The continuing fire risk for summer was made apparent on Friday when a blaze broke out on the Moppity Road near Young.
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Crews from Yass Valley joined almost 200 firefighters to help contain the fire which came within seven kilometres of Boorowa township.
“There’s a lot of country been burnt out… It’s not looking real good out there,” Superintendent Peter Dyce from the Rural Fire Service said on Friday.
Boorowa residents were preparing to evacuate when the wind changed and the fire front pushed north, towards Douglas Range.
The fire had travelled about 16 kilometres in just half-an-hour that afternoon, tearing through around 1600 hectares in total.
A taskforce of seven RFS trucks and a smaller vehicle went from the Yass and Upper Lachlan area during the height of the fire.
They helped around 70 other crews to contain the fire.
“Friday night they got right around it and Saturday morning they were sent home,” Superintendent Dyce said.
An evacuation centre was set up at the Harden Country Club for residents that may have had to leave as the fire went through their property.
Yass crews at Boorowa
Two Fire and Rescue NSW squads from Yass went to Boorowa to help during the fire emergency on Friday.
They were tasked to a grazing property near Boorowa to provide protection as the fire burned furiously toward the town.
Thankfully no homes were lost thanks to hard work by firefighters, air bombers, heavy vehicle operators and a fortunate wind change.
Flare ups
Several contained fires around the Yass Valley flared up in the heat on Friday. Smoke caused some nerves for nearby residents as the Cobbler Road fire, a fire at Gundaroo and another on Dicks Creek Road had reignited.
These were all within containment lines and firefighters were on the scene to ensure the fires didn’t break away.
Fire on the train tracks
Fires started by a train on Thursday night were quickly contained by the RFS. A brake-shoe had broken on a train travelling the Sydney to Melbourne line near Coolalie Road.
Several crews put out the fire and then patrolled the line between Jerrawa and Binalong to ensure no further fires had started.
Joe O’Connor Park
A fire broke out near Joe O’Connor Park around 2pm on Friday, burning a very small area near the bank of the Yass River.
A pumper from Yass’ Fire and Rescue NSW and the Rural Fire Service attended.
Police believe the fire may have started from a cigarette butt.
Removing asbestos after bushfires
WorkCover has waived the five-day notification period for asbestos removal to allow for immediate clean up after the bushfires.
Materials still need to be kept wet until they can be safely removed. Qualified Class A asbestos removalists need to be employed to complete the work.
All fire-damaged asbestos material to be removed needs to be notified to WorkCover by the removalist.