General News
17 February, 2024
WIMMERA ON CATASTROPHIC FIRE DANGER ALERT / 'I know my house is first in firing line'
Grampians Tourism CEO Marc Sleeman said he knew his house in Pomonal was "the first house in the firing line" as the blaze approached.
Grampians Tourism CEO Marc Sleeman said he knew his house in Pomonal was "the first house in the firing line" as the blaze approached.
"It's pretty awful," he told ABC. "As I was departing, most of the community were heading out.
"There's going to be lots of families impacted in the next couple of days.
"You've just got to stay positive and we're here you know, we're alive, we got out early.
"But yeah, it's pretty emotional feelings. It's a bit of a roller coaster at the moment and sort of going through the ups and downs."
The next day he was still waiting to hear if he had lost his home.
"It's just belongings and we can rebuild if the house isn't there," he said.
"We might be camping for a while."
Trevor and Donna Newell, formerly of Areegra, east of Warracknabeal, said the fire came within one block of their property in Pomonal.
"Our property is okay, but quite a few around us have burnt," Mrs Newell told The Horsham Times.
"The houses and properties behind us, they burnt, and our church also burnt down.
"The fire got very close to our property. I can't say in metres, but it was at the road behind us."
Northern Grampians Shire Mayor Rob Haswell said people who fled Pomonal were surprised how quickly the fire swept their town.
“They couldn’t believe it. It was very, very quick,” he said.
He said people who made it safely to a relief centre “were sitting quietly and just staring in space”.
“Horrible, horrible thing to witness people in a state of shock like that.”
Member for Lowan Emma Kealy said people had reported 25 to 30 houses had been lost in Pomonal and surrounding areas.
“Devastating losses to fire in Pomonal,” she wrote on Facebook.
“Thankfully there are no reports of lives lost at this stage.”
Horsham Mayor Robyn Gulline said she was grateful for the response of people across the region.
"I just would like to thank everyone doing the right thing," she said.
"I would like to thank the assistance and support from everyone."
The focus now is on the wider clean-up, with health authorities and councils combining to minimise effects of the smoke fallout and continue the back-breaking task of clearing roads and removing dangerous trees.
“Today’s job is to go in there and survey the damage to get the total numbers,” CFA Chief Officer Mr Heffernan said on Wednesday.
Horsham Rural City Council was preparing to supply heavy vehicles, trucks, excavators and staff.
"We'll be helping out with the clean-up, removing and burying dead livestock and the fallen trees across roads," a spokesperson said.
Community meetings were held later in Pomonal, Dadswells Bridge, Stawell and Ararat.
Glenn Rudolph, Incident Control Centre planning officer for Forest Fire Management, said it would take a few days to get the fires under control.
"We're hopeful to get fires contained by Friday before it warms up again for the weekend," he said.
The fires were believed to be caused by dry lightning strikes, with flames fuelled by wind gusts of up 100km/h after temperatures had crept close to 40 degrees.
The catastrophic fire danger rating was last used in the Black Summer fires of 2020.