Rural
7 June, 2026
Natimuk fire exposed phone risks
When fire threatened Natimuk on January 9, the town also faced a communications failure after a mobile tower lost power and its backup generator failed.
THE fires that started at Grass Flat and eventually threatened Natimuk on January 9 had an unfortunate backstory: a mobile tower servicing the town failed a few hours after the power went out in the afternoon.
Natimuk pub owner Bill Lovel said The National Hotel effectively had a front-line view of the community’s demeanour that day and the period following, and the experience really just underlined the growing need for telecommunications to be taken seriously for small country towns.
He said he still preferred to keep the pub’s landline service operational, and they had simply not found the mobile networks, or even the town’s NBN tower, adequate for day-to-day business.
“We’re going to change over to Starlink,” Bill said.
“The internet’s not all that great here.”
But the memory of losing mobile network coverage was certainly an overshadowing concern for the townsfolk – Bill said that in the days following the fire, the consensus in pub conversations about communications was that it was “ordinary”, to say the least.
“(They were) pretty disappointed with what had happened,” he said.
He added that the comparative speed with which Powercor had restored power was impressive, given the extent of the damage.
The pub had organised a generator to keep their fridges and freezers running, but mains electricity was restored late in the afternoon the following day.
“I think there was something like 15 poles (replaced) in a matter of eight hours or something,” Bill said.
At the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry, Natimuk fire brigade captain, David Sudholz, said although their own CFA radios had “largely functioned”, the eventual failure of the mobile network should not be taken lightly.
“Backup power failure at Mount Arapiles and loss of mobile coverage represent critical infrastructure risks,” he told the inquiry on April 22.
When the power went out, there were batteries still keeping the tower operational for about four hours (which thankfully covered the period the fire threatened the town), but unfortunately the secondary backup, a generator, failed to start, meaning most people in Natimuk – with perhaps the exception of some people on the fringes able to connect to distant towers – without communications and the ability to let people know of their safety.
David said one of the issues that emerged from the inquiry was the revelation that the situation at the facility could not be rectified, despite a contractor being on call.
“Their job was go there, but because the road access from Horsham to Natimuk was blocked, that person was unable to get there,” he said.
“But you know the point was if they got someone from Edenhope, there wouldn't have been any restrictions coming from that side, because the fire didn't impact them or that part of the road.
“It was a long time before they actually got back up there, and because the battery went flat ... we were out of mobile phones for a day at least, I think.”
He said he was certainly concerned about township infrastructure resilience, and that phones were as much a part of that as water supply and power.
Living about two kilometres south-east of town and thankfully having only lost a shed to the fire that went right up to the house where he and his wife live, David said the NBN connection at their home had been generally reliable and they had given up their landline “a long time ago”, but could appreciate the general flatness of the wider local terrain was a big factor in those decisions and living near hills or even in dips in other areas might be a very different experience.
“In that parliamentary inquiry ... those places like Longwood ... there is definitely, if you're in valleys and that sort of stuff, there's going to be a place where you're going to lose phones – and even with the radios and that sort of stuff, they're probably not going to work as well,” he said.
A Telstra spokesperson said they had reviewed the outage and were committed to the resilience of services to rural areas in emergency scenarios.
“There were some impacts to mobile services in parts of the Wimmera region at the time of the fires, primarily due to power outages and damage to local network infrastructure,” the spokesperson said.
“Sites in these areas are designed with battery backup and, where possible, generators, but extended or severe events can still lead to temporary disruptions.
“Since then, we’ve continued to strengthen network resilience in disaster-prone areas, including reviewing backup power capability, improving monitoring, and prioritising rapid deployment options such as portable generators and temporary network solutions when access is safe.”
Ripped-up cabling repaired
Another of the unfortunate outcomes of the Natimuk fire was the accidental ripping up of an underground cable alongside the Wimmera Highway near the corner of Vectis Station Road, about 10 kilometres west of Horsham, and how the repair reflected on Telstra’s current policy of dealing with such damage, given the legacy status of much copper infrastructure.
What was noted was the seeming temporary nature of running a new cable along a new fenceline for about 200 metres, rather than underground.
“This damage to underground copper cable infrastructure occurred during emergency works, where crews were acting quickly in fast-moving fire conditions to protect lives and property,” a Telstra spokesperson said.
“While this type of damage is not intentional, it can occasionally occur in these high-pressure scenarios.
“When copper cables are damaged, it can impact landline services until repairs are completed. “Restoring these services is a specialised and often complex task and can take time depending on the extent of the damage and site conditions. In some cases, especially where infrastructure has been heavily impacted by fire, cables can be beyond repair.
“Our teams prioritise restoring connectivity as safely and quickly as possible, often using interim solutions to get customers reconnected while longer-term work is assessed.
“The above-ground cable you’ve noted is most likely one of these interim restoration measures.
“These solutions allow us to re-establish service quickly, particularly across shorter distances, while we determine the most appropriate long-term fix.
“Where significant damage has occurred or where legacy copper infrastructure is no longer the most resilient or efficient option, newer technologies can provide a more reliable and future-ready solution. In these cases, we take a pragmatic approach to ensure customers receive a service that meets current standards and performs better in challenging conditions.”
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