Damages to houses and 10 hectares of bushes in Victoria's Otway Ranges were one of the results of the extreme heat wave happening across Australia over the long weekend. A hundred firefighters responded to the emergency call and struggled to put out the fire that started on Monday at 3pm.
More or less 200 homes were under threat due to the fire that jumped containment lines. However, the fire was finally extinguished on the evening. Extreme fire danger has been forecasted all throughout the state, especially that the heat wave had also caused a series of bushfires.
Due to the continuing heat wave, residents of Seymour, Maryborough and Castlemain in the north central region are in extreme fire danger alert while severe fire conditions are set to hit Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Warrnambool, Hamilton, Mildura and Swan Hill in the south-west. The north-east region, which includes West Gippsland, Wodonga, Wangaratta, Bairnsdale, Sale and Warragul, is also on high fire danger.
Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley told the public that 12 fire-fighting aircrafts will be available on Tuesday for deployment. He urged citizens to avoid lighting fires and have bushfire emergency plans ready.
Meanwhile a fire near a steel plant in Tyabb south-east of Melbourne was brought under control by the Country Fire Authority (CFA). Workers from the neighbouring businesses were evacuated while the fire was being subdued near the BlueScope Steel Plant. CFA's Arthur Haynes said the fire damaged 5 hectares of land. Due to the incident, additional fire-fighting resources are already on hand to prepare for any untoward incidents that may arise because of the high temperatures of 40 degrees continuously affecting the region.
The Local Government Association (LGA) of South Australia has already met to identify their role in bushfire preparedness. They talked about improving communications, incident management and community support. Chris Russel of the LGA said that councils need to be more prepared in the emergency and disaster management and recovery. More than 90 representatives from the 29 councils took part of the workshop.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
