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Victoria bushfire update, some telecommunication services down
Australian Community Media
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12/27/2024
Bushfires have damaged the Mount William communications tower in the Grampians, impacting some communities' internet and phone services. Update by VicEmergency on December 27, 2024 at 12pm..
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00:00
All right, welcome to the State Control Centre here on the 27th of December 2024.
00:07
I'm joined here today by Deputy Premier Ben Carroll, Emergency Management,
00:12
Emergency Services Commissioner Vicky Ward, also the Chief Fire Officer of
00:17
Forest Fire Management Victoria and also Alex from Expression Australia.
00:23
Well I can say yesterday was an incredibly challenging day for our
00:27
firefighters out on the ground, particularly around Western Victoria and
00:31
the Grampians but also more broadly into Gippsland as well. We had high
00:36
temperatures across the state yesterday and very strong northerly winds which
00:40
really made it challenging for firefighters. This was followed by a
00:45
westerly, southwesterly change in the afternoon which then turned the fires in
00:50
a number of areas across towards the east. This impacted significantly on the
00:56
Grampians fire so with the northerly winds, the hot northerly winds, that fire
01:00
ran down towards Dunkeld and more closely towards Glen Thompson and I can
01:06
say the extraordinary efforts of firefighters on the ground contained
01:10
these fires before they got to some of the towns and made some damage occur
01:15
there. When the winds changed to the westerly, southwesterly then the
01:20
fires ran out of the out of the Grampians there and towards the towns of
01:25
Willora and it also spotted up to Halls Gap and again the firefighting efforts
01:29
from Country Fire Authority, Forest Fire Management Victoria and also Fire Rescue
01:34
Victoria did an amazing job to stop those fires the way they did in those
01:38
terrible conditions. The Grampians has now burned over 75,000 hectares so that
01:45
is one significant fire and that will continue to burn for weeks as the wind
01:49
changes to the north, south, east or west over the coming days and weeks that will
01:54
continue to burn. Over 15,000 hectares of private land have also been burnt
02:00
around the Grampians and as I said this came from the run of the fires out of
02:05
the Grampians predominantly yesterday. We've had a number of sheds, out
02:09
buildings and water tanks burnt. We are not yet aware of any residential
02:14
properties that have been lost. That is possible though because there is thick
02:18
bush around there with some homes and we'll need to get in there to fully
02:22
assess that but none have been reported to us. There have also been livestock
02:26
losses, there has been crops lost, beehives lost, power lines and of course
02:33
all of the environmental damage in the Grampians has occurred as a result of
02:38
these fires. One of the consequences of the fires is the Mount William Towers.
02:43
There are three towers up on top of Mount William that service a range of
02:48
functions and areas from mobile networks for emergency services through
02:53
to Air Services Australia as well as Optus services, NBN services. We have
03:01
just been advised recently one of those towers has just been restored. The one
03:05
that remains outstanding is for NBN and Optus but these were impacted also
03:10
because the power lines on the way to those towers have been impacted by the
03:14
fire. So our resources down on the ground there are looking to make it safe to try
03:20
and get assets in there to repair those power lines. Power Corp is actively
03:25
involved with our emergency service colleagues. There are backup systems on
03:30
top of the mountain, generators and battery systems. We're able to use some
03:34
aerial assets to get our technicians in there to also restore some of those
03:38
generators so that will be a significant focus for us. The challenges with the
03:43
telecommunications infrastructure does mean that some people may need to travel
03:48
further to get access on their mobile phone so please be mindful of that and
03:53
listen certainly to your radio around the fire conditions that are
03:58
there. I can say that the Gerties fire near Lang Lang is now contained and
04:04
again brilliant work from our firefighters down there that kept that
04:08
fire within that fire ground and prevented it running out during
04:11
yesterday's really challenging conditions. The Bullunga Rook fire also is
04:17
contained and likewise that fire was prevented from running during
04:21
yesterday's really challenging fire conditions. In terms of relief centres we
04:26
currently have four relief centres that are open. We have Stawell Relief Centre
04:31
and overnight they had 35 people stay there. The Ararat Relief Centre had 26
04:37
people stay overnight and six people stayed in hotels. The Hamilton Relief
04:42
Centre had five overnight and five stay in hotels and the Skipton Relief Centre
04:48
had three overnight. A number of other relief centres have been open but closed
04:52
subsequently and are not needed. Overall 163 registrations for people staying in
04:59
relief centres. Overnight as well we had elevated winds that came through with a
05:04
change and with those elevated winds that created lightning strikes which
05:09
wasn't fully expected. There was a less than 10% chance of dry
05:13
lightning occurring but we did have some across the state from the Mallee in the
05:18
west through to the northeast and into Gippsland. So there were 250
05:25
lightning strikes that occurred during this time as that front passed through.
