Bushwalk Australia

The thunder storms today have started a handful of remote fires, Sloop Point West Coast, Zeehan-Anthony Rd Jcn, and a couple down the South-West, there's helicopters and air tractor waterbombers working on all of them:
https://www.fire.tas.gov.au/Show?pageId ... pBushfires

The main one that could impact walkers is east of New River Lagoon, it's only about 4km north of the South Coast Track and there's strong northerly winds forecast for the next couple of days:
https://www.fire.tas.gov.au/a/89955

There's a couple of helicopters on it so hopefully they get it snuffed out fast..

Enormous amount of lightning strikes on a very dry landscape across the SW in the last 12 hours. Hope for some decent rain otherwise it could be a repeat of 2018/19 summer.

danman wrote:Enormous amount of lightning strikes on a very dry landscape across the SW in the last 12 hours. Hope for some decent rain otherwise it could be a repeat of 2018/19 summer.

It's certainly a bit of a worry with how dry things are.. Todays lightning strikes:

The fire close to the South Coast track may be under control, it appears the choppers that were on that fire may have moved to the fire further north at Spiro Range, about half way between Bathurst Harbour and Federation Peak:
https://www.fire.tas.gov.au/a/89951

Thanks, guys. Where do you access that map, Flickit?

Tortoise wrote:Thanks, guys. Where do you access that map, Flickit?

https://www.lightningmaps.org/?lang=en# ... =6;ts24=1;

Up the top you can click on the time and switch between realtime, 1hr or 24hr view... I've read that site can be a bit inaccurate but I figure it's probably good enough to get a rough idea of what's going on...

Ta!

Tortoise wrote:Ta!

This W.A.Gov map appears quite good also, satellite detected "Hotspots", lightning, and areas burnt over the last couple of years;
https://myfirewatch.landgate.wa.gov.au/map.html
(I assume a fire has to be quite bad before it gets picked up by the satellite detection)

There appears to be some nice showers going across the SW at the moment so hopefully that will help snuff out anything that's smouldering... and no more lightning

Mate sent me this he's staff in TFS fingers crossed ...hopefully I uploaded correctly

A couple more fires have been popping up down the south-west, I assume they're all from the storm the other day..

Yesterday there was one on the Huon track near Dawsons Creek, 5 aircraft spent the late afternoon on it, there's been no aircraft on it today so I assume it's out..

Today there's one on Mt Solitary in Lake Pedder and another up the Davey River on the west side of Davey Gorge, there's 3 helicopters and 2 fixed wing bombers on it at the moment.. The 2 other fixed wing water bombers have just taken off, I assume they're heading there also...
https://www.fire.tas.gov.au/i/22004347

Todays fires are appearing on the Satellite hotspot detection, if that's accurate it appears the Davey River fire has a bit of size to it, it's on the eastern side of the river also, quite close to the old Hydro hut/house
https://myfirewatch.landgate.wa.gov.au/map.html

Good drop of rain falling currently on the west coast. Hopefully it makes it across to some of these fires in the SW

FLICKIT wrote:Todays fires are appearing on the Satellite hotspot detection, if that's accurate it appears the Davey River fire has a bit of size to it, it's on the eastern side of the river also, quite close to the old Hydro hut/house

Dont take the hotspots as any indication of fire size - The hotspot location on any map (no matter how detailed) is only accurate to at best 1.5 km

tastrax wrote:

FLICKIT wrote:Todays fires are appearing on the Satellite hotspot detection, if that's accurate it appears the Davey River fire has a bit of size to it, it's on the eastern side of the river also, quite close to the old Hydro hut/house

Dont take the hotspots as any indication of fire size - The hotspot location on any map (no matter how detailed) is only accurate to at best 1.5 km

After I commented on that I looked into the accuracy and update rate and realized the multiple hotspots that were spread around that area were likely just a combination of the 1.5km accuracy and the 10 minute updates... Interesting technology...


It looks like that fire at Davey River is still smouldering,
https://www.fire.tas.gov.au/a/90023
The little float plane water bombers are heading back down there now:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VHXAT
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VHXAJ
(being so remote the aircraft tracking isn't very good down there)

I hope they get it sorted out soon, I'd hate to see that old Hydro building destroyed before I get a chance to visit it...

