A Halls Gap fire vehicle in the Grampians National Park. Photo: VicEmergency / Twitter (X)
VICTORIAN firefighters have contained the bushfire in the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park after three weeks.
Fire authorities hope to reopen Halls Gap and the national park later this week.
The fire began on December 17 with dry lightning strikes in the park’s southern region. More than 76,000 hectares of park and agricultural land has burned.
VicEmergency incident controller Peter West says the bushfire was “significant” and deeply affected all those connected to the national park.
“Coinciding with what is typically the busiest season for tourism in the area, the fire has resulted in considerable hardships and financial losses for local businesses and communities,” he said.
“Declaring the fire contained allows us to begin the process of reopening Halls Gap and areas of the national park.
“Firefighters will continue to monitor and patrol the fire; this could still take a number of weeks. It is likely we will still see smoke and small flare-ups in the area, but we will continue to be present to deal with these when and as they arise.”
He thanked the public for their help and co-operation in abiding by road closures.
“It allowed our crews to focus their efforts on fighting the fire effectively while prioritising community safety,” he said.
“While we continue to focus on the suppression of the fire, planning is well underway to ensure a prompt and thorough recovery from this event.”
The fire destroyed four residential properties in Moyston and Mafeking as well as 40 outbuildings in Moyston, Willaura, Willaura North, Mafeking, Pomonal, Glenthompson and Mirranatwa.
Vic Emergency says livestock losses include 775 sheep, one horse, one beef cattle and 1285 beehives with more than 13,538 ha of farmland burnt and 540 km of fencing damaged.
The agency says that burning out operations and patrols by firefighters and aerial fire tankers extinguished hotspots early and prevented further spread of the bushfire.
This work helped to reduce fire activity and contain the fire ahead of more settled conditions over the next week, it said.
This means there is no active or running fire and the perimeter is within control lines, the agency says.
