Campgrounds have been evacuated in the Grampians as an out-of-control bushfire damages private property.
An emergency alert was issued for the tiny hamlet of Mirranatwa in the Victoria Valley shortly after 4pm on Wednesday as the fire continued to move north-west through dense bushland.
Aerial images of a bushfire in the Grampians on Tuesday.Credit: VicEmergency
“Private property in the Mirrantwa area is being impacted and will continue to be impacted over the next 3 hours,” the alert said.
“Leaving immediately is the safest option, before conditions become too dangerous.”
Grampians Road – the main southern gateway to the popular tourist town of Halls Gap – is now closed. A relief centre has been set up on Sterling Place in Dunkeld.
On Monday, the state’s hottest day of the year put firefighters on high alert. An emergency warning was briefly issued for blaze that broke out near pine plantations south of Creswick – a small town about 20 kilometres north of Ballarat – but that was downgraded as night fell.
The fire on Tuesday.Credit: VicEmergency
Other fires sprang up in the Grampians National Park but burnt in remote bushland and never triggered a prolonged emergency alert. However, one fire in the southern Grampians near Yarram Gap Road continued to burn, and triggered new warnings on Wednesday.
A watch-and-act warning remains for bushland east of Grampians Road, but the fire is currently moving away to the north-west and has not yet impacted private property.
