ONE home has been destroyed and another damaged in out-of-control grass fires in Melbourne's northern suburbs.
The fire has burnt almost 2000ha on both sides of the busy Hume Freeway around Epping and Campbellfield.
One home in the Epping North area has been destroyed, incident controller John Deering said.
Another home has been damaged and several outbuildings or sheds have been lost.
An emergency warning is still in place for the Epping and Campbellfield area.
The fire spread quickly this afternoon but crews believe they have managed to slow or stop it advancing further.
Some parts of the 31km of fire edge are still active, Mr Deering said.
"The fire is not advancing or spreading any further at this stage,'' he said. "However there may be still active fire within that fire edge."
Victoria's Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said firefighters hoped to contain the Donnybrook-Kalkallo fire overnight.
"The forward spread of that fire has been significant but has now slowed,'' Mr Lapsley said.
The fire closed the Hume Freeway and created traffic gridlock on nearby major roads earlier today. Smoke was also affecting the area.
"Roads are gridlocked out in that area,'' Mr Lapsley said earlier. "People are either trying to get out or get home.''
Crews in about 70 fire trucks and six helicopters are still fighting the blaze, about 20km north of the city.
Firefighters battle the grassfire. Picture: Kylie Else
Residents in other parts of Epping, Lalor and Thomastown are also on alert.
Some residents who have left their homes have been advised to stay where they are for the time being.
Mr Deering said authorities hoped to be able to downgrade the fire alerts to allow people to return home later on tonight but only when it is safe to do so.
Crews would remain on scene all night, he said.
Epping North residents started to flee their homes earlier this afternoon, seeking refuge in shopping centres and community hubs, as a fast-moving grass fire closed in.
Fire crews earlier stopped the grass fire on its western front at Somerton and are now concentrating on the eastern flank.Epping North resident Cara Horner evacuated her home in Aurora Estate’s Early Bird Way about 3.10pm and is taking shelter at Epping Plaza with her baby.
"I didn’t know where else to go,’’ Ms Horner said.
"The plumes of smoke were terrible; we could see the helicopter and emergency vehicles and the roads were pretty clogged up.
"I’ve received a number of phone calls and test messages from friends; some of them have left, some people are packing their bags and waiting to hear from the CFA.
"There are a lot of worried people around.
"Even though we’re on the fringe, I don’t think we see ourselves as at risk of fire and I don’t think many people even have a fire plan.’’
Northern Health acting chief executive Robynne Cooke said 10 dialysis patients and a number of IT and support service staff located in peripheral buildings were affected, bus he dismissed earlier reports the hospital was evacuated.
Fire burns near a quarry in Donnybrook. Picture: Kylie Else
About 40 children at the child care centre neighbouring the hospital were forced to leave and sheltered in the main building of the hospital.
"We brought all those people into the hospital," Ms Cooke said.
"Our engineers worked with the air conditioning system because there was a lot of smoke.
"The smoke was quite evident from our windows and we could see that it was not that far away; at the junction of Hume Freeway and Cooper St.
"We worked with a Code Brown in place, staff responded appropriately and everyone was calm."
Ms Cooke said staff and patients were now able to leave the hospital.
CFA firefighters plan their next move. Picture: Kylie Else
She said staff were preparing for an expected influx of patients presenting with respiratory problems caused by smoke inhalation.
Today’s fire alert was the second the hospital has received in the past three weeks.
A number of hospital patients were relocated to wards within the hospital on January 22, when Emergency services attended a suspicious grass fire behind the hospital.
Ms Cooke said she was confident her staff would be able to handle any future emergency situations.
A CFA spokeswoman said they could not confirm if any buildings or homes have been destroyed in the fires. They would inspect for damage later tonight.
Earlier, Channel 9 reporter Jo Hall tweeted a picture of a home that was destroyed in the blaze at Donnybrook.
The fast-moving grass fire at Donnybrook. Picture: Kylie Else
The smoke haze is covering Melbourne city but Melbourne Airport says flights have not been affected.
Grampians communities are also on alert after a fire broke through containment lines and is burning less than 1km from another blaze.
Fire 'really took off'
The Epping RSL was evacuated earlier as the fire closed in.
Officials are encouraging locals to follow their bushfire survival plans and to “shelter in place”. They have not called for evacuations of factories in Epping.
State Control Centre spokesman Kevin Monk said the Donnybrook fire had “really taken off” this afternoon and continued to threaten life and property.
The Donnybrook fire as seen from the quarry. Picture: Kylie Else
“It’s really of concern to us because it has the chance to run into some housing on the east of Craigieburn and the Hume Fwy,” he said.
“At about 1.30pm it’s just done a major run and burnt through about 200ha, which shows show serious the conditions are with strong winds and hot and dry conditions.''
“This fire has potential to burn into communities east of the Hume Fwy, so that’s a decision they’ve made. We would encourage these surrounding communities to follow their bushfire survival plans,'' he said.
“The impact is almost immediate for the area east of Craigieburn and these warnings will be enforced throughout the afternoon until this fire is rounded up.
"On days like today fires can just about start anywhere. It’s so dry hot and windy across the west, it doesn’t take much these days to get a fire going.”
The Hume Freeway has been closed in both directions between Cooper St and Sydney Rd.
Horses that escaped the Donnybrook fire. Picture: @willpristel7 on Twitter.
Drivers travelling through the area are advised to use caution as there is heavy smoke over the road, or use the Old Hume Highway as an alternative.
The grassfire travelled in a southerly direction along Donnybrook Rd towards Craigieburn Rd, before it crossed at Summerhill Rd.
Keep up to date with CFA fire events at its website.
Warning came too late: resident
Epping resident Cara Horner said she had already decided to evacuate long before the CFA text message to "seek shelter’’ at 3.48pm.
"The biggest thing in all of this is how slow the CFA has been in telling our community about the danger,’’ Ms Horner said.
"I called my daughter’s child care centre and they hadn’t heard from the CFA. When I spoke to them, they were pretty shocked that they hadn’t heard from anybody.
"I was very worried about my daughter and went to pick her up as soon as I heard something was happening.
"I’m lucky because I work from home – I feel for parents who work in the city and can’t get there quickly.’’
Contractor hurt while building lines
Meanwhile, a 51-year-old contractor has suffered serious injuries while building containment lines in Victoria’s west.
WorkSafe are investigating after the male contractor – who was deployed to the Glenlogie fire about 45km east of Ararat to assist with building containment lines - received severe injuries to his leg after an accident involving machinery at 10.28am.
The worker was airlifted to the Alfred Hospital in a serious condition.
STAY SAFE
The Herald Sun has joined with fire authorities to keep Victorians informed. Check out the Bushfire Ready page for the latest advice, warnings and videos from the CFA. This page is updated with the latest warnings from across the state. Save it to your bookmarks. You can access it from our homepage (click on Bushfire Ready) from any computer. This service is not available on smart phones.
Check live weather information - including fire warnings - on your computer AND smart phone at our Weather page. Just add m.heraldsun.com.au to your smart phone bookmarks and follow the View weather forecast link.
The CFA has a live fire map. Check it out here and add to your bookmarks.
Reports and alerts will also be posted to our Facebook page and from our official Twitter account.
- with Anthony Dowsley and Erin Marie, Herald Sun
Lawn mowing Craigieburn
ReplyDeleteWe're lawn mowing Craigieburn, the best priced service in your suburb. Free Quotes. We're here and eager to help. Check this out!
to get more - https://jimsmowingmelbournenorth.com.au/locations/craigieburn/lawn-mowing-craigieburn/