FIREFIGHTERS sweltered through Monday's "extreme" fire danger as they battled to contain a series of blazes burning in bush near Heywood.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Six fires in the south-west have been burning for 11 days, with one at Lake Condah finally listed as "contained" on Monday night after a day where temperatures pushed 40 degrees and strong winds hit the region.
Forest Fire Management incident controller Darren Shiell said that all containment lines had held.
"All fires have crew on them patrolling to make sure hot spots on the containment lines are dealt with," he said.
A suspected lightning strike caused a fire near Bessiebelle on Monday afternoon but Mr Shiell said he was "very confident" crews would also have that fire under control.
He said the Lake Condah fire was in "tricky" terrain that made it difficult for firefighters to create a mineral earth containment line, with crews instead using a sprinkler system.
"It's been going for over a week, there's no active flame, it is more hot spots within big stumps or in big rocks, where the crews can't get to," Mr Shiell said.
Gunditj Mirring man Roger Morris was patrolling land at the Lake Condah Mission in a ute towing a slip-on.
The fire threatened nearby Aboriginal sites, and came within 500 metres from the mission buildings last week, but has stopped at the Darlot Creek near the structures.
Mr Morris was grateful firefighters kept the blaze at bay in extreme conditions yesterday.
"Thankfully it hasn't got too much out of control," he said.
"With the strong wind they are worried about it taking off on the southern end."
Emergency services have also lined the Heywood Recreational Reserve with tents, a pop-up laundry and kitchen to form a base camp for people fighting fires.
The camp, called "Woody", housed up to 40 people on Monday night and can serve meals to up to 300 firefighters.
Mr Shiell said Heywood community members had helped begin to construct the tents on Friday.
"The reason it is there is for Monday's extreme weather, if we got an escape or a fire starting we would have incoming resources, we have been using local accommodation providers until now and they are full with tourists," he said.
Mr Shiell said the base camp would likely be there for at least another week and at least 100 personnel would likely be involved in fighting the fires during the New Year period.
"It's not that we get through Monday and everyone walks away," he said.
Terry Sim, who lives on the edge of the east side of Budj Bim National Park, said he and his elderly neighbours left their homes on Monday in case the Lake Condah fire got away.
He said his house was within half a kilometre of the trees.
Mr Sim said there was "simply no way" he or his neighbours could defend their properties if the fire broke the southern boundary in the predicted high winds and hot weather.
He said he had taken his dogs and a few possessions.
"Knowing the risk, there's no sense staying," Mr Sim said.
"If it runs over the hill with the wind behind it I'm not going to be able to fight it.
"There are more important things to fight."
Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.
