Victoria bushfire update, some telecommunication services down

Australian Community Media

Bushfires have damaged the Mount William communications tower in the Grampians, impacting some communities' internet and phone services. Update by VicEmergency on December 27, 2024 at 12pm..

Transcript

00:00All right, welcome to the State Control Centre here on the 27th of December 2024.

00:07I'm joined here today by Deputy Premier Ben Carroll, Emergency Management,

00:12Emergency Services Commissioner Vicky Ward, also the Chief Fire Officer of

00:17Forest Fire Management Victoria and also Alex from Expression Australia.

00:23Well I can say yesterday was an incredibly challenging day for our

00:27firefighters out on the ground, particularly around Western Victoria and

00:31the Grampians but also more broadly into Gippsland as well. We had high

00:36temperatures across the state yesterday and very strong northerly winds which

00:40really made it challenging for firefighters. This was followed by a

00:45westerly, southwesterly change in the afternoon which then turned the fires in

00:50a number of areas across towards the east. This impacted significantly on the

00:56Grampians fire so with the northerly winds, the hot northerly winds, that fire

01:00ran down towards Dunkeld and more closely towards Glen Thompson and I can

01:06say the extraordinary efforts of firefighters on the ground contained

01:10these fires before they got to some of the towns and made some damage occur

01:15there. When the winds changed to the westerly, southwesterly then the

01:20fires ran out of the out of the Grampians there and towards the towns of

01:25Willora and it also spotted up to Halls Gap and again the firefighting efforts

01:29from Country Fire Authority, Forest Fire Management Victoria and also Fire Rescue

01:34Victoria did an amazing job to stop those fires the way they did in those

01:38terrible conditions. The Grampians has now burned over 75,000 hectares so that

01:45is one significant fire and that will continue to burn for weeks as the wind

01:49changes to the north, south, east or west over the coming days and weeks that will

01:54continue to burn. Over 15,000 hectares of private land have also been burnt

02:00around the Grampians and as I said this came from the run of the fires out of

02:05the Grampians predominantly yesterday. We've had a number of sheds, out

02:09buildings and water tanks burnt. We are not yet aware of any residential

02:14properties that have been lost. That is possible though because there is thick

02:18bush around there with some homes and we'll need to get in there to fully

02:22assess that but none have been reported to us. There have also been livestock

02:26losses, there has been crops lost, beehives lost, power lines and of course

02:33all of the environmental damage in the Grampians has occurred as a result of

02:38these fires. One of the consequences of the fires is the Mount William Towers.

02:43There are three towers up on top of Mount William that service a range of

02:48functions and areas from mobile networks for emergency services through

02:53to Air Services Australia as well as Optus services, NBN services. We have

03:01just been advised recently one of those towers has just been restored. The one

03:05that remains outstanding is for NBN and Optus but these were impacted also

03:10because the power lines on the way to those towers have been impacted by the

03:14fire. So our resources down on the ground there are looking to make it safe to try

03:20and get assets in there to repair those power lines. Power Corp is actively

03:25involved with our emergency service colleagues. There are backup systems on

03:30top of the mountain, generators and battery systems. We're able to use some

03:34aerial assets to get our technicians in there to also restore some of those

03:38generators so that will be a significant focus for us. The challenges with the

03:43telecommunications infrastructure does mean that some people may need to travel

03:48further to get access on their mobile phone so please be mindful of that and

03:53listen certainly to your radio around the fire conditions that are

03:58there. I can say that the Gerties fire near Lang Lang is now contained and

04:04again brilliant work from our firefighters down there that kept that

04:08fire within that fire ground and prevented it running out during

04:11yesterday's really challenging conditions. The Bullunga Rook fire also is

04:17contained and likewise that fire was prevented from running during

04:21yesterday's really challenging fire conditions. In terms of relief centres we

04:26currently have four relief centres that are open. We have Stawell Relief Centre

04:31and overnight they had 35 people stay there. The Ararat Relief Centre had 26

04:37people stay overnight and six people stayed in hotels. The Hamilton Relief

04:42Centre had five overnight and five stay in hotels and the Skipton Relief Centre

04:48had three overnight. A number of other relief centres have been open but closed

04:52subsequently and are not needed. Overall 163 registrations for people staying in

04:59relief centres. Overnight as well we had elevated winds that came through with a

05:04change and with those elevated winds that created lightning strikes which

05:09wasn't fully expected. There was a less than 10% chance of dry

05:13lightning occurring but we did have some across the state from the Mallee in the

05:18west through to the northeast and into Gippsland. So there were 250

05:25lightning strikes that occurred during this time as that front passed through.

