A backburn led by Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) firefighters helped contain the northern front of the bushfire within the Grampians National Park before it reached Halls Gap.
The burn, which helped protect the community and reduce the spread of the fire, was undertaken by local FFMVic crews and contractors, CFA Volunteers, FFMVic firefighters from across Victoria and an interstate taskforce from Queensland.
Halls Gap FFMVic firefighter, Emily Scott, said crews ignited the burn following a significant level of planning and on ground preparation.
“We’ve seen what could happen when fire comes into Halls Gap across the steep slopes, so we knew that we were going to try and prevent that from happening to the community,” she said.
With the extreme fire conditions on Boxing Day driving the northern head of the fire closer to Halls Gap, the backburn was the best option to protect the community. This allowed the surrounding areas as quickly as possible.
Emily said a small window of cooler days provided a limited opportunity to undertake the backburn and crews got to work, utilising local knowledge and skills honed during Forest Fire Management Victoria’s year-round fuel management program.
Back burning is commonly used by firefighters during fire response to strengthen control lines and protect communities and the environment, by burning fuel ahead of a fire front.
The backburn included the construction of approximately 2.5km of control line across the steep, rocky terrain by dozers and firefighters.
“It was hard going for ground crews. Some of the scrub was so dense with 10-foot-tall tea tree,” Emily said.
“Because of the steep, rocky terrain we could only use dozers for some of the containment line, with the middle section coming off an escarpment having to be done by hand".
“The local FFMVic firefighters went hiking through the prickly scrub on Boxing Day evening and put flagging tape out to line the way for the dozer the next day.”
Crews then methodically lit sections of the forest between the containment line and the main fire front to remove any unburnt vegetation and ultimately reduce the potential for the fire to impact the community.
Aircraft was critical to the operation, with aerial incendiaries —small balls dropped from a helicopter-mounted machine that ignite when they reach the ground — assisting crews igniting by hand using drip torches. Firebombing aircraft were used to rapidly attack any spot overs and dampen vegetation to moderate fire behaviour.
Hose lays and sprinkler systems were used along the entire length of the control line, allowing crews to wet down the line to reduce spot overs and dramatically speed up the process of blacking out the fire edge.
“We had a new taskforce that had a Canadian in their team and people who had been on deployment to Canada previously, so they had specific experience with hose lays and sprinkler systems,” said Emily.
The backburn was completed ahead of extreme fire conditions on January 4 and 5 and successfully held the fire from impacting the community and spreading into the Wonderland Range.
The bushfire in the Grampians National Park was declared contained at 76,000 hectares on Monday 6 January, 21 days after the fire was first reported.
Firefighters continue to work around the clock to mop up and black out the fire area. Recovery planning for the National Park and broader community has commenced.
Halls Gap reopened to visitors on Wednesday 8 January, with parts of the Grampians National Park open from Friday 10 January.
For more details about access to the Grampians National Park, visit the Parks Victoria Website
