Crews battle national park blaze
Crews battle national park blaze
31 March 2009
published by www.abc.net.au
Australia — Fire authorities say there have been several cases of arson near the area where a bushfire is burning in Victoria’s south-west.
The blaze covers more than 1,000 hectares of the Lower Glenelg National Park, north-west of Portland.
John Rofe from the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) says it is investigating whether a nearby fuel reduction burn contributed to the blaze.
He says the area has also been the target of arsonists in recent days.
“The DSE did have a prescribed burn in the area where the fire started,” he said.
“Over the weekend past there were a number of suspicious ignitions in that area … so we’re investigating the cause of the fire at this stage.”
Operations officer Don Tumney says almost 100 firefighters have spent the night trying to forge a containment line around the blaze.
“At this stage we’ll still be concentrating on the south-west corner immediately in the morning but also concentrating on the northern boundary where there has been a lot of dozer work overnight,” he said.
“That will be continuing so that there’s a line fully encircling the fire.”
Bright
A bushfire near Bright, in Victoria’s north-east, has flared up.
The fire started on Sunday from a campfire in the state forest north of Bright.
It was contained yesterday afternoon, but has flared up again on the western boundary.
It has burnt more than 110 hectares but is not threatening private property.
David Hayes from the Department of Sustainability and Environment says they are confident of getting it back under control.
“We’ve got to get a trailer around it and it’s very steep so it’s all got to be done by hand to get a trailer around it so that will take time and resources so there’s more resources on their way,” he said.
