A fast-moving blaze that threatened more than 100 homes during extreme fire conditions in Victoria’s west is being treated as suspicious.
The blaze at Dereel near Geelong was whipped up by strong hot winds during Wednesday’s extreme fire conditions, prompting a warning for residents to shelter indoors.
As many as 400 firefighters battled the blaze overnight before it was deemed under control by early Thursday morning.
The cause of the Dereel blaze was under investigation because there was no dry lightening in the area, the state’s Emergency Management commissioner, Rick Nugent, said.
“We don’t believe there was any tractors or other machinery working in that area at the time,” Nugent told reporters in Ballarat on Thursday.
“So at the moment we are treating that fire as suspicious until we are able to prove differently.”
Nugent said at least one out building had been lost and firefighters saved 117 homes at Dereel.
Crews also worked to stop the Bayindeen-Rocky Road blaze, west of Ballarat, from spreading by building containment lines around its 157km perimeter.
The Dereel blaze came within kilometres of Michelle de Groot’s house.
She said she sought shelter at two evacuation centres, however they also had to be evacuated as the fire grew.
“We were choking on smoke, everyone’s there yelling get out, you have to leave, it’s not safe,” de Groot told ABC radio.
Her husband stayed to defend a local property and said the fire was so loud he could not hear water-bombing aircraft as they passed over the area.
“He said it was so quick, it was really quick and hot and the noise was horrendous, it was pretty hairy,” she said.
Watch and act alerts remain in place for both fires, with authorities warning it’s still not safe for anyone to return to Dereel, Amphitheatre, Bayindeen, Ben Nevis, Chute, Elmhurst, Eversley, Glenlogie, Mount Cole, Mount Lonarch and Raglan.
“There’s still work to be done to make sure that there’s no hazards near the area, particularly after these types of fires we need to check the trees haven’t been damaged by fire and are going to fall,” State Control Centre spokesperson Luke Hegarty said.
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“There’s that work still to be done before we can give those residents an indication it’s safe to return.”
About 30,000 people in communities near the Bayindeen-Rocky Road blaze were warned earlier in the week that their towns could be at risk and they should consider leaving the area.
Many in the fire danger zones heeded warnings and left by Wednesday morning, but some residents stayed to defend their properties.
Residents who did not live in the towns covered by the emergency warning were able to go home.
Hegarty said hundreds of firefighters would keep working to bring the Bayindeen-Rocky Road fire, which has burned through 20,000 hectares, under control before conditions are expected to spike again next week.
Lower temperatures were expected on Thursday after a cool change after Mildura on Wednesday reached the mid-40s.
Horsham’s temperature surpassed 40C, and recorded a wind gust of 96km/h after 5pm on Wednesday.
As of Thursday morning, six homes, 84 sheep and two beef cattle were lost to the Bayindeen blaze.
Wildlife Victoria has been expecting an influx of injured animals, with the organisation having extra people working in phone rooms to make sure all cases were attended to.
Members of the public were urged to phone Wildlife Victoria for help if they saw an injured animal.