Fireworks of the devastating kind hailed the new year for the Poolaijelo community, with more than 7300 hectares of land and 4600 head of livestock lost to a bushfire which started with a car fire in South Australia.
Officially designated the Langkoop Edenhope Penola Road Fire, the blaze swept east from Wrattonbully in South Australia over the border and to Poolaijelo before a wind change on Friday afternoon shifted it in a north-easterly direction.
Fire crews were able to contain the blaze after it shifted into scrubland north-east of Poolaijelo on Saturday, however at time of going to print, it was not deemed ‘under control’.
“The risk to private property is significantly reduced, the fire is still active in the state forest and that’s not going to abate for a few days,” incident controller District 17 Assistant Chief Fire Officer Mark Gunning said.
While hundreds of kilometres of fencing and dozens of farm buildings were lost, he said no inhabited dwellings were lost in the fire and praised the efforts of local fire crews and support crews, in battling what has been described as a “ferocious” and “monster” fire.
“It was not our worst fire day, not a day of total fire ban, but once it got going … it moved so quick the first crews, the only crews on the ground at the start, were the locals – Jilpanger, Casterton … all those local guys that just did a really good job to start saving those houses,” ACFO Gunning said.
“After that, we had six trucks from South Australia, fixed-wing aircraft from Victoria, two large air tankers from Avalon, helicopters.
“The Green Triangle Forest Alliance, their crews were sent to look after their assets initially, then integrated with our teams, went to help the local people and made a real difference in the fight.
“We have heard a lot of those stories in the last 48 hours, the teams working together that saved houses at the last minute.
“It does not take away from the heartache of what is lost, but gives people their own bed to sleep in, which helps a little.”
Clean up after the fire has already begun, with residents from across the south-west and south-eastern South Australia rallying to assist with livestock assessment, feed for remaining sheep and cattle and general help in cleaning up the mess left by the fire.
