It could be days before some Harcourt and district community members are able to safely return to their homes to assess the damage from Friday’s devastating Ravenswood-Harcourt fire event.
At Saturday’s Community Meeting at the Castlemaine Town Hall Incident Controller Michael Masters said the fire is still very active and was not yet under control and that may take days before that happens. At the same time they are looking for people impacted by the fire, who may be injured or have other issues that need to be addressed and providing immediate relief support. They are also looking out for animals, livestock and wildlife.
An Agricultural Victoria representative was in attendance to assist community members with any questions.
“Over the next couple of days, weeks and months we will start the recovery process. But today we are still in response mode and trying to provide the immediate relief of suffering,” Mr Masters said.
Their first priority is response, strengthening containment lines, asset protection and community safety, whilst working is also being done to assess the extent of the damage, and make the fire ground, hazardous trees and buildings safe to allow community members to return.
Mr Masters said the initial impact assessment teams had been into Harcourt and the majority of community buildings have survived the path of the fire.
“I do want to acknowledge that there are a number of houses have been lost both in Harcourt and in the fire affected area itself well.”
The full impact of the fire is still not clear, with conflicting reports about property losses, but emergency services estimate up to 50 structures (homes and sheds).
Mr Masters gave another update this morning. He said fire crews had worked hard yesterday and overnight to try and stop the spread of the fire. It has now increased by another 260 hectares and covers an area of 3780 hectares.
At yesterday’s meeting, Mr Masters said hazardous trees pose a big threat and often it is trees and falling limbs that cause more serious injuries to emergency service personnel than the fire itself.
He said he understood community member’s desire to to their return homes but their job is to keep community members safe. Some areas may not be opened up until the middle of next week.
Relief Centres will remain open over the weekend at Kyneton Sports and Aquatic Centre and Bendigo Showgrounds for community members who have been displaced.
Mr Masters explained he made the decision not to open a Relief Centre in Castlemaine on Friday because at that time the fire was impacting the Midland Highway. He did not want Harcourt and district community members to think it was safe to travel to Castlemaine as clearly it wasn’t. Castlemaine was also without power at the time.
However, Mount Alexander Shire Council staff had been working around the clock to support emergency services and will be opening an ‘Emergency Recovery Centre’ in Castlemaine asap. Details will be provided on the location will be advised.
The ‘Emergency Recovery Centre’ will have a focus on assisting community members who have lost their homes and been displaced with accommodation support, emergency relief, and assistance accessing financial support payments available from the state and federal governments.
Local Emergency Response Coordinator and Acting OIC at Castlemaine Police David Semmens said the opening up of the township and recovery would happen in a ‘staged’ approach as areas were declared safe.
In this morning’s update Mr Masters said the Calder Freeway was reopened around midnight last night and emergency services were working hard to be able to open the Midland Highway today.
Numerous road closures are still in place and are listed in the VicEmergency app and at and updates are available at https://traffic.transport.vic.gov.au/
The fire has also damaged a railway bridge in Harcourt and rail services are not expected to be back on line for at least a week or more. Buses will replace trains on the network until further notice.
Much of the township is without power and Powercor teams have a lot of work ahead of them.
“In particular they need to repair a 66,000 volt transmission line which runs in the north section of the fire, without that there is only one source of power supply coming into Castlemaine and if that gets impacted by another emergency Castlemaine is off the grid and that is a significant risk. So that’s important to us and the distribution lines to get properties off line back in the grid. But again it needs to be safe for those crews to move in,” Mr Masters said.
Coliban Water infrastructure on Mount Alexander and within the township has also been damaged. The water authority has issued a warning that the the water is not safe to drink until further notice. The water supply infrastructure on Mount Alexander has links to towns as far away as Donald so this is a priority for repair.
In this morning’s update Mr Masters said this vital infrastructure has been repaired. However, Coliban Water’s ‘Harcourt – A Do Not Drink Advisory’ warning still stands. The water authority is working to provide support and an alternative water supply, ahead of restoring supply as quickly as they can. For updates see the Coliban Water Facebook page or visit https://www.coliban.com.au/interruptions
Television, radio and telecommunications infrastructure was also damaged as the fire crossed Mount Alexander cutting off communication for many residents. Emergency services aim to allow contractors in to repair these as soon as it is safe to do so. He hoped this would be able to happen later today.
Community members can continue to follow the VicEmergency app for updates and tune into Phoenix FM 106.7 for ABC Radio Emergency Broadcasting coverage.
Victoria Police Superintendent WD5 (Central Victoria) Paul Gardiner said they are getting a lot of welfare checks. Some areas are very difficult to get to. Lot of heat in the buildings but they are working through this.
He assured Harcourt community members that there would be an active, visible police presence in the community in the days ahead.
At least one life has been lost. A man in his 60s is thought to have been fleeing the scene when he suffered a suspected medical episode. Ambulance crews were unable to access the scene as fire threatened the property. However, a CFA member who is also a paramedic reportedly tried to render assistance but the gentleman had sadly passed away.
Three emergency service personnel were also injured in separate incidents at fires which burned across the state Friday.
One interstate firefighter was airlifted to Melbourne for treatment after suffering a medical episode, one injured their hand, and another was struck in the face with a hose.
All three are reportedly now recovering in hospital.
As the Ravenswood fire took hold Friday, two ambulances, a MICA paramedic and Ambulance Victoria helicopter were seen at the Camp Reserve.
However, an Ambulance Victoria spokesperson told the Mail this was a separate unrelated medical emergency.
Mount Alexander Shire Mayor Cr Toby Heydon said it had been an incredibly distressing weekend and council was working to do what they could to support the local shire communities, especially the Harcourt, Harcourt North, Walmer, Faraday and other affected communities.
The mayor acknowledged the work of our incredible emergency services and this was met with a rousing round of applause from the 300 plus community members gathered.
The mayor said council’s primary focus up until now and continuing forward was supporting the emergency response.
“We are a very interconnected shire. We all know people impacted by this at Harcourt, Harcourt North, Walmer, Faraday and surrounding communities. Our thoughts and our planning is focused on how we can be support these families and individuals, businesses and broader communities, ” he said
In the meantime, the volunteer-managed Mount Alexander Shire bushfire Facebook page has been working hard to provide updates, as have several local brigades, and community members and community groups are rallying around fire-affected community members with offers of accommodation, donations of food and water, and support with animals and livestock.
Local GPs are also shuffling appointments to enable them to assist fire-affected community members with their medical needs.
UPDATE 6.10pm:
Mount Alexander Shire Council has just announced that the Emergency Relief Centres at the Bendigo Showgrounds and Kyneton Sports and Aquatic Centre will close tomorrow, Monday January 12, at 9am.
A huge thank you to the wonderful staff and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to provide support at these centres.
From tomorrow, Monday January 12, anyone needing temporary accommodation support can visit the Recovery Hub at Castlemaine Town Hall.
For this week, the Recovery Hub will be open:
Monday January 12 – Friday January 16
11am – 5pm
Castlemaine Town Hall, 25 Lyttleton Street
For affected residents, the Recovery Hub will include a number of agencies and organisations that can assist you through the recovery process.