Four fires in Yass Valley region

The flock of sheep were facing in the direction of the fire when it rushed over the top of a hill on Malcolm Heat’s ‘Ballandarah’ property.

“It wasn’t very good for a while there,” the Kangiara Fire Captain told the Tribune.

“We had to hunt the sheep around the fire because it was staring them right in the face and moving pretty fast at one stage.”

Mr Heat lost 20-acres of land to the fire but he still counts himself lucky.

“To be honest we were pretty lucky on the day, it could have been worse and we didn’t lose stock.

“Plus the conditions were pretty hairy with wind blowing in both directions, so that made things difficult, too.”

Kangiara, Bowning, Binalong, Yass Support, Manton, Jeir, Bango and Rye Park were all dispatched to ‘Otterbourne’ once the Rural Fire Service was made aware of the blaze just before 2pm.

On the same afternoon, fires burnt on Shingle Hill Way near Gundaroo, in the Goodrabidgee Forest near Carey’s Cave north-west of Wee Jasper and another blaze destroyed 50-acres land in the Upper Lachlan Shire on Blakney Creek Road. It is believed all four fires were started by lightning strikes.

The Gundaroo blaze destroyed 25 acres and brigades from Back Creek and Gundaroo attended the scene. It was quickly brought under control and fire fighters had left the scene after just a few hours.

The fire just out of Wee Jasper burnt in hilly scrubland owned by Hume Forestries and it posed significant risk due to its location.

However, a helicopter and crews from Tumut Forestry and Wee Jasper quickly contained the blaze and less than one hectare of land was destroyed. It was also mopped up quickly.

The fire at Bloomfield on Blakney Creek Road burnt 50-acres of property in total. Crews from Bevendale, Blakney Creek, Broadway, Dalton, Merrill, Jerrawa, Oolong and Gunning were dispatched at about 1.30pm. The fire was completely contained by around 4.30pm.

Mr Heat said firies were at ‘Otterbourne’ and his ‘Ballandarah’ farm keeping watch until about midnight on Wednesday.

“It wasn’t until about dark that the wind died off so some of the brigades stuck around until it was nearly morning, just to make sure everything was under control.”

At about midday yesterday, crews returned to ‘Otterbourne’ for further monitoring.

“There are still a few hot spots out there so the trucks will have a look at them and make sure everything is under control,” Mr Heat said.

RFS Southern Tablelands Zone Manager Peter Alley said he was impressed with the performance of volunteers.

“As usual volunteers were tremendous, they were kept busy, but communication was good.

“We couldn’t do it without them, that’s for sure.”

The fire danger period has been extended until the end of April and those looking to burn will need a permit to do so.