Vic: 16 houses confirmed destroyed in Victorian infernos

AAP General News (Australia)
12-15-2006
Vic: 16 houses confirmed destroyed in Victorian infernos

MELBOURNE, Dec 15 AAP - A man has died and