Moyston grassfire a challenge in steep terrain

Crews were called to reports of a column of smoke on a hill near the intersection of Rocky Road and Phillips Flat Road in Moyston at about 4.20pm.

Firefighters from Ararat arrived at the scene to find the fire had burned about two hectares and quickly put out the call for further tanker support due to the rocky, steep terrain and potential for the fire to spread quickly.

Further tankers including smaller ultralight vehicles were called to support the fire fight on the northwest side of the fire.

On the southeast side of the hill, firefighters had to run hoses from the tankers and chase the fire on foot through the rocky terrain as it was too steep to access even for the ultralights.

As the fire intensity increased, a decision was made to pull foot crews out for safety reasons from the difficult and challenging terrain. Firefighters instead conducted backburning from the lower part of the hill to the top. Watch time-lapse footage of backburning operations

Crews from Ararat, Buangor, Great Western, Halls Gap, Langi Logan, Moyston, Pomonal, Raglan, Stawell, Tatyoon, Warrak and Willaura fought the blaze, which was deemed under control just after 7.30pm that evening.

The fire burned through 20 hectares of grasslands.

Firefighters remained on scene to monitor the fire overnight and into the early hours of the following day.  

Police are investigating the cause of the fire.

Photos courtesy Ararat Fire Brigade