Forest fire threatens homes in eastern Tasmania
Forest fire threatens homes in easternTasmania
11 December 2006
published by www.abc.net.au
Tasmania, Australia — Firefighters on Tasmania’s eastcoast are battling extreme winds as they work to protect properties from a dryforest fire.
Winds of up to 110 kilometres per hour have groundedfirefighting aircraft and are fanning a fire north of St Marys and east ofGerman Town.
The fire has already claimed a house, a caravan andseveral cars.
It is expected to cross St Marys Pass at some stage thisafternoon.
Communications officer Danny Reid says St Marys Pass maybe closed and people are being asked to defer non-essential travel to the area.
“There’ll certainly be properties that are underthreat this afternoon,” he said.
“Our crews will be in property protection mode whilethose windy conditions are continuing up there and while the fire is movingalong so actively.”
Firefighters working on the Bream Creek fire say theircontainment plans are progressing but they are concerned about the possibilityof windy conditions this afternoon.
