Firefighters battle out-of-control blazes raging in Victoria’s east

Furious Bunyip State Park residents have hit out at the fire authorities response to Victoria’s catastrophic bushfires.

Some say not enough hazard reduction fire burn-offs were done in the lead-up to the inferno and others they were left to their own devices to escape.

“I got to the corner and the fire brigade (were) all sitting up on the corner — not one truck attended,” local resident Rex Newton told 9News.

“Ash Wednesday was bad, but not to this extent. At least Ash Wednesday, you got some help from the fire brigade.”

The owner of a winery that was destroyed on the weekend said his property could have been spared of the Victorian Government had a more active hazard reduction policy.

The owner of the Jinks Creek Winery said on Today this morning: “I have tried to get the message through to Parks Victoria for years and years and years.

“And nothing has been done. We have lost everything. And I honestly believe if they had done a lot more work as the royal commission recommended, this wouldn’t have been as disastrous for all of us who have lost our places.”

Responding to the claims, Victoria’s emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp denied residents had been ignored.

“We have to keep it this in some sort of context. We have got 40 going fires across the state, we have watch and acts in relation to four fires,” he told Today.

“And I quite well understand some of the community sentiment. But the important thing for us, we still have the potential threat to life, threat to properties, and we will stay focused around that.”

“We want to do whatever we can to keep communities safe but at the same time the window for conducting planned burns is very, very limited.

“When you think about temperatures, you think about fuel load, so what we have seen over the state in the last couple of years, particularly in Gippsland, as we have seen, has been record low rainfall.

“And that’s why we have got what we have got in relation to the fires in the landscape with lightning strikes very quickly starting fires.

Firefighters continued to battle almost two dozen blazes across Victoria’s east in the early hours of Tuesday, with many of the fires still not under control.

As of midnight Tuesday, Victorian emergency services confirmed blazes were still burning in Bunyip State Park and towns including Basan Corner, Cornucopia, Drouin West, Garfield and Garfield North, Gentle Annie, Tonimbuk and Tynong North.

It’s hoped rain and cooler temperatures expected on Tuesday and Wednesday will aid efforts to bring under control fires that have seen at least nine properties destroyed.

However, expected thunderstorms could produce lightning that sparks new blazes.

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for East Gippsland and North East districts — and could provide much relief to firefighters battling the blaze in Dargo.

The storm will bring strong winds and heavy rains and could lead to flash flooding in some areas.

But those battling the Bunyip fire may not see any relief until early on Wednesday morning, with the cool change predicted to arrive then.

With the storms comes the danger of dry lightning which could cause flare ups in areas already affected by the fire — and crews will be on high alert overnight. At least two homes have been destroyed by the latest round of devastating bushfires.

The number of damaged or destroyed properties is expected to rise when firefighters can better survey the area on Tuesday morning.

The threat of the blaze known as the Yinnar South fire was downgraded on Monday. But elsewhere the risk escalated. Blazes further east at Dargo were classified as an emergency and residents in 17 localities were told it’s too late to leave.

“The bushfire closest to Dargo has travelled south past the township. The Dargo Road has not yet been impacted, however spot fires have been identified to the east of the road,” the alert reads.

“The two other fires northwest of Dargo are currently merging which will form one large fire.

In addition to the two houses, at least seven other structures have been razed across the state, keeping busy some 2000 firefighters.

The Bunyip fire is the largest. It’s about 65km east of Melbourne, was sparked by lightning strikes on Friday and has destroyed more than 10,000 hectares. Alerts also remain in place for areas further northeast, including at Licola.