Katelynn Clark felt certain her home would burn to the ground when a raging bushfire hit the edge of her rural property on Monday night.
Ms Clark runs a mixed sheep and cropping farm on the northern edge of the Little Desert National Park in western Victoria where a fast-moving blaze this week burnt almost 70,000 hectares of land.
Dry lightning started the blaze on Monday afternoon on a day of extreme fire danger, along with several other fires in the Grampians National Park in the state’s west.
In the Grampians, two watch and act warnings remain in place, and there is one watch and act warning current for the Little Desert National Park where fire is still active along its northern and southern edges.
The Little Desert fire came closer to Ms Clark’s farm than she would have liked.
Katelynn Clark runs a mixed farming operation in north-west Victoria. (Supplied: Katelynn Clark)
“There was ash flying into the air and embers coming across reaching up towards the house, so we headed down the back and waited for it to come out of the scrub,” she said.
“I walked out of the house thinking I won’t see it again.”
The scene of the fire at Warrick Road in Gerang Gerang on Monday night. (Supplied: TJ Gordon )
‘Off the scale’
Ms Clark’s home survived the blaze, but others were not as lucky.
At least one home in Dimboola has been destroyed, and the Little Desert Nature Lodge at Nhill was gutted by fire.
Authorities have confirmed fears a second home may have also been impacted by fire.
Yesterday Dimboola residents with authorised access identification were allowed to return home.
“We’ve got over 400 personnel on the fireground still, 120 vehicles, nearly 30 aircraft and 30 bulldozers,” Horsham incident controller Graham Fountain said.
Mr Fountain said the fire behaviour on Monday night was “off the scale” and the perimeter of the fire now stretched 300 kilometres.
“That’s the distance between Melbourne to past Benalla,” he said.
Fire authorities will launch night air operations in the coming days to build containment lines ahead of forecast hot weather at the end of the week.
Nature lodge lost
Ray “Whimpey” Reichelt founded the Little Desert Nature Lodge in 1976 and said despite selling the business in 2012 his “heart remained” in the building.
To see the building razed brought tears to his eyes.
“Whimpey” Reichelt (centre) founded the Little Desert Nature Lodge in 1976. (ABC News: Syan Vallance)
“It means everything to me,” Mr Reichelt said.
“We’ve lost everything, there’s nothing left there.”
Just days before the fire, Mr Reichelt and the lodge’s new owner Moshe Kahn had met to discuss future plans.
The lodge was set to celebrate 50 years of operation next year.
The western Victorian bushfire’s damage could be seen in Kinimakatka, near Nhill. (Supplied: Marty Colbert)
More hot weather to come
Firefighters responded to more than 70 grass and scrub fires across Victoria on Monday.
Emergency services managers welcomed a reprieve from hot conditions on Tuesday, but said it could be some time before both fires were declared under control.
Emergency Management Commissioner Rick Nugent said the western Victorian bushfires would continue to grow in size.
Compounding things is a band of hot weather due across the state from this weekend.
Kevin Parkyn from the Bureau of Meteorology said the forecast heat could continue into next week.
“A takeaway message? Get prepared for a heatwave,” Mr Parkyn said.
He said towns in the state’s north and west could see 40-degree days this weekend.
“Beyond that the crystal ball’s a bit cloudy at this stage, but we need to be prepared,” he said.
Country Fire Authority (CFA) chief officer Jason Heffernan said authorities were keeping a close eye on areas where dry lightning strikes had occurred.
“In particular focusing on Gippsland, the Latrobe Valley, and also the north-eastern parts of the state where we know we’ve had dry lightning events,” he said.
“It’s not uncommon for more fires to pop up as the weather starts to turn back to being hot and windy.”
The fight continues
Adrian Field runs a mixed farming operation in the Victoria Range near the Grampians National Park.
It is the second time in a matter of months he has had to contend with the impacts of bushfires following a three-week bushfire in the park in December.
“It’s on the western side this time. Last year it started on eastern side, so here we go again,” Mr Field said.
Adrian Field says it is the second time towns south of the Grampians are impacted by bushfire in two months. (Supplied: Adrian Field)
Mr Field also owns a produce store in Dunkeld, around an hour south of Victoria Range, and said that business would likely suffer again.
He said it had been a tough time for local operators.
“We lost a lot of the trade leading up to Christmas and Boxing day because of those fires,” he said.
“People are still open for business at this point, until we’re notified otherwise. It would be good if people could still travel to the area.”
