By Ashok Verma
NORTH Central region residents and firefighters still reeling after battling 40-plus degrees centigrade scorchers last week can breathe some sigh of relief with much-desired cool change with temperatures down to 19 degrees on Sunday, and rain forecast tomorrow and on Thursday.
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast temperatures to be in the 20s until January 20.04
With 32 fires still burning across the state and hundreds of homes and buildings destroyed, the Longwood blaze in the North Central fire district 12 region has proved fatal and continues to be of concern.
Victoria Police said on Sunday afternoon one person has died in the Longwood bushfire that has destroyed dozens of property and livestock.
Police said they found human remains about 100 metres from a vehicle on Yarck Road at Gobur, a remote area east of Seymour.
UNDER CONTROL: CFA brigades battled hard in extremely hot weather to stop the grassfire at Beveridge and Wallan last week.
CFA brigades battled hard in extremely hot weather last week to bring a grassfire between the Northern Hwy and Hume Fwy at Beveridge under control.
About 60 people affected by the fires in the region have been staying at the emergency relief centre at Seymour Sports and Aquatic Centre. It is run jointly by Mitchell, Murrindindi and Strathbogie shire councils.
Premier Jacinta Allan, who on Saturday declared a State of Disaster for 18 local government areas and one Alpine resort, including Mitchell and Mount Alexander Shires, visited Seymour on Saturday and met fire-hit residents taking shelter there.
Ms Allan, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday, announced $19.5 million in support packages for fire-affected communities, in addition to the personal hardship grants announced on Friday.
CFA deputy incident controller and Kilmore Fire Brigade Captain Greg Murphy said the fire that started at Longwood on Wednesday has burnt 136,000 hectares. It’s got a perimeter of 172 kilometres and moved quite extensively over the last 48 hours to Saturday evening, with moderating wind and fire conditions.
“Our concern continues to be the eastern edge of this fire. It will continue to move while we attempt to contain it,” Mr Murphy said.
“The fire is a long way from under control as conditions are so dry. There are parts of it that have been contained and tracked, but there are also parts of it that are continuing to cause us some challenges. We will need to rapidly attack any new starts to make sure that we don’t have a second one of these coming our way.
“At the peak of the fire on Friday, there were probably close to 500 firefighters working on it, and more than a dozen aircraft. It was just an outstanding response from our firefighters.”
Mr Murphy said along with CFA, Forest Fire Management Victoria and FRV, and emergency management partners such as police, ambulance, Agriculture Victoria, VicRoads, hospitals, power, water and telecommunications providers and municipalities including Murrindindi, Strathbogie, Mitchell, Whittlesea and Mansfield are continuing to work very closely to minimise the impact on a community of the fire that is growing all the time.
Mitchell Shire Council Mayor John Dougall said people staying at the Seymour relief centre had been provided mattresses, blankets, sheets, pillows, toiletry and hygiene packs and shower facilities.
The Salvation Army and community groups are providing food. Seymour Health officials have been helping people with prescriptions and medications.
About 350 people attended a bushfire information community meeting on Saturday at the Seymour Sports and Aquatic Centre. People had a chance to hear from representatives from VicEmergency – Hume, emergency services and government agencies, community support services and Mitchell, Strathbogie and Murrindindi shire councils. The meeting was telecast live on Facebook. A similar meeting was held on Thursday night.
“Soon we are going to move into the recovery phase. We will be trying to make sure that we win our fair share of resources (from the government) that we can help distribute to the community,” Cr Dougall said.
For more information on the fires, visit www.cfa.vic.gov.au, VicEmergency website, phone VicEmergency Hotline on 1800 226 226 or follow CFA or VicEmergency on X (Twitter) or Facebook.
