General News
15 February, 2023
Blaze threatens wind farm
AERIAL units were called in to fight an out of control grass fire which threatened to spread in to Dundonnell Wind Farm last week.
AERIAL units were called in to fight an out of control grass fire which threatened to spread in to Dundonnell Wind Farm last week.
The grassfire broke out last Wednesday afternoon at 4.13pm, drawing seven units from Cobden, Nerrin Nerrin, Pura Pura, Darlington, Vite Vite, Dundonnell and Woorndoo, according to a Country Fire Authority media spokesperson.
Westmere Fire Brigades Group third deputy group officer Mark Gubbins of the Chatsworth CFA said responding units faced a range of challenging circumstances when arriving at the scene.
“It was started, I believe, by a contractor working on something,” he said.
“The grassfire started in rocky country out of Dundonnell, which made it really hard for firefighters. It was a big problem.
“We got gear there but to be able to traverse around was very complicated.”
DGO Gubbins praised the response efforts led by Dundonnell captain Tim Hill, but said the fire had quickly spread to land which was difficult to reach.
“The trucks nearly got it (under control) early on when it was quite small,” he said.
“The area had a rock wall right through the middle of it, from one end to the other, and we could not get through that rock wall.
“The fire got over the rock wall, and the trucks couldn’t get through and we had limited ability in some areas.”
DGO Gubbins said an assessment of the impacted area from high ground resulted in two fixed-wing aircraft being called in to help contain the outbreak as it threatened to spread in to the Dundonnell Wind Farm.
“The fire was burning from east to west, and burning directly in to the wind farm,” he said.
“When I got there it was looking quite risky so we called for two water bombers and we got them, but unfortunately the fire had spread to land surrounding the turbines where the bombers cannot fly.
“We were lucky because the first two bombers had come out of Hamilton and two more fixed-wing had come out of Stawell.
“So we had four fixed-wing aircraft and I called in for a Helitack (helicopter with water bombing payload) out of Colac because of the wind turbines; my thought was if this gets in here, we’re in trouble.”
DGO Gubbins said a combination of the aircraft and the location of tracks created in the wind farm was a “godsend,” stemming the spread of the fire and giving firefighters the opportunity to bring it under control.
“The aircraft were magnificent,” he said.
“Luckily, the wind farm has roads going everywhere so at the head of the fire where I was waiting, it burnt in to one of the tracks and that put it out.
“That track was a godsend because as fires run uphill they burn faster than downhill, so the head ran up the hill in to the wind farm very quickly, but the track was over the hill so the fire traversed down slower.
“If the track had been on the other side (with the fire moving uphill) it probably would have jumped the track.
“That pulled up the head for us. Then the aircraft and tankers on-scene were able to work on the rest of it for us until we got it out.”
The fire was brought under control and the scene declared safe by 8.08pm.
DGO Gubbins said little could be done by the CFA to increase access to hard-to-reach terrain.
“There’s not much you can do about the access,” he said.
“It’s been increased because of the wind farm even though their roads don’t go straight.
“It’s a bit of a maze, but that was a help.”