Three missing, including child, as fire rips through Victorian town

2 months ago 4

Firefighters are urgently searching for three people, including a child, missing after the Longwood bushfire ripped through a tiny town in central Victoria, destroying homes.

The Longwood blaze is one of two major bushfires burning out of control as the state’s firefighters confront the most widespread hazardous bushfire conditions since Black Summer in 2019-2020.

At least 10 homes have been destroyed in Ruffy, a tiny town south of Longwood.

“It looks like an atomic bomb has gone off,” local CFA captain George Noye told ABC Radio on Friday morning. “[I’m] just down the main street at the moment, we’ve lost the old school, the old Ruffy produce store is gone, three houses on the main street. We’ve lost countless homes across the area. Ten of my firefighters that I know of have lost homes.”

One firefighter suffered third-degree burns, and the town lost power, Noye said.

Deputy Police Commissioner Robert Hill said CFA officers working in Longwood East, a small town north of Ruffy, encountered three people – an adult male, an adult female and a child – and advised them to take shelter because it was too late to leave.

“Later that afternoon, those CFA representatives reattended that area to see the house that they saw those three people standing in front of had been completely destroyed,” Hill said.

Firefighters battled the Longwood blaze overnight.

“Those three people remain unaccounted for. Where that house has been destroyed is still a hot spot, and we are yet to be able to put the strike team from the fire services into that area to conduct an assessment for us.

“But what I implore upon people is to actually engage with friends and family and let people know who you are.

“At this point of time, we’re not suggesting for one moment, we’ve seen three people perish. All I’m saying is that these people are unaccounted.”

There are three more bushfires burning in the Wonnangatta area, near the Alpine National Park, that are not under control. Two are burning near Van Dammes Track, and one is burning near Selwyn Track.

Separately, a large fire east of Wodonga continues to burn out of control, sparking evacuation warnings for several nearby towns including Koetong, Walwa, Nariel Valley and surrounds.

Dangerous weather change ahead

Melbourne is expected to hit a high of 43 degrees about 2pm. A cool change will sweep across the state this afternoon, and is expected to reach the Longwood fire grounds late Friday evening or early Saturday morning. Weather changes are among the most hazardous conditions for firefighters, as large bushfires can quickly shift direction – and the incoming weather front is likely to bring with it thunderstorms and winds of up to 110km/h.

Temperatures are expected to exceed 40 degrees across much of the state. In Longwood, the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting a maximum of 43 degrees. In Walwa, near where a second major blaze is burning out of control, a high of 44 degrees is expected.

Daniel Sherwin-Simpson from the Bureau of Meteorology said despite the drop in temperature, the cool change would not necessarily help firefighting efforts.

“In terms of the wind change, it can be a double-edged sword,” Sherwin-Simpson said. “Yes, it will lead to temperatures dropping, the humidity increasing – which generally reduces fire danger – but we still can see gusty winds with this wind change,” he said.

“It could actually increase the area that the fire starts burning immediately as that cool change moves through. It can rapidly increase the fuel load with the shifting direction.

“The cool change is, in fact, probably one of the more hazardous points in terms of fire dangers, particularly with active fires today, just because it’s such a rapidly changing thing, and it can catch people off guard. These fires of such significant size spread very, very rapidly.”

The change is expected to sweep across Melbourne between 6pm and 7pm, reaching the north and east of the state later tonight.

The conditions prompted Ambulance Victoria to declare a code red and warn people may struggle to access an ambulance, particularly in catastrophic fire danger regions.

Premier Jacinta Allan announced emergency funding is available for people affected by fires, but has also issued a stern warning to those considering staying on properties in the line of fire.

“For those who might be thinking that they can stay and defend in these conditions, don’t,” she said.

“It’s dangerous. It’s not courageous. It puts your life and also the lives of the emergency services at risk as well.

“If you know someone who might be thinking they can stay and fight these fires, please tell them this time to not do so, because we have seen in recent history fires of this magnitude on days like today, with the extreme weather that is being experienced across the state, fires overwhelm you.

“You will not win something against the fires of these magnitudes that are created on days like today.”

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