Pigeon Valley fires: Burnt valley's locals on edge

Yellow and brown tinder-dry grass stretches as far as the eye can see in Redwood Valley, but in Brian Baxter's backyard the ground is black and charred.

The Redwood Valley resident's home was one of the 97 properties evacuated on Wednesday afternoon when a fire broke out near the Moutere Hill.

It was deja vu for many people who also had to evacuate when the Pigeon Valley fire blazed through the valleys about three weeks ago.

Baxter was evacuated from his home for 16 nights.

"Seventeen nights if you count last night," he said.

He'd been staying in his caravan and his dog Monty had a few different homes over the past couple of weeks but had readjusted well.

The Moutere fire broke out on Wednesday about 1km from the Moutere Hill, near the Upper Moutere Highway.

The blaze is now contained and four fire crews continued to work yesterday on dampening it.

You've just got to do what you've got to do. There's no point staying here if flames are coming towards you.

Brian Baxter

Baxter pointed out the charred trees about 3km from his property, where the fire had been.

A fire break that had been dug out and helped to quickly contain the fire could be seen tattooed into the ridge of the hill.

He said it was "definitely" the driest that conditions had been. Many other residents agreed — with one saying they could not remember it being like this since the 1970s.

"It's tinder dry, anything could set it off. You get idiots who chuck cigarette butts out and that sort of thing. We've just got to be ready," Baxter said.

Brian Baxter and his dog Monty have spent weeks in temporary accommodation since the Pigeon Valley fire came within 3km of their home. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In December and January the previous summer they had had about 260mm of rain in each month, but this December and January there had been about 5mm and 6mm, he said.

The fire on Wednesday was not as intense as the Pigeon Valley fire, he said.

"You could see the smoke going out over Rabbit Island in the distance and as you walked around the house you just saw the [same plume] again. Next minute there's flames shooting up and the helicopters arrived."

Baxter has about 16ha of land on his property, with a significant area destroyed by the earlier larger fire still being battled by fire crews.

The fire got within 3m of his home. Green, leafy trees sit metres away from blackened stumps and charred ashy ground.

He said they had only harvested the land in December, and if not the situation could have been a lot worse.

"It's a major task ahead to reinstate it. Hopefully all our insurances will come to the party and we will be back to where we were."

When it came to the uncertainty of having to pack up and leave again, Baxter said they had no other option.

"You've just got to do what you've got to do. There's no point staying here if flames are coming towards you."

That thought was echoed by other locals who were ready to pack up and leave again if need be.

Fire and Emergency have warned there is still an extreme fire risk in the region.

There had been 2.4mm of total rainfall recorded in Richmond in February, with a large part of the region being in drought.

Principal Rural Fire Officer Ian Reade urged people to not do anything that could cause a spark and asked anyone who needed to mow their lawns to do it in the morning.

He said people needed to remain vigilant.

"One of the secrets to getting this fire contained as fast as we did was the fact it was reported early and the fast response from volunteer firefighters ... so if you see smoke dial 111."