Homes and lives under threat in Gippsland as fire flares again
Homes and lives are again under threat in Gippsland after a cool change swept across the region, shifting the wind direction and fanning the flames of an out-of-control bushfire towards homes north-east of Rosedale.
Hours after warning alerts were downgraded for the bushfire in Rosedale, another emergency alert has been issued advising residents to take shelter.
Residents north of the Rosedale-Longford Road and south of the Princes Highway in Fulham, Kilmany, Kilmany South and Pearsondale have been told it is too late to leave.
"The fire is threatening homes and lives. You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive," the warning reads.
The fire is over 500 hectares in size and 200 firefighters are battling the blaze.
Ryan Heritage-Gorrie, who lives on Rosedale-Longford Road, said the fire seemed to be skirting around Rosedale.
"If the wind changes westerly, we will [evacuate]," he said.
He described an "eerie glow" in the area as the bushfire burned through hectares of bush and farmland.
"There are strong winds fanning the flames. I don't think anyone will be getting any sleep any time soon. The winds are so swirly and it can change at anytime."
A cool change moved through the area on Friday evening, with a wind shift causing the fire to alter direction and burn to the north-east towards Longford, a town of about 1500 people.
Temperatures at East Sale Airport, the closest weather monitoring station to Rosedale, peaked at 43.7 degrees at 4pm, but the cool change started to pass through the area just after 6pm.
There are more than 10 CFA tankers, numerous heavy bulldozers and 11 aircraft on the scene, including two large air-tankers from Avalon airport.
"The weather conditions and strong winds have caused quite erratic fire behaviour and the challenge we have is there is a column of smoke which is at such a height it's influenced by high elevation winds and creates an increase in fire behaviour," said CFA incident controller John Crane.
The large plume of smoke can be seen from Gippsland Lakes, from the mountains and even Warragul, he said.
Firefighting crews will remain there overnight and are planning to undertake night aerial bombing work.
The state government approved night-time firebombing operations for this summer after successfully completing a trial early last year.
An emergency warning was issued at 5.30pm on Friday for residents south of Holey Plains State Park and north of Thirteen Mile Road in the Stradbroke West, Willung and Willung South areas, advising them to take shelter as it was too late to leave.
However, just before 8pm, the alert was downgraded to a watch-and-act alert, and the advice changed to leaving rather than staying.
An emergency relief centre was established at the Sale Baptist Church on the Princes Highway late on Friday night.
Stradbroke CFA firefighter John Mowat told the ABC on Friday afternoon he could see "balls of fire going up" from his farm seven kilometres from the front.
"The fire is definitely not under control ... they've got the helicopters over it but they're not making any progress."
Mr Mowat, a CFA volunteer for 50 years, said a strong south easterly wind change was now pushing the fire back to the north east.
"It's an extremely hot fire. It's too hot for them to be doing any work on it," he said.
Mr Mowat said he expected the fire to burn for some time.
"We'll be working on this fire for quite a few days, at least a week."
Rosedale resident Russell West lives just one kilometre from where the fire began with his rural property backing onto the Holey Plains National Park.
"It’s not great, my property was less than one kilometre from the origin. It’s windy and still 35 degrees plus," he said.
Taylah Hardy watched on from outside her Rosedale home as the smoke and flames grew throughout the afternoon.
"My brother and I were over near Taylor’s Lane and in the time we were there the fire had grown and moved closer to us extremely fast. It’s pretty scary," she said.
Local man Ed told 3AW Radio that the fire was close to his property.
"We've got a big smoke cloud not far from us, my daughter just came back from the end of the driveway and she said she can hear it. It's a lot closer than what I thought," he said.
He said his wife was taking their dogs and leaving while he was staying behind to look after their horses.
Temperatures soared across the state on Friday, with Melbourne recording its hottest day in five years, a top of 42.6 degrees.
There was a total fire ban in place across Victoria.
Elsewhere in the state, a watch-and-act message was issued for a grassfire being fought in Strathbogie, near Bonnie Doon, which is not yet under control.
It is "a cause of concern," a CFA spokesman said.
"Staying close to a building you can shelter in is the safest option as conditions can change suddenly.
Continue to stay informed and monitor conditions," the emergency warning reads.
A community meeting will be on Saturday at 10am at the Strathbogie Hall on Main Street with representatives from the CFA, Victoria Police and Strathbogie Council.