A police investigation into a Flowerdale fire remains ongoing following the arrest of a man last week.
Alexandra Crime Investigation Unit detectives, with the assistance of Arson Squad detectives and Country Fire Authority investigators, arrested the Flowerdale man, 71, on Wednesday.
He was interviewed and released pending further enquiries.
About 200 volunteer firefighters, more than 50 trucks and nine water-bombing aircraft were required to contain a major fire near Flowerdale last week.
The fire, which began on Tuesday in the Spring Valley Road area, burnt nearly 1000 hectares.
At a community meeting at Yea on Wednesday, officer in charge of the Murrindindi police service area Michael Mannix said the fire was not deliberately lit.
“I can reassure the community that we don’t have an arsonist at foot. I can tell you that. I can tell you at this stage of the investigation, it’s accidental,” he said.
“I want to stress that point. Please be reassured, we haven’t got an arsonist running around. It’s not a deliberately lit fire.
“Those enquiries are ongoing, but from the knowledge I have, I don’t think that assessment will change.”
The fire was declared contained late Friday.
Surrounding communities were on high alert throughout the week, with the CFA issuing several emergency alerts.
CFA established an incident control centre at Alexandra to manage the fire.
Forest Fire Management Victoria firefighters and contractors created a mineral earth lines to contain the fire, which started as a grass fire but spread to steep and inaccessible country, and then into forested areas.
There were no loss of homes, but fencing and sheds were affected.