05:29We have a number of fires that are now going in the Alpine National Park area.

05:35One of those has been contained. Another three are currently going but we have

05:41lots of assets on those from aerial aircraft to Forest Fire Management

05:45Victoria personnel on the ground actively looking to get those fires

05:49contained very quickly. One of them is nine kilometres south of Whitfield.

05:54Another is seven kilometres south of Cheshunt and the other is at Uppin

05:59Ryans Creek. So please we ask that people be really mindful that those fires are

06:05there. They are small but they pose a real risk if they're not able to be

06:09contained quite quickly. We continue to do aerial surveillance across the state

06:14to just ensure that we identify any other fires that may have started from

06:18those lightning strikes. The weather over the next week looks relatively

06:23stable and this will enable us to get time to then try and

06:29stabilise the fires that we've got in the Grampians, continue to look at

06:34backburning operations and look to support the

06:38community there. Significant focus on relief and recovery now to people

06:42impacted by the fires. But as I said it's likely the Grampians fire is going to

06:46burn for weeks. Can I just say thank you to our amazing volunteers and paid

06:52firefighters. They have done an amazing job right across the state because we're

06:56activated right across the state. All of it was in extreme fire danger rating

07:01other than East Gippsland. So we had incident control centres, regional

07:05control centres and resources placed right throughout the state yesterday.

07:09Most of our volunteers missed out on Christmas Day with family and friends.

07:14They're working day and night round the clock to keep our community safe and

07:18support our community members in their time of need. And finally I just want to

07:23say a big thank you to the family members of volunteers that support them

07:29to go and support our community as well as the employers who release them from

07:33whatever their job is to go and help fight the fires. On a positive note all

07:39emergency warnings have now been reduced to watch and act. So that's really good

07:43news that those emergency warnings have now been downgraded to watch and act.

07:47And it is likely now that the residents of Moyston, Pomona and Willora are

07:55likely to be able to have permission to return to their homes this afternoon

07:58after being asked to leave due to the fire risk that's there. So that is

08:04excellent news. Finally just once again anyone that doesn't have the Vic

08:08emergency app please download the app. Make sure you set up a watch zone but

08:12don't rely on one single source of information. Listen to your emergency

08:16broadcasters as well. Stay aware of your surroundings where you live, work or

08:21visit and make sure that you are well prepared in the event of a fire. I'll now

08:27hand across to Deputy Premier Ben Carroll. Thank you.

08:33Good afternoon. I'd like to just give a brief explanation and update on the

08:38current situation and also go to our recovery financial hardship that we're

08:43supporting communities with. First and foremost can I also join the Emergency

08:48Management Commissioner and thank every single one of our firefighters and when

08:53I say firefighters I mean our forest firefighters, our paid firefighters, our

08:57volunteer firefighters, our SES members, our emergency service workers and all the

09:02community members who have worked around the clock to keep Victorians safe. We've

09:07just had a briefing on the fire activity in Victoria and the Premier, Premier

09:12Allen, this morning has also chaired a meeting of the Security and Emergency

09:14Management Committee to discuss the actions we are going to take to support

09:18Victorians impacted by the fires. On the current situation it's been incredible

09:24that we do have no reported residential losses which is incredible. Last night of

09:28the Grampians we had 26,396 emergency alert messages were issued across 34

09:34townships and people took those warnings seriously. 75,000 hectares, a 300

09:41kilometre perimeter around the Grampians. That is the perimeter of the

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