Emergency warning issued for Mooralla and Woohlpooer in state’s west

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Victoria's country fire authority now has concerns two large bushfires in the Grampians national park could merge and residents in the area are told to leave now.

Transcript

00:00I'm in Cavendish. It's roughly about 20 kilometres south of where an emergency warning is in

00:08place at the moment. So in the Grampians, there are two large bushfires, one in the

00:12north flanks on the western side and one of the south flanks of the western side. You

00:15can think of the Grampians as an upside down U-shape. And in the southern part, there is

00:20an emergency warning for a leave now for the communities of Mooralla, Walpua and Glen Isla

00:27that has recently been expanded. So really, small towns here must keep an eye on those

00:32emergency warnings. The fire could impact those properties in the next few hours. So

00:38residents are being asked to leave if they are not prepared to stay and defend to fight

00:42their property. We also know that the Henty Highway, a major thoroughfare as well for

00:46freight, is closed. Authorities are using it to help contain the fire as one of the

00:51containment lines. But there have been reports that with some of the wind, there is fingers

00:57of fire that have moved across it. Now, there are also two Watch and Acts in place. One

01:01Watch and Act is to monitor for conditions around the area that I am as well, just to

01:07keep an eye on those changing conditions. And another one Watch and Act in the northern

01:12part of the Grampians. Now, that had an emergency warning yesterday, but luckily that's been

01:17downgraded today. Those are for the communities of Wartook, Brampayan and Laharam. Now, multiple

01:25towns are, they're not incredibly big towns, but they are popular destinations. So the

01:31public really needs to keep that in mind. At the moment, we have a southerly wind, which

01:36is bringing a lot milder conditions. It's probably in the mid-20s right now. And that's

01:41actually been quite good for firefighters because it's actually pushing the fire or

01:46keeping it contained within the national park. It's a very difficult fire to fight. It's

01:50very inaccessible and rough terrain, very mountainous. And so authorities are just really

01:55trying to keep it contained in the park at the moment.

01:59And what's the heatwave forecast and what are authorities doing to prepare?

02:03Yeah, so at the moment, like you said before, there is concern that these two large fires

02:10could merge, creating a really, really tough flank of fire that they'd have to fight. So

02:15they're currently really busy trying to get ahead of this, ahead of the hot weather, which

02:19is coming on this weekend, where we're seeing high 30s for about three to four days consecutively.

02:24They're trying to get through about 9,000 hectares of back burning, and that's just

02:28to strengthen and bolster containment lines. So that way the fire remains in the park.

02:33As I said before, highways are sometimes being used to help contain that spread, but they're

02:39just keeping eyes on those edges at the moment, hoping those containment lines will hold as

02:44we reach really, really difficult conditions next week. We're also expecting the wind to

02:49change. We'll be getting a northerly wind, which is going to push, which is a lot warmer,

02:55for example, causing the high temperatures. And also that would likely push the fire out

03:01of the park. So it's going to be very challenging for the next few days. We know that firefighters

03:06here have been working their hardest since about Christmas, where that big, large bushfire

03:12ran for three weeks. So they are getting weary, but they still have to keep going because

03:16that's what the area needs.

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