Three firefighters have narrowly escaped after their vehicle caught alight and was destroyed in Victoria’s west, as crews face a dangerous wind change and further widespread extreme heat.
The NSW firefighters were battling the Little Desert National Park fire and managed to get out of their vehicle before it was engulfed about lunchtime on Monday.
Trees on fire around Wallaby Rocks in the Grampians National Park on Friday. Credit: State Control Centre
A wind change to the south on Tuesday is expected to keep fires moving in the national park. In the Grampians National Park, the wind change will threaten communities to its north, fanning flames into unburned country, authorities warned.
“What firefighters are trying to do at the moment is burn out that vegetation above those fires today and tonight, and try and take the sting out of those when the wind change comes through,” Forest Fire Management Victoria chief Chris Hardman said on Monday.
“They will be very much prepared and planning for that, and doing everything they can to minimise the spread of those fires, but hot spots will show up, and it will challenge us when the wind direction changes.”
Victoria was hit by hundreds of thousands of lightning strikes on Sunday,
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