The Longwood fire continues to burn out-of-control more than a week after it started on January 7.
While the weather has been cooler in recent days, firefighters have spent time conducting burning out operations to strengthen containment lines.
At 4pm on Thursday, January 15, the State Control Centre was still reporting that 136,000 hectares had burnt in the fire.
Fire warnings had been downgraded slightly for the fire, but as of 11.30am on January 15, VicEmergency still had ‘Watch and Act’ notices for people to monitor conditions as they were changing in the Ruffy, Longwood East, Yarck, Eildon, Alexandra, Yea and Tarcombe areas, as well as the Ancona, Fawcett, Kanumbra, Merton and Woodfield areas.
The alerts said many roads in the area had been impacted and damaged trees were continually falling across roads, and people who were not local to the area were being urged to stay away.
On Friday, January 9 a grass fire started in Yarroweyah at 1pm at the top of Benalla Rd, quickly spreading south along Benalla-Tocumwal Rd.
A ‘watch and act, stay near shelter’ message was issued for parts of Cobram and Yarroweyah, with the towns of Muckatah, Katamatite, Katunga and Naring getting the same warning not long after.
With high temperatures and strong winds, things escalated quickly and at about 2.35pm ‘leave immediately’ warnings were issued.
The grass fire was travelling from the Murray Valley Hwy in a south-easterly direction towards Muckatah.
By Sunday morning, January 11, the fire was still burning, but contained, and residents were told it was safe to return.
Moira Shire Council chair administrator Graeme Emonson said that based on CFA mapping, it was estimated just under 950 hectares of farmland had been burnt.
Dr Emonson said that while the detailed impact assessment was yet to be completed, it was estimated that between 10 to 12 houses had been destroyed and 30 structures damaged or destroyed.
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