Fires in the Grampians

[beardless]

News reports say "a fire in the Grampians has burnt through 17,000 hectares and is threatening several communities."

Sounds like there is more than one fire and it could take weeks to put out.

[Baeng72]

I remember, probably incorrectly, that there was a fire in the Mafeking area a few years ago.
Normally, there's a regeneration before the next fire. Some years to allow regrowth. I mean, you need something to burn, and it needs to be dryish.
Anyway, I'm probably wrong.
[EDIT] Looks like it was Pomonal: https://www.theage.com.au/politics/vict ... 5fojj.html

[paidal_chalne_vala]

This is burning out of control in the Victoria Valley and Victoria
range area. Mt. Abrupt The Fortress and Mt. Thackeray are some of the walks in that area.
Some of it has been closed off to hikers and left to fester. There is No money for proper parks and land management
again and now we have a fire well out of control there.
There will be questions asked after it is finally extinguished.
How much of the cash cow user pays Grampians Peaks hike infrastructure will perish? We shall wait and see.

[CraigVIC]

Current fire map has Wannon, Yarrum, Barri-Yalag and possibly Durd-Durd all within the perimeter. It's burning over the same ground as the Lubra fire. In historical terms the grampians are burning all the time now. It's the second time the gpt has been impacted by fire this year.

Hopefully everyone will be okay as it seems quite serious and heading toward Halls Gap.

[beardless]

The extent of the fire has grown. It does look like it has headed much closer to Halls Gap

[beardless]

From the ABC news website:
"Halls Gap residents told to leave immediately, holiday-makers urged to stay away as Grampians fire more than triples in size."

"...in the Grampians, the blaze is about 30,000 hectares in size, up from about 7,500 hectares on Friday morning, and has reached Lake Bellfield.

Incident controller Mark Gunning told residents at a town hall meeting in Ararat on Saturday morning the high energy fire will burn over Christmas and following weeks,

"High energy fires, as firefighters we can't do anything about that. Nature is so powerful, we really tinker at the edges," he said.

Glen Rudolph from Forest Fire Management Victoria told residents the landscape was extremely dry and southerly winds had been pushing the fire closer to Halls Gap.

"This fire is in areas we cannot get machinery or crews into and so our strategy has to be 'burning out' – the fight fire with fire idea," he said.

Emergency services doorknocking the Halls Gap area was not to force them to leave, but hopefully they understood the risks, Mr Rudolph said.

About 400 firefighters are working to fight the blaze, with more than 100 tankers, 25 aircraft and other heavy machinery.

The emergency alert warnings in place apply to about 2,500 people in the area, urging them to leave immediately.

Parks Victoria closed the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park at 6:30pm last night, and urged campers to take advice from VicEmergency warnings and plan to leave the central areas of Zumsteins, Mackenzie Falls, Reeds Lookout, Balconies, Boroka Lookout, Wonderland Range and Smiths Mill, Bugiga and Mt Rosea Areas.

Grampians Peak Trail hikers from Werdug to Halls Gap were also advised to make their way off the trail last night.

Hikers in the north, in Gar and Mt Zero areas, should have made plans to leave this morning, or follow emergency advice warnings, Parks Victoria said.

The CFA has urged anyone still in the area to go to Ararat Relief Centre, at Alexandra Oval Community Centre...."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-21/ ... /104753778

[paidal_chalne_vala]

The Fire is out control.

I feel lucky I was able to enjoy the Grampians in October 2024 when it was wet and unburnt.
I will return in late Autumn .

[tastrax]

Here is a link to boundaries if folks are interested - Click on the fire area for more details

https://digital.atlas.gov.au/datasets/d ... 84%2C10.38

[beardless]

Fire map as at Sunday 22 December 2024 at 1300.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

How much of the Grampians Peak Trail infrastructure is being reduced to ashes?
I have always said that building all that stuff
was fraught because one bad fire would see possibly all of that expenditure for
user pays hikers infrastructure come to naught.
Incremental quasi privatization of public land comes with risks when you see what fires and floods can do and rapidly.

