Vic: Wind change offers both hope and hell as bushfires rage

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-2006
Vic: Wind change offers both hope and hell as bushfires rage

Victoria's bushfires have raged through more than 270 thousand hectares .. threatening
rural communities across the state's north-east and east .. threatening more flare-ups
as wind shifts arrive.

New fires have broken out in the state's south-west near Camperdown .. claiming one
house and threatening others .. as well as in Bright in the north-east Alpine district.

Fires are also bearing down on the rural district of Germantown near Bright and Waterford
in Gippsland .. and residents are warned to watch out for burning embers.

More than three thousand firefighters are working hard to hold containment lines ..

as temperatures hover just around 40 degrees.

A shift from the hot northerly winds to cooler southerly breezes is expected to arrive
in the east and northeast some time between 6 pm and midnight.

But at Dargo .. in Gippsland .. a wind change could spell disaster.







Fire authorities have warned residents near Dargo to prepare for ember attack.

Communities at Crooked River .. Wonnangatta Road and Eaglevale are among those facing attack.

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD says Victorian Premier STEVE BRACKS needs only to ask for
more federal help to battle the flames.

Mr BRACKS says the state is better prepared than ever before .. but the fire conditions
are among the worst seen in Victoria .. and will remain so for the next fortnight.

A house has been burned down off Moores Road near Stonyford .. south-east of Camperdown

anf the fire's threatening other homes in the Pomborniet East and Stonyford areas.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner CHRISTINE NIXON says her officers and equipment
are ready to help in any way needed.

AAP RTV gfr/dk

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES VIC (MELBOURNE)

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