Authorities believe sparks from a trailer led to the catastrophic Longwood bushfire in north Victoria. Photo / Jason Edwards, NewsWire
Sparks from a trailer travelling along a major highway are believed to be behind the catastrophic Longwood bushfire in north Victoria, which has claimed the life of a local cattle farmer and led to the destruction of more than 150 structures.
The deadly blaze, which has spread through 3000km of land and claimed a significant amount of livestock, is believed to have started on the Hume Fwy, north of Seymour.
Authorities believe sparks from a trailer travelling on the freeway ignited the bushfire.
The alleged cause comes amid claims Victoria’s Country Fire Authority (CFA) firefighters were not adequately prepared with the resources to battle the catastrophic blazes that have raged across Victoria over the past few days.
But the organisation’s board and chief has quickly moved to quash accusations the volunteer and community based fire and emergency services organisation was underfunded heading into the bushfire season.
“The CFA disputes claims that funding to CFA has been cut and our volunteers and brigades are not prepared for the current fire season,” the statement from the board read.
The statement says, “in fact” the CFA budget had increased since 2020, “including an additional $20.3 million this financial year”.
The board and chief “sought” to the government for “additional funds” to face the “challenging fire season”, the statement says.
“This request was met with an additional A$11.6 million [$13.5m] of supplementary funding for Strategic Bulk Water Supply and a statewide community engagement and awareness campaign; ‘Get Fire Ready’,” the statement said.
“To support our frontline volunteers, we continue to prioritise investment in new and replacement fire stations, fire trucks, and protective equipment, whilst continuing to advocate and work with Government to secure more investment in fleet and equipment”.
A man killed in the horrific Victorian bushfires – which have torn through about 400,000 hectares and destroyed 350 structures – has been identified as a local farmer.
The Age reports the body of cattle farmer Maxwell Hobson was 100m from a car on Yarck Rd at Gobur on Sunday afternoon.
Hobson was a local farmer who owned a 101ha property with his wife Julie in Terip Terip.
A report is being prepared for the coroner.
Speaking to ABC Radio on Monday, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the person’s death was a “tragedy”.
“My thoughts are with the person’s family, their community and also everyone – this loss reverberates across all of the fire grounds across Victoria,” she said.
“We’d gone through a number of days when we hadn’t seen a loss of life so this does hit hard.
“It is another really tragic reminder of just how dangerous and deadly these fires are.”
Allan has since pledged assistance payments for those affected by the deadly bushfires.
Speaking to reporters in Natimuk – which was devastated by fire over the weekend – the Premier announced additional funding for eligible Victorians.
Payments of up to A$52,250 will be available to eligible uninsured households, which Allan said would help them “re-establish their principal place of residence”.
One-off, non-means-tested payments of A$1000 are available for adults and A$400 per child.
Immediate hardship allowance payments are also accessible, with up to A$2380 available for families.
The assistance includes A$1m funding for free mental health support for farmers and residents in the area.
From Friday, grants of up to A$5000 will be available for events and activities that support mental health and wellbeing.
An additional A$80m has been provided to the Country Fire Authority, which has been allocated to training, water storage, equipment and the operation of the aerial fleet.
CFA chief fire officer Jason Heffernan said the CFA’s funding has “increased year-on year”.
“I can also confirm that the available budget to the CFA this year is some A$20m more than it was last year.”
The assistance programme also includes the Victorian Bushfire Appeal, allowing the public to make donations directly to affected farmers.
“At the worst of times, we always see the best of the Australian character,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
“What we saw is just people helping, helping out. Often, some of them from communities themselves have been devastated in recent by floods or by fire.”
He also vowed support to Victoria’s bushfire-affected communities, from a commonwealth level.
“We’ll continue to monitor these situations. We’ll continue to be in close contact with Premier Allan … who I spoke with again yesterday, and the Commonwealth will always provide whatever support we can,“ he said.
Bushfire communities are also experiencing internet outages, with Murrindindi being “mostly” affected according to Michelle Cobb, North East Victoria’s regional manager for NBN.
She told residents at the Longwood bushfire community meeting that most of the outages are in Alexandra, Yea, Buxton, Eildon, Rennie’s Hill, Taggerty and Thornton south.
The Great Ocean Road is also open for residents, despite the Carlisle River fire burning through more than 3300ha and remaining out of control by authorities.
Despite a cold front rupturing the heatwave across the majority of the state, the Bureau of Meteorology warned the bushfires were still an extreme risk as strong easterly winds fuel further flames.
“[On Monday and Tuesday], we’re going to see much lighter winds … so hopefully that allows firefighters to try and get an upper hand on some of those fires,” senior meteorologist Dean Narramore told NewsWire.
“But they’re still going to burn – especially those large fires the Longwood and the Alpine fire – they’re so large they’re going to burn for weeks anyway, or until we see widespread heavy rainfall.”
Later this week, easterly winds will bring more humidity, cloud cover and moisture to the state. However, Narramore said it wouldn’t offer much relief for the fire-affected areas.
A dry six-month period has helped fuel the fires across the state’s north and west.
“Combined with the hotter weather as well – particularly through inland areas – has allowed a lot of areas to dry out,” he told NewsWire.
“The really intense extreme conditions we saw last week and the thunderstorms, the very hot air started a lot fires around the state because the vegetation is quite dry now.”
A total fire ban has been put in place for the northeast and north central regions of the state.
This means no fire can be lit in the open air or is allowed to remain alight until midnight Monday.
Heffernan said light winds could make the flames burn longer, and urged residents to follow the rules to avoid further catastrophe.
Several fires remain burning out of control on Monday, with residents in the state’s central, east and west told to urgently seek shelter.
The bushfire in Longwood has been downgraded to a watch and act warning. More than 130 fire vehicles are also in the area as the bushfire is not yet under control.
According to the Emergency Management Commissioner, Tim Wiebusch, 154 structures have been lost in the Longwood fire.
The horrific bushfires have torn through hundreds of hectares in the state’s central region, destroying up to 50 homes and businesses in the process.
The Premier has confirmed her own home is also under threat, taking to X early on Monday morning to post an emotional video of the forefront from her own backyard.
“To get a warning, to be told that it is too dangerous to stay in your own home, and that you must leave and must leave now is gut-wrenching, it’s sickening,” the Premier said in the video.
According to the ABC, 47 homes and three businesses have been severely impacted by the Ravenswood fire in Harcourt just south of Bendigo.
The Mt Alexander Shire also announced in their local meeting that 46 houses have been lost, and an extra six houses have been seriously damaged in the Ravenswood – Fogarty’s Gap Road fire.
Over 300 structures have been lost in blazes across the state, including numerous homes, businesses and outbuildings.
Three emergency warnings remain in place Victoria’s bushfires, two for the Walwa fire in Victoria’s northeast and one in the Otways in the state’s southwest.
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