[beardless]

Really rough estimate but I reckon it is close to 35-40k of the Grampians Peak Trail is currently within the burnt area.
Some of the infrastructure work on the trail like stone steps will be impacted minimally, but the wooden huts, tent platforms, and windbreaks at campsites might not do well.
Then there is the wildlife and plantlife. Some will recover but it takes time and this is already such a big fire.
I agree with your point that low impact minimal infrastructure is better particularly in these high risk fire areas.
You really feel for the community including those who rely on visitors to the area

[beardless]

Current fire map

[tastrax]

There are some OpenStreetMap projects assisting in the area if anyone has some time in the next few days

https://tasks.hotosm.org/explore?omitMa ... =grampians

[scroggin]

Thanks for that Phil.
Over 1/4 of the Grampians burnt and they are expecting it to flare up again on Boxing Day

[paidal_chalne_vala]

The wildlife and flora wil take a huge hit as will the locals who rely on visitors to spend money in the area.
However the GPT should not be the only circus
in town and judging by what the visitor centre in Hall's Gap has to offer now , it seems to be heading that way.

[beardless]

Fire map screenshot as at Christmas Day 9.41pm

[tastrax]

A good map for fire bounds across the country

https://digital.atlas.gov.au/datasets/d ... 75%2C10.63

click in the fire to get the capture date/time

[Biggles]

Today I completed a round trip from Castlemaine out to Ararat and back — a nondescript journey through increasingly barren, straw-coloured fields until about 30km from Ararat, when distant scenery looked decidedly otherworldly in the hazy/smoky distance. There are a great many dirty firefighters, trucks and tankers (CFA and Forest Fire Management) coming and going through the town, and police checking tourists are not heading to Halls Gap (only residents allowed access).

I feel for the people and businesses in Halls Gap going through disaster twice in one year. It is brutal, but I wouldn't be too hopeful of visiting/camping in the Grampians for maybe a year, maybe more. There is a precedent for this thought.

When one considers as a comparison, the smaller size of Mount Buangor-Mount Cole, and the bushfires that wrought shocking devastation there, necessitating the Park's full (and ongoing) closure post-February '24 bushfires, things don't look so rosy for "The Gramps". Mount Buangor-Mount Cole was pretty much razed — an apocalyptic, gaunt and ghastly sight, far removed from the tall, leafy green paradise I remember 2.5 years back. Even this long after the fires there, no forward outlook is given on reopening. Then, as a jarring comparison, we have the much bigger, sprawling footprint of the Grampians, with the wholesale loss of infrastructure (the GPT in its entirety, as a known example), forest, amenities, tracks etc, not helped by (every possibility) heavy rainfall at some stage (this also horribly compounded the damage at Mount Buangor-Mount Cole). We are all still waiting to see some progress at Sealers Cove, Wilsons Prom, too, years after the Great Flood!

Meanwhile, a report from my brother in Geelong about campfire callouts to Police and PV on Boxing Day (!).
I have found it extraordinary that idiots were huddled around a campfire in the Great Otway National Park on Boxing Day (oh, it was only 41° and these d!ckheads do need a fire to huddle over!), and then Rangers turned up, followed by police (this is believed to be at a clearing along Brown Town Track/Youngs Creek). There are few words to describe such stupidity, and I earnestly hope they are hauled over the proverbial hot coals (the ones they sat boozing over) as a penalty!

[CraigVIC]

I'd expect the park in general will open asap after the fire is considered completely under control. Thousands of people can say without hyperbole that their income is derived directly from the park being open and the spots most important to the tourism industry; Wonderland, Borooka, Balconies and Mackenzie's falls were all spared (assuming the fire doesn't escape futher into the park).

In the medium term the gpt will effectively be a walk from Mt Zero to Halls Gap with few continuing on to camp at Bugiga knowing the walk will finish immediately after, some hundred meters futher along at the Rosea carpark.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

The wheel chair friendly(sic) stairs that were built in the Wonderland area esp. the Grand canyon/ Silent street area cost a fortune to build and took ages to construct.
Such " access for all abilities" infrastructure is going to get burnt sooner or later and the park will return to its former state
in where if you cannot walk / scramble/ climb on level 3-4-5 bushwalking terrain then stick to Halls Gap ice cream shop.