A fire at the top end of Coopers Lane West, that started from a pile burn last Friday, has been put out by the Main Arm Rural Fire Service (RFS).
‘Nine fire fighters attended the fire over a period of three days,’ said Main Arm Fire Captain Lance Hopson.
The fire burnt out approximately a quarter of an acre heading towards two houses above and coming within 200m of one of them. There were two other properties in the vicinity below where the fire started.
‘I drove past at about 9.30pm on Saturday night and it all looked fine,’ said one neighbour whose house the fire had moved towards.
‘Then at about 11.30 that night I saw that the flames had started again. I rang it into the RFS again and they returned to control the fire. They were great. But it was really frightening having the fire start up again and be moving towards us.’
‘Like many places in this region this area of Coopers Lane West is considered challenging because of its typography, the regrowth over the last 30 to 40 years and the difficulty of getting access to some of the properties,’ said Captain Hopson.
Accelerants not advised
The fire was started as a result of a use of an accelerant (petrol) being put on green waste to get the pile burn going. It is understood that a person was injured and received some burns during the process of lighting the fire.
‘We would never advise using accelerant on a fire,’ said Captain Hopson.
‘There is an increased risk of burns as accelerants like petrol are highly flammable.’
Rain needed
While there has been rain since the last fire season many areas, both locally and across NSW, are currently facing a deficit of rainfall – in some cases up to 100mls.
‘I was talking to Group Officer Bob Graham about how the fire is behaving so differently to normal for this time of year as it has dried out, even though we had rain in the last month,’ said Captain Hopson.
‘There are rules around pile burns due to the risks of the fires getting out of control. It is not just a matter of ringing it in, you cannot leave your property once the pile burn is lit. Also you need to attend the pile for the duration the time that its is burning.’
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