October 3rd, 2023Unattended burn off sparks Spring Hill blaze, prompts warning
With the weather warming up over recent days, the CFA has already been called to a number of fires across the state, including an unattended burn off in Spring Hill – between Glenlyon and Woodend.
High winds caused embers to spread to a nearby pile of logs, causing a large amount of firewood and some processing equipment to be destroyed, the CFA reported following the incident late last month.
Spring Hill Fire Brigade 2nd Lieutenant Andrew Jan said Trentham brigade crews made an initial attack, extinguishing the fire on the machinery.
“When we arrived on scene, we saw what appeared to be an unattended burn pile. There were heavy winds blowing embers toward a large pile of logs roughly 20 metres away that had become well alight,” Andrew said.
“The fire had started moving through some fine fuels on the ground to a large pile of firewood, so the initial role of the crew was to contain that.
“By using Trentham’s Big Fill, we were able to attack the fire in a more effective manner and release tankers quickly, cutting down the time needed to fight the fire.”
The scene was declared under control around 15 minutes after the first vehicle arrived on scene.
The incident has prompted the CFA to urge landholders to always register their burn offs, to never leave burn offs unattended and t always ensure burn offs are fully extinguished, especially ahead of warm, windy days.
