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..
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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