Witnesses heard a "huge boom" and saw a fireball when electricity jumped to a tree from high-voltage transmission lines in Brunswick, starting a scrub fire that spread to nearby pine trees.
Firefighters arrived to the sight of the burned tree with a split down the middle from where electricity had travelled from the 220,000 volt lines out on Sewell Rd on Wednesday afternoon.
They were alerted by contractors working nearby who witnessed the dramatic sight.
A fire coving an area of about 150m by 50m was spreading in the dry conditions and had reached the pines as two fire units and one rural tanker arrived.
"It had potential to be quite a large fire," rural fire officer Gavin Pryce said. "Responding the helicopter early saved the day, otherwise I'd still be there." The helicopter dropped about 20 loads of water on the fire, at 700 litres per bucket, while an initial team of up to 15 firefighters tackled it from the other side.