Hi Everyone
I just thought I’d let you all know if it matters, people who live in the Victorian fire affected areas of
Narbethong, Marysville and
Buxton area are saying that the Maroondah Hwy Victoria between Healesville and
Narbethong (the Black Spur, a major sealed bush road) will probably be closed for about six weeks according to the
police, and it’s already been closed for about three.
There was a fire in the spur that’s been out for about a week and a half now (a cold and slow moving fire) and apparently the
police are worried of falling trees and branches, and they also want to keep tourists and looters out. The CFA and people who are authorised to go in say that with the most of the fire not being a hot one, it was mainly just the undergrowth burning slowly like fuel reduction burning, there’s not a great deal more falling trees than normal (they happen all the time anyway, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve jumped out to clear them).
I’ve heard a lot of people say that they think the
police need to use their noggins more, they’re making everyone do a detour around via
Alexandra,
Yea and the Melba Hwy. Going through the spur between
Melbourne and
Narbethong is about 44 km 40 minutes, taking the detour is about 148 km and 2 hours 10 minutes. When people are doing three times the kilometres and distance, there’s three times the chance of an accident occurring, plus there’s the 15 minutes of roadworks for the pipeline on the Melba Hwy, you don’t want unnecessary traffic going through roadworks, plus the Melba Hwy was all burnt just like the spur and there’s the risk of fallen trees there to, you weigh it all up, they’re not really making anything safer.
People in the area can’t go to work when the road’s closed, volunteers can’t come up very easily, builders, insurance people etc can’t get up and the area can’t get back on its feet until the roads open.
So if you’re one of the many kind four wheel drivers planning to go to these area and help the community, clear the tracks that sort of thing, you might have to take that detour around. We’re all fighting for locals, volunteers, delivery drivers etc to be allowed through the spur, but they can keep the tourists out if they really want.