Vic: Fire crews prepare ahead of extreme weekend weather

AAP General News (Australia)
12-08-2006
Vic: Fire crews prepare ahead of extreme weekend weather

Fire crews are trying to establish control lines around bushfires in Victoria's north
east and Gippsland today .. ahead of one of the state's worst fire risk weekends ever.

Two thousand firefighters are supported by 350 tankers .. 88 bulldozers and 30 aircraft
as well as 45 firefighters from New Zealand and offers of assistance from the army.

This would include army fuel tankers and bulldozers in the high risk Mansfield-Whitfield region.

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD says Victoria will get all the assistance it needs from
the federal government.

As fires continue to spread and merge .. residents are warned to not leave their fire
plans until too late .. with temperatures forecast from the mid 20s to the high 30s.







Eighteen fires are burning across state forest and the Alpine National Park in the
north east and Gippsland region .. blackening 150 thousand hectares.

Townships at immediate risk include Kevington .. Gaffneys Creek .. Knockwood .. A1
Mine Settlement .. Cheshunt .. Rose River .. Tolmie and Whitfield.

Residents are being advised to prepare for possible ember attacks and to shelter inside
their homes if radiant heat becomes intense.

The biggest blaze is the Ovens fire .. 10 kilometres west of Abbeyard .. where more
than 70 thousand hectares of state forest has burned.

Bushfire experts are concerned the fires could combine into a 600 thousand hectare
super fire when winds and temperatures increase on Saturday.

Warm conditions are expected today .. with winds swinging around to the north.

100 extra firetrucks and a thousand more firefighters will be brought into the Gippsland
area tomorrow.

So far at least two houses and a shed have been destroyed.

AAP RTV mi/ce/

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES VIC (MELBOURNE)

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