Bushfires contained, but communities warned to prepare
The end of an intense week of firefighting is over, with fires at Girilambone, Byrock, Coolabah and Lightning Ridge now under control.
Three large grass fires at Byrock, Girilambone and Lightning Ridge caused havoc last week, but have now been contained.
A major blaze on Booramugga Road, Girilambone, blew out of control and burnt out 3,445 hectares, blocking the Mitchell Highway between Nyngan and Bourke, and temporarily cutting power to a large area around Bourke.
The Girilambone fire started on Saturday afternoon, March 4 but is now under control and at advice alert level.
North of Girilambone, a fire at Glenariff Station, between Coolabah, Byrock and Brewarrina burned a massive 7,530 hectares, and because of the inaccessible terrain, aircraft and heavy machinery were called in to help extinguish the blaze.
Fire service crews worked on containment lines around the 66-kilometre perimeter of the Glenariff fire, using back burning operations.
At Enngonia, fire burnt out more than two thousand hectares of grassland before local ground crews were able to bring it under control.
A fourth fire on the Castlereagh Highway at Lightning Ridge burnt out of control on Friday burning out 1800 hectares, but is now also under control.
On Monday the RFS held a bushfire information session for residents outside the Lightning Ridge IGA store.
RFS Public Information Officer, Steve Kada, said that many locals at the Ridge were unaware of what to do in the event of a bushfire.
“So we set up a bushfire information session for locals to learn about bushfire survival plans and precautionary measures that can prevent fires and also save lives,” Mr Kada said. […]
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