No worries - you will also often see the hotspots in a 1km grid pattern - always a sign that its 'approximate'

That little hut would be a key asset target so I reckon its well protected. They may even have done a burn around it for asset protection just in case the fire jumps the river.

Those flight tracks look to be WAY off the target area for the Davey fire. Maybe there is another near Junction Creek?

I also hope they are not relying on googlemaps as there are heaps of 'spurious lakes' showing down that way!!

tastrax wrote:Those flight tracks look to be WAY off the target area for the Davey fire. Maybe there is another near Junction Creek?

Tas Fire listed them as being on the Davey Gorge fire...

The tracking down there is very hit and miss when the aircraft are at low level below the mountains, it tends to vary a bit with the weather also, today the tracking was terrible... The tracking site seems to average out the data so it's not always obvious how corrupt the data is...

Sunday the tracking was a little better but it still didn't show they were refilling on Lake Pedder and dropping at Davey Gorge, the tracking made it appear they were just flying in circles in the middle of nowhere:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VHX ... /YCBG/YCBG
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VHX ... /YCBG/YCBG

That little hut would be a key asset target so I reckon its well protected. They may even have done a burn around it for asset protection just in case the fire jumps the river.

That's good to know, I probably wont get to that one for another year or two.. I'm not really a hardcore hut person but they're a good excuse to venture into places I probably wouldn't go otherwise..

I've always wondered how PWS feel about the old abandoned buildings like that one, Jane River hut, all the Hydro buildings down the Gordon, and the likes, the ones that don't really have major historical significance... They seem to be left for nature to do it's thing so I've wondered how much effort they'd put in to save them from fires..

There were 4 or 5 choppers flying in and out when we just spent a couple of nights up on the WArthurs. Definitely didn't seem to be refilling at Pedder, but were clearly headed to and from that fire. They seemed to get started by about 10 in the morning and finish around 7 at night. Hopefully the rain has helped to sort it out!

biggbird wrote:There were 4 or 5 choppers flying in and out when we just spent a couple of nights up on the WArthurs. Definitely didn't seem to be refilling at Pedder, but were clearly headed to and from that fire. They seemed to get started by about 10 in the morning and finish around 7 at night. Hopefully the rain has helped to sort it out!

The helicopters can refill from almost any puddle, unfortunately most of them cant be tracked online... The little "Fireboss" amphibious float-plane water bombers need a kilometer or two of fairly smooth water to skim across to refill their 3000L tank, Lake Pedder is the only place out there they can refill from I believe... There's a couple of other non-float wheeled versions of them down here at the moment also, they did a few runs on that fire over the first couple of days but they have to return to Cambridge to refill their tanks...

I haven't noticed any aircraft on that fire today so I assume it's basically out, no doubt they'll be checking on it for a few days though...

I noticed there's been a couple of helicopters dropping gear out the west end of the Huon track again today, with the number of runs they've been doing out there recently those tracks are going to be like a highway when they reopen, lol
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VHU ... 0202/2237Z
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VHN ... 0202/2336Z

There's a helicopter investigating reports of smoke on the Frenchmans Cap track this afternoon:
https://www.fire.tas.gov.au/i/22005991

Frenchmans Cap Track, SOUTHWEST
Alert Level Going No Alert Level
Type SMOKE INVESTIGATION
Last Update 12-Feb-2022 2:21 PM
First Report 12-Feb-2022 2:21 PM
Status Going
Agency Tasmania Fire Service
Incident No 22005991

Edit: it's been updated to north of the Lyell Hwy now..

There's a 350 Hectare fire west of Lake Gordon and the Prince of Wales Range, there's been a bunch of aircraft on it today.. It looks like this one could burn for a while
https://www.fire.tas.gov.au/a/90380

It seems to be down the eastern side of that old Maxwell River Archaeological Site which is now Aboriginal land..

