Victoria's country fire authority now has concerns two large bushfires in the Grampians national park could merge and residents in the area are told to leave now.
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00:00I'm in Cavendish. It's roughly about 20 kilometres south of where an emergency warning is in
00:08place at the moment. So in the Grampians, there are two large bushfires, one in the
00:12north flanks on the western side and one of the south flanks of the western side. You
00:15can think of the Grampians as an upside down U-shape. And in the southern part, there is
00:20an emergency warning for a leave now for the communities of Mooralla, Walpua and Glen Isla
00:27that has recently been expanded. So really, small towns here must keep an eye on those
00:32emergency warnings. The fire could impact those properties in the next few hours. So
00:38residents are being asked to leave if they are not prepared to stay and defend to fight
00:42their property. We also know that the Henty Highway, a major thoroughfare as well for
00:46freight, is closed. Authorities are using it to help contain the fire as one of the
00:51containment lines. But there have been reports that with some of the wind, there is fingers
00:57of fire that have moved across it. Now, there are also two Watch and Acts in place. One
01:01Watch and Act is to monitor for conditions around the area that I am as well, just to
01:07keep an eye on those changing conditions. And another one Watch and Act in the northern
01:12part of the Grampians. Now, that had an emergency warning yesterday, but luckily that's been
01:17downgraded today. Those are for the communities of Wartook, Brampayan and Laharam. Now, multiple
01:25towns are, they're not incredibly big towns, but they are popular destinations. So the
01:31public really needs to keep that in mind. At the moment, we have a southerly wind, which
01:36is bringing a lot milder conditions. It's probably in the mid-20s right now. And that's
01:41actually been quite good for firefighters because it's actually pushing the fire or
01:46keeping it contained within the national park. It's a very difficult fire to fight. It's
01:50very inaccessible and rough terrain, very mountainous. And so authorities are just really
01:55trying to keep it contained in the park at the moment.
01:59And what's the heatwave forecast and what are authorities doing to prepare?
02:03Yeah, so at the moment, like you said before, there is concern that these two large fires
02:10could merge, creating a really, really tough flank of fire that they'd have to fight. So
02:15they're currently really busy trying to get ahead of this, ahead of the hot weather, which
02:19is coming on this weekend, where we're seeing high 30s for about three to four days consecutively.
02:24They're trying to get through about 9,000 hectares of back burning, and that's just
02:28to strengthen and bolster containment lines. So that way the fire remains in the park.
02:33As I said before, highways are sometimes being used to help contain that spread, but they're
02:39just keeping eyes on those edges at the moment, hoping those containment lines will hold as
02:44we reach really, really difficult conditions next week. We're also expecting the wind to
02:49change. We'll be getting a northerly wind, which is going to push, which is a lot warmer,
02:55for example, causing the high temperatures. And also that would likely push the fire out
03:01of the park. So it's going to be very challenging for the next few days. We know that firefighters
03:06here have been working their hardest since about Christmas, where that big, large bushfire
03:12ran for three weeks. So they are getting weary, but they still have to keep going because
03:16that's what the area needs.