General News
30 January, 2025
'Homes and lives' under threat
Dimboola, Pimpinio and Wail spent the latter part of Monday's public holiday and much of Tuesday morning bracing for fire after dry lightning ignited Little Desert National Park.
The first "watch and act – leave now" alert was issued by Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) for Little Desert and Nurcoung at 4.08pm on Monday.
That fire was on Sand Track in the central section of the park, burning towards the east just north of McDonalds Highway.
Nhill–Harrow Road had already been closed.
It was followed quickly by several more emails referencing fires in other parts of the park.
At 5.06pm residents of Dimboola, Duchembegarra, Gerang Gerung, Grass Flat, Kiata, Lawloit, Nhill, Nurcoung, Pimpinio and Wail were advised that the Little Desert fire was "not yet under control" and was "travelling in an easterly direction towards Dimboola".
"This is an active and dynamic fire that is spreading rapidly," FFMVic said.
"This fire is creating a large amount of smoke that can be seen and smelt over a long distance."
In fact, as it approached Dimboola the blue-black cloud was visible as far away as in Horsham, almost 40km to the south, where photographer Robin Webb captured a dramatic image from Currans Road.
Residents were told "there is currently no threat to you, but you should stay informed and plan for what you will do if the situation changes".
However, at 5.56pm, despite the earlier reassurance, FFMVic announced that Dimboola, Pimpinio and Wail were "being evacuated".
Kinimakatka, Winiam Wast, Duchembegarra, Cooack and Nurcoung were urged to "watch and act" and Lawloit, Kiata, Nhill, Gerang Gerung, Dart Dart, Pimpinio, Grass Flat and Nurcoung were asked to "stay informed".
At 8.56pm FFMVic contacted media throughout the region on behalf of incident controller Graham Fountain requesting that an official emergency warning for the district be broadcast on air at least once every 15 minutes and be published online.
It read in part:
"You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive.
"The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately.
"It is too late to leave."
At that time embers carried by wind were travelling "large distances ahead of the main fire and starting spot fires".
The announcement included details on what to do when sheltering in a building or vehicle.
By 9.25pm the Western Highway was closed between Dimboola and Nhill and between Dimboola and Horsham.
FFMVic repeated that anyone who had not yet left Dimboola, Pimpinio and Wail and felt unsafe should do so straight away as "after 9.30pm it may be too late to leave".
Evacuees were directed to a relief centre established at the senior citizens' centre in Horsham.
'Too dangerous to leave'
The situation escalated just before midnight.
At 11.57pm FFMVic said: "This fire is threatening homes and lives.
"If you have not already left, the time to safely evacuate has now passed.
"Take shelter indoors immediately.
"It is now too dangerous to leave."
The Borung Highway between Dimboola and Cannum was added to the list of road closures.
Just after midnight, a second fire front in the northern part of the national park bore down on Nhill.
"The bushfire is travelling from Little Desert National Park in a northerly direction towards Nhill," FFMVic said.
Again, the agency warned that the Dimboola-bound fire was "threatening homes and lives" and that it was "too late to leave the area safely so you must take shelter now".
Authorities reported that the Little Desert fires were a result of several lightning strikes around lunchtime that travelled more than 40km throughout Monday afternoon.
The outbreak occurred on a day of extreme fire danger in the Wimmera when temperatures spiked into the 40s.
In Dimboola a high of 40°C was recorded at 1pm, accompanied by wind from the north-west that reached a top speed of about 44km/h at 2pm.
Hindmarsh Shire deputy mayor and Dimboola resident and business owner Chan Uoy was among those who left when the evacuation advice was first issued, joining a queue of bumper-to-bumper vehicles leaving in daylight.
The next official update, at 5.57am on Tuesday, warned that the fire was moving "in an easterly direction and is impacting Dimboola".
"You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive," FFMVic told the Dimboola community.
FFMVic also said that although firefighters had been able to "slow the spread of fire for now", "bushfire at Cooack, Dimboola, Duchembegarra, Gerang Gerung, Goroke, Grass Flat, Kaniva, Kiata, Kinimakatka, Lawloit, Little Desert, Miram, Nhill, Nurcoung, Peronne, Pimpinio, Wail, Winiam and Winiam East ... is not yet under control" and "the situation can change at any time".
Mid-morning, with the fire entrenched in redgums south of Dimboola but the town itself not in direct danger, the advice was revised and FFMVic reiterated that the fire's spread had been slowed.
Enormous spread
Speaking to ABC News on Monday night, Luke Heagerty from the State Control Centre said the fire had consumed more than 50,000ha.
(This was soon upgraded to more than 65,000ha.)
"To give you an idea, the area that's burnt through is just a little bit less than what burnt through the Grampians fire a few weeks ago – over a 21-day period," Mr Heagerty said.
As a point of comparison, the Greater Sydney area, encompassing not only the city itself but also the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, Wollondilly and Sutherland Shire, covers about 55,000ha.
"We knew that there was potential for this dry lightning to come through.
"We have seen some very isolated storm cells move through, but thankfully not en masse."
At that time he said conditions were intensifying as the fire continued.
"There's a lot of energy that this fire is creating, and what that means is it's effectively creating its own weather system," he said.
Country Fire Authority chief officer Jason Heffernan said it had grown so quickly and to such a size that it generated "its own thunderstorm and we saw even more lightning strikes ahead of that fire front".
Mr Heagerty said initial attempts to contain the fires were hampered by Little Desert's sandy terrain.
Access for fire trucks had been restricted and there had been a risk of vehicles becoming bogged, he said.
He said a "different approach" had been needed, relying heavily on waterbombing aircraft in addition to ground-based attack by crews from both Victoria and South Australia.
Counting the losses
The first building destroyed was Little Desert Nature Lodge on Nhill-Harrow Road at Nhill.
The loss was confirmed by Kate Kennedy, whose father built the lodge half a century ago.
A large group of visitors had completed its planned stay and left the lodge on Monday morning and Ms Kennedy said all staff and animals at the site were safe.
Grampians Health implemented a 'code brown – external emergency' response in Dimboola.
Several residents were collected by family members but the hospital was not able to evacuate fully, instead receiving support from emergency services and providing shelter for 27 elderly Dimboola residents who were unable to leave the town.
In a livestreamed media conference at 12.30pm on Tuesday, Emergency Management Commissioner Rick Nuget said that one farmhouse had been burnt in Coker Dam Road, west of Dimboola, and it was thought that a second farmhouse west of the Wimmera River at Dimboola had also been lost.
Mr Nugent said 190 people attended the emergency relief centre in Horsham on Monday night, the majority then making arrangements to stay with friends or relatives.
Twenty people slept outside in their cars with their pets.
At 2.44pm on Tuesday, FFMVic told residents of Dimboola and Wail and others with authorised access that they could return to their homes after showing proof of address at a traffic management point on the Western Highway.
Just last month the shires of Hindmarsh, Yarriambiack and West Wimmera and Horsham Rural City Council collaborated with Wimmera Emergency Management Team to release 'Are You Fire Ready?' guides for various towns across the region including Dimboola, which was described as having "an extreme bushfire risk because it’s located close to Little Desert National Park and Wail State Forest".