PWS have put up a couple of alerts for this fire:
https://parks.tas.gov.au/explore-our-pa ... -go/alerts

Fire: Bushfire at Olegas Bluff, Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park
Applies from 16/2/2022
There is currently a bushfire burning at Olegas Bluff within the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park.
The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
The Parks and Wildlife Service is actively undertaking air-based suppression works in the area and the fire is not yet contained.
Visitors should be aware of increased road traffic and aircraft noise in the area. ​
The fire is generating smoke in areas to the east, including Maydena and Mt Field National Park.
Locations affected: Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park; Southwest National Park;
Last reviewed 16/2/2022 05:02 PM

Track closure: Walking tracks closed at Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park
Applies from 16/2/2022
Walking tracks and routes at Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park are closed, due to a bushfire at Olegas Bluff.
This includes access to the Hamilton Range and Truchanas Pine Forest via the Gordon Dam, the Prince of Wales Range and Pearce Basin to the Dension River.
These areas will be closed until further notice. ​
The fire is generating smoke in areas to the east, including Maydena and Mt Field National Park.
Locations affected: Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park; Southwest National Park;
Last reviewed 16/2/2022 05:02 PM

The helicopters can refill from almost any puddle, unfortunately most of them cant be tracked online... The little "Fireboss" amphibious float-plane water bombers need a kilometer or two of fairly smooth water to skim across to refill their 3000L tank, Lake Pedder is the only place out there they can refill from I believe... There's a couple of other non-float wheeled versions of them down here at the moment also, they did a few runs on that fire over the first couple of days but they have to return to Cambridge to refill their tanks...

Fireboss float planes were filling up from Lake Gordon today
Regards OLM

Overlandman wrote:Fireboss float planes were filling up from Lake Gordon today
Regards OLM

I guess I should have worded that better and said "I believe Lake Pedder is the closest place to the Davey Gorge fire that the amphibious water bombers can refill from", I didn't consider mentioning lakes further away.. .

ABC News about the Olegas Bluff fire:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-17/fears-for-ancient-huon-pines-as-fire-sweeps-tasmanian-wilderness/100840254

There's an active fire at Seven Mile, seems to be in the pine plantation. There was no weather that could have caused it, so I'm guessing human agency.

north-north-west wrote:There's an active fire at Seven Mile, seems to be in the pine plantation. There was no weather that could have caused it, so I'm guessing human agency.

Down there it was most likely human, it doesn't take much for pine mulch to light up, a cigarette butt or such...

I'm wondering if the Olegas Bluff fire was sparked by the lightning 3 weeks ago and it's smoldered until the conditions were dry enough and there was enough wind for it to take off and be noticed.. I haven't noticed any lighting since that storm 3 weeks ago and it's very unlikely a human would light a fire out there...

Edit: I'm cautious to put too much faith in the accuracy of the lightning map but here's the strikes from the January storm, there were a couple of strikes around where this fire is located. (cropped from the map I posted up the page):

north-north-west wrote:There's an active fire at Seven Mile, seems to be in the pine plantation. There was no weather that could have caused it, so I'm guessing human agency.

They’re clearing that area near 5 mile beach for a golf course that’s been proposed. Easier to burn it than cart it away I guess! Anyways it was burnt overnight when the airport was shut so as to not interfere with the aircraft ops - smoke across runway ect. Unfortunately they mustn’t of read the forecast and didn’t put it out properly, because it was 25 with 30kt winds! I wonder the cost to the govt of 4x twin engined fire fighting helos for over 4 hours for a totally preventable fire…..

FLICKIT wrote:ABC News about the Olegas Bluff fire:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-17/fears-for-ancient-huon-pines-as-fire-sweeps-tasmanian-wilderness/100840254

I am really concerned about this. This whole area is one of the most unique in the SW. The age and hence stature of the Huon Pines in the Truchanas Reserve, and around it, render them irreplaceable.
We went down the Denison in January and the profound smell of the Huon Pines that you encounter while floating by is overwhelming - unlike anything I have ever encountered.
I hope the full resources of the State are put onto this one.

creeping_moses wrote:

FLICKIT wrote:ABC News about the Olegas Bluff fire:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-17/fears-for-ancient-huon-pines-as-fire-sweeps-tasmanian-wilderness/100840254

I am really concerned about this. This whole area is one of the most unique in the SW. The age and hence stature of the Huon Pines in the Truchanas Reserve, and around it, render them irreplaceable.
We went down the Denison in January and the profound smell of the Huon Pines that you encounter while floating by is overwhelming - unlike anything I have ever encountered.
I hope the full resources of the State are put onto this one.

They have set up an IMT down at Strathgordon I believe with a lot of resources sent down that way. I'd say they are trying to knock down as much possible now while conditions are milder with a bit of rain around. Pretty big fire edge so will be a lot of work. Hopefully some rain to help over the next few days.