05:29
We have a number of fires that are now going in the Alpine National Park area.
05:35
One of those has been contained. Another three are currently going but we have
05:41
lots of assets on those from aerial aircraft to Forest Fire Management
05:45
Victoria personnel on the ground actively looking to get those fires
05:49
contained very quickly. One of them is nine kilometres south of Whitfield.
05:54
Another is seven kilometres south of Cheshunt and the other is at Uppin
05:59
Ryans Creek. So please we ask that people be really mindful that those fires are
06:05
there. They are small but they pose a real risk if they're not able to be
06:09
contained quite quickly. We continue to do aerial surveillance across the state
06:14
to just ensure that we identify any other fires that may have started from
06:18
those lightning strikes. The weather over the next week looks relatively
06:23
stable and this will enable us to get time to then try and
06:29
stabilise the fires that we've got in the Grampians, continue to look at
06:34
backburning operations and look to support the
06:38
community there. Significant focus on relief and recovery now to people
06:42
impacted by the fires. But as I said it's likely the Grampians fire is going to
06:46
burn for weeks. Can I just say thank you to our amazing volunteers and paid
06:52
firefighters. They have done an amazing job right across the state because we're
06:56
activated right across the state. All of it was in extreme fire danger rating
07:01
other than East Gippsland. So we had incident control centres, regional
07:05
control centres and resources placed right throughout the state yesterday.
07:09
Most of our volunteers missed out on Christmas Day with family and friends.
07:14
They're working day and night round the clock to keep our community safe and
07:18
support our community members in their time of need. And finally I just want to
07:23
say a big thank you to the family members of volunteers that support them
07:29
to go and support our community as well as the employers who release them from
07:33
whatever their job is to go and help fight the fires. On a positive note all
07:39
emergency warnings have now been reduced to watch and act. So that's really good
07:43
news that those emergency warnings have now been downgraded to watch and act.
07:47
And it is likely now that the residents of Moyston, Pomona and Willora are
07:55
likely to be able to have permission to return to their homes this afternoon
07:58
after being asked to leave due to the fire risk that's there. So that is
08:04
excellent news. Finally just once again anyone that doesn't have the Vic
08:08
emergency app please download the app. Make sure you set up a watch zone but
08:12
don't rely on one single source of information. Listen to your emergency
08:16
broadcasters as well. Stay aware of your surroundings where you live, work or
08:21
visit and make sure that you are well prepared in the event of a fire. I'll now
08:27
hand across to Deputy Premier Ben Carroll. Thank you.
08:33
Good afternoon. I'd like to just give a brief explanation and update on the
08:38
current situation and also go to our recovery financial hardship that we're
08:43
supporting communities with. First and foremost can I also join the Emergency
08:48
Management Commissioner and thank every single one of our firefighters and when
08:53
I say firefighters I mean our forest firefighters, our paid firefighters, our
08:57
volunteer firefighters, our SES members, our emergency service workers and all the
09:02
community members who have worked around the clock to keep Victorians safe. We've
09:07
just had a briefing on the fire activity in Victoria and the Premier, Premier
09:12
Allen, this morning has also chaired a meeting of the Security and Emergency
09:14
Management Committee to discuss the actions we are going to take to support
09:18
Victorians impacted by the fires. On the current situation it's been incredible
09:24
that we do have no reported residential losses which is incredible. Last night of
09:28
the Grampians we had 26,396 emergency alert messages were issued across 34
09:34
townships and people took those warnings seriously. 75,000 hectares, a 300
09:41
kilometre perimeter around the Grampians. That is the perimeter of the
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