Bushfire: RFS say blaze is 'being controlled'
Published Date: 21 Dec 2018
Summary
Firefighters worked all through the night on Thursday to contain a fire blazing in the Goonoo Forest north of Dubbo.
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Update:
Firefighters worked all through the night on Thursday to contain a fire blazing in the Goonoo Forest north of Dubbo.
A watch and act alert was in place for about two hours on Thursday afternoon, before the Forest Road Fire was downgraded to alert level.
Firefighters were working to bring the blaze under control on Friday, with the help of two large aircraft, two smaller, fixed-wing aircraft, two council graders and three dozers.
“The immediate threat has stopped because the fire stopped running,” NSW Rural Fire Service Orana region manager Superintendent Lyndon Wieland.
“The actual perimeter of the fire is 12 kilometres so we’ve got 670-odd hectares of burnt ground.
“There’s a lot of work to do there with the dozers in order to get to any un-burnt land within that area so there’s no fuel there for a fire to run with.”
It was feared a wind change on Thursday evening would turn the fire north, but Superintendent Wieland said that, for once, luck was on their side.
“It didn’t come through as vigorously as we thought and that helped a lot,” he said.
“The northern flank of the fire would have become the head and it would have been a very large flank of the fire.”
Lightning is believed to have sparked the fire, which forced the closure of Mendooran Road.
The road remains closed, with Superintendent Wieland warning “where you’ve got burnt trees, they could fall at any time”.
With better conditions on Saturday, Superintendent Wieland was hopeful the fire threat would pass quickly, but wouldn’t take it for granted.
He urged people to be wary on hot, dry days.
“On those bad days, people need to realise that if they’re doing anything that could start a fire, that could get out of control very quickly.”
Earlier:
FIREFIGHTERS remain on scene at a 653 hectare burning north-east of Dubbo.
The blaze is burning through bush off Forest Road in the Goonoo Zone State Conservation Area around 50 kilometres.
As of 7am on Friday, the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) said the fire is now listed as ‘being controlled’.
The NSW RFS states that the fire is currently at ‘advice’ level and there was no immediate danger, however people in the region are urged to stay up-to-date in case the situation changes.
As crews continue to fight the fire, a number of road closures remain in place for motorists travelling through the area.
Mendooran Road between Castlereagh Highway and Mogriguy Road is closed in both directions.
Motorists travelling to/from Gilgandra are asked to take the Newell Highway and Castlereagh Highway.
Late on Thursday, Dubbo MP Troy Grant praised the crews who responded to the blaze.
“Once again we’ve seen the worst in nature bringing out the best in our firefighting ranks,” he said.
“Crews were on the scene very quickly and undertaking work but unfortunately when you have conditions like those witnessed on Thursday it can make fighting a blaze difficult.”
