Floods, then fire, as La Nina starts to break down

CFA West Region deputy chief officer Brett Boatman said the Bureau of Meteorology climate forecast suggested La Nina was breaking down and the weather was moving into a drier phase.

"February is typically our warmest and driest month - over the spring and summer we had abundant grass growth, especially in the grasslands in regional Victoria, and that will dominate our fire season," Mr Boatman said.

"In a La Nina year, this is absolutely normal - if you looked across history, fires are probably fairly well balanced, across forest and grass fire risk."

CFA maps showed grasslands in all of northern and western Victoria, and increasingly the south-west and north-central areas, were now 100 per cent cured.

"Fires have been quickly contained by brigades, but it shows how much fuel is available, across the landscape," Mr Boatman said.

"There is the potential our fire season could extend into March - the grass will maintain its structure and stay standing for a lot longer, as well."

He said there were 1220 brigades, with more than 2500 trucks and more than 20,000 volunteers in Victoria.

"Our appeal is that we are seeing a trend of vehicles causing fires, after driving through long, dry grass," he said.

"Anyone operating in paddocks needs to comply with our regulations in that the vehicle needs to be free from defects, and also they need to carry a fire extinguisher.

"If you have works to do in your paddocks, whether its mustering sheep, or a bit of tidying up with a slasher, to that work on the cooler days or in the morning, when there is a bit of dew about and before the day warms up."

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In the upper north-east, CFA District 24 commander Brett Myers said a lot of areas affected by the floods were now experiencing significant grass growth.

"That is obviously adding to the fire risk, as that grass is now going through its normal lifecycle, and it's gone from that seed germination process to almost dying,"

"In most of our areas, it's between 70-100 per cent cured, so that means its available fuel."

He said the Rutherglen and Chiltern areas were of greatest concern, but a number of fires had already occurred along the Hume Freeway.

"Rural Roads Victoria have just concluded their mowing program, which is a process they do annually from where the Hume starts on the outskirts of Melbourne, right up to Wodonga," he said.

Mechanical faults were causing fires along the freeway.

"They are due to truck brakes overheating and starting a fire - in one instance we had one truck that started several fires over a long distance, by dropping embers and sparks.

"In another instance, we believe some barbed wire was caught up, under a car, and dragged along the road."

Fires along the Hume were usually reported quickly.

Mr Myers said lightning was also causing tree fires, although conditions were still relatively benign.

"Even though the fires are starting from lightning, they are not spreading to a great extent, because there is still a little bit of underlying greenness, in the grass.

"But we still have a lot of summer to go.

"Some people are saying our summer, for this year, is effectively delayed a month, by the pattern of weather that led to the floods

"We could see it continuing into March and potentially April."

District 17 assistant chief fire officer Mark Gunning said conditions were still very dry around the Horsham area.

"A lot of people thought it would stay damp, because of the wet spring - it's certainly dried out more quickly than a lot of people thought," Mr Gunning said.

He said there had been an increase in harvester fires.

"People are doing their best to keep their machines free of flammable materials, using compressors to blow them out regularly and carrying water, but we are still seeing them occurring," he said.

"That is a little bit to do with crop quality, I am told.

"There has been a lot more substance in the cereal crops and we are seeing stubbles in the cereal crops at well over four tonnes per hectare.

"That residual risk will still carry substantial fire issues and put communities under threat. "

He commended farmers for not operating machinery in risky conditions.

"There is a lot of really good behaviour, in the community," he said.

Fires had also been caused by lightning strikes and fires caused by vehicles other than harvesters.

"We do have risk in the landscape and people need to remain vigilant, until we get a seasonal break and that's not on the foreseeable horizon," he said.

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