greta South

King Valley Road at Whitfield

Lake Buffalo-Whitfield Road from Black Range Creek Road to Buffalo River Road

Mansfield-Whitfield Road between the Tatong-Tolmie Road and Whitfield

Rose River Road between Cheshunt and the Buffalo River Road

Wangaratta-Whitfield Road at Boggy Creek Road, Moyhu

OVENS FIRES

Binns Rd 12 km north of Walhalla

Buffalo River Road at Merriang South

Buckland Valley Road at the Buckland River Bridge (end of sealed road)

Mount Buffalo Road from Park Entrance to Mount Buffalo

GIPPSLAND FIRES

Dargo High Plains Road between the Great Alpine Road and Dargo

Dargo Road at Beverley Road, Glenaladale

Freestone Creek Road at Estoppeys Road / Engine Road, Briagolong

Heyfield-Seaton Road at Springs Road, Seaton (west of Seaton)

Licola Road at Old Licola Road, Glenmaggie

Marathon Road at Gillios Road, north of Briagolong

Moroka Track at Gillios Road, north of Valencia Creek

Stony Creek Road at Dowlings Road, Cowwarr

Thompson Dam Access Rd /Walhalla Rd from the Thompson Dam Wall to Aberfeldy Rd

WESTERN DISTRICT

From OL

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When I left Jamison 12 hours ago, the Jameson fire in the knockwood/Kevington area, was pretty big and had broken control lines in various places on the southern side and south eastern areas (for the people who know, the flourbag fire was over Snake Edward Divide and on its way toward Lazerini (sp).) The Terrible fire (I think both have joined now in the valley- we were on the Terrible range so only heard the radio traffic from in the valley) was over a control line called Motorbike which was a motorbike track running about 5 kays south of Terrible down into the Knockwood valley.
It was too steep for dozers and the Ericson was bombing it and they were attempting to put retardant around it.
Since then, i'm not sure what has happened but it's such steep dry country, any wind and it will be burning very quickly south toward the Woods Point area. Woods point has had some very good fuel reduction around it in recent years so it will be interesting to see what happens.

I guess I will find out when I get back to Mansfield at 6 oclock tonight.

The funny thing about the pyromania quote above - DSE has never had any staff charged with an arson. Some other fire agencies couldn't say the same.
AC

Sitrep - 1100hrs, Friday 11 December 2006

Current Situation
Going Fires
• DSE has recorded 18 fires Going, 44 fires Contained and 67 fires Under Control. CFA has currently listed: 14 fires Going, 3 fires Contained and 5 fires Under Control.
• Overnight linescans have detected significant increases in fire areas since yesterday and the merging of a number of the larger fires. The area of going fires is now more than 143,000 ha, based on linescan mapping interpretation from yesterday and last night. More linescan mapping has been scheduled for today.

Impact (property/cultural/environmental)
• The fires are being managed in several complexes:
 Wangaratta (King Valley) complex. There are three going fires in the King Valley, Whitfield and Cheshunt areas. These fires are threatening private property at a number of locations. Several fires including the Edi Upper / Black Range and the Black Range / Rose River have merged and the ensuing fire is now referred to as the Ovens fire (#50) (managed as part of the Ovens complex). The Lake William Hovell fire has combined with the Mt Typo fire. The West King / Whitfield fire is now the main fire in the Wangaratta complex. The fires in the complex now have a total approx area of more than 10,000 ha. Fire threat messages have been issued to residents in a number of hamlets and towns within the vicinity of these fires.
 Ovens complex. Two fires are going in this complex. Fires ran to the northwest with the change yesterday towards Lake Buffalo. The focus today is on asset protection requirements on Mount Buffalo and in the Buckland Valley. As noted above, the Edi Upper / Black Range has merged with the Black Range / Rose River fire. The resultant Ovens fire now encompasses more than 74,000 ha.
 Bairnsdale complex. Two fires going. The Mt Darling and Mt Cynthia fires merged on 6/12. This fire with a total area of approximately 31,000 ha is now referred to as the Darling-Cynthia fire and is largely burning uncontrolled with the focus on containing spotovers and asset protection works. Mount Howitt and Macalister Springs fires have merged with the Ovens fire.
 Mansfield complex. Two going fires in this complex. The majority of fires in the Mt Terrible / Jamieson area have joined, and these are now called the Mt Terrible (Jamieson- Flourbag) (#47) fire with a total area of approximately 8,700 ha (continues to spread). The focus is establishing control lines and monitoring spot overs.
 Heyfield complex. Currently, there are seven fires to the north of Heyfield. The Blanket Wood, Lamb Hill, Black Range/Dargo and Valencia Creek fires merged into a single fire on 6/12, that now encompasses about 3,000 ha. Several fires in and around the Wonnangatta also merged. The Butcher Country (2,300 ha) and Mt Ligar fires (8,000 ha) are on the verge of merging. The Mount Hump fire has an area of 2,400 ha.

Resources
• An Integrated Fire Agency Coordination Centre (IFAC) has been established at Benalla and is managing fires as three complexes - Ovens, Mansfield and Wangaratta (King Valley), with IMTs at Ovens, Mansfield and Wangaratta respectively. The CFA is the control agency for the Wangaratta (King Valley) complex.
• An IFAC has been established at Traralgon and has been managing fires from IMTs at Heyfield, Bairnsdale and Noojee. Noojee will be wound up today and will become a division of a newly established Erica IMT.
• There are currently 1,831 personnel from DSE, with 24 tankers, 75 slip-ons and 26 bulldozers deployed. There are 1450 personnel from CFA, with 150 tankers and 86 bulldozers deployed.
• Two liaison officers arrived from New Zealand on 6/12. Forty-five personnel including firefighters and aviation officers arrived from New Zealand on the evening of 7/12.
• Five strike teams will arrive from New South Wales (NSW) today to support operations in North East Victoria. Four of these teams are NSW Rural Fire Service and one team is NSW Fire Brigade. Three strike teams will be assigned to the Mansfield complex and the other two teams will work within the Wangaratta complex.
• Aircraft: There are 15 helicopters, 10 fixed-wing bombers and 9 reconnaissance aircraft deployed to the above incidents. Four aircraft are on standby in Melbourne.
• MFB have placed step up crews into 3 CFA stations at Dandenong, Frankston and Craigieburn from 7/12.

Immediate and Medium-term Risks and Action Plan
Weather
 The high pressure system will slowly move to the Tasman Sea on Friday. Conditions will be fine with very dry air. It will be warm to hot inland with light winds tending northerly later and milder along the coast with moist seabreezes. Very high fire danger across the state reaching extreme in forests in the Mallee. Extreme fire danger is also possible in other forests in the north.

 The high in the Tasman Sea will strengthen on Saturday ahead of the next frontal system, currently expected to reach the southwest Saturday night. Dry and hot conditions are likely although winds are not expected to be as strong as anticipated. The high should increase moisture in the far east of the state. Winds will strengthen in the west ahead of the change. Isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible in the far west late at night. Fire danger will reach extreme in the west but very high in the east with moist air and lighter winds.

 The trough will have stalled in the west overnight Saturday and will progress later Sunday with the assistance of the next cold front. The change is still expected to move faster along the coast and slower in the north. Dry hot and windy conditions will continue ahead of the front. Fresh southwesterly winds and isolated showers/thunderstorms are expected near and behind the front. Dry, high based thunderstorms may develop in the northeast in the afternoon. Fire dangers will be extreme ahead of the change then decrease behind the change.

 The cold front should slowly cross the remainder of the state on Monday reaching the far east as late as the afternoon. Cool and fresh south/southwesterlies will extend throughout behind the front with isolated showers, more widespread in the south. The airmass is expected to dry rapidly so fire dangers may reach very high in the north.

Priority Fires
• Assets facing risk include the townships of Kevington, Gaffneys Creek, Knockwood, A1 Mine Settlement, Cheshunt, Rose River, Tolmie and Whitfield. Reports are that fire entered the hamlet of Kevington on the night of 6/12 and DSE crews and CFA strike teams are engaged in asset protection.
• Fires are expected to spread significantly under the weather conditions forecast for Saturday and Sunday. The convection columns generated by these fires are likely to initiate thunderstorm activity. Over the coming days this will potentially create more lightning caused fires many kilometres down wind from the current fire areas.
• Assets at potential risk include the townships of Mt. Buller, Merrijig, Licola, Jamieson, Dargo and Woods Point. Contingency plans are being developed for those areas.
• Predictive fire modelling based on weather forecasts indicate that the fires have the potential to move rapidly to the south and east during Saturday and Sunday. This may threaten towns on the public / private land interface in central and eastern Gippsland, from the Heyfield and Glenmaggie area in central Gippsland to Bairnsdale and Bruthen in East Gippsland.
• Due to difficult terrain and limited resources, there are a number of fires that do not pose an immediate threat to private assets that have been subjected to minimal control effort and do not have control lines. Some of these have spread significantly and are likely to rapidly increase in area under the effects of the weekend’s extreme weather.
• Infra-red linescans were flown overnight and further linescans will be undertaken this afternoon for the entire fire affected area if possible. The priority will be the northern fire area and southern fire area. Linescans allow fire areas to be regularly and accurately determined and spot-overs to be identified.

Resources
• Resourcing the fire effort in worsening weather is a key issue of concern.
• A CFA Pumper/Tanker Strike Team has been deployed to Mt Buller for potential asset protection. CFA resources have also been deployed to Licola and Dargo for potential asset protection.
• CFA is positioning 16 tankers and 4 slip-on units into Licola for potential asset protection today and through out the weekend.
• A joint DSE/CFA Resourcing Unit has been established within the DSE ECC to coordinate the resourcing of Incident Management Teams.
• Work is also being done to have up to an additional 45 strike teams (225 trucks) into the fires around Gippsland for deployment during the weekend.

Actions planned
• Further linescans are planned for the entire fire area.
• DSE ECC is operating on a 24 hour, 2 x shift arrangement.
• CFA SECC is operating on a 24 hour, 2 x shift.
• Plans for managing an escalating situation are being formulated (including town settlement protection plans and strategic contingency plans).

Community Information/Safety
• Safety
- Parks Victoria is asking all potential visitors to delay plans to visit the Alpine National Park and surrounding State Forest west and south of the Great Alpine Road (linking Bright, Mount Hotham, Omeo and Bairnsdale).
- Mt Buffalo National Park is closed to visitors.

• Information
- Media coverage - Fire has been dominating the news. Regional radio has been positively promoting the community meetings and the arrival of the NZ firefighters. Help from the army was also foreshadowed.
- Media Releases providing information in relation to the Gippsland fires and welcoming the contingent of New Zealand firefighters were released. The Wellington Shire Council put out a media release indicating establishment of Bushfire Relief Centres at Sale, Bairnsdale and Traralgon.
- Fire threat messages are in place for:
- Mansfield complex. Residents of Gaffneys Creek, A1 Mine Settlement, Knockwood, Tolmie / Gears Hill area, Mt Buller, Merrijig, Woods Point – Mansfield Road and Kevington (DSE / CFA).
- Wangaratta - King Valley. Residents of communities in the Wangaratta - King Valley area (Cheshunt East area, Edi Upper District) regarding potential threat to private property in their areas as fires are moving towards containment lines.
- Ovens complex. Residents of Upper Buckland Valley area. Communities including Mt Beauty, Bright, Harrietville, Wandiligong, Mt Hotham Resort were advised to be alert for embers, although fire is not imminent.
- Community meetings. About 22 meetings have been scheduled for 8 and 9 December at a number of locations throughout the fire affected area. More meetings are expected to be scheduled.
- VBIL. Over 1260 calls were received over the 24 hr period from midnight (6/12) to midnight (7/12). This number is an increase from yesterday and expected to increase further over the next few days. Additional staff have been rostered for today and the weekend.

this is tough, NSW are your neighbour but we have so much fire actibity ourselves at present. thoughts and prayers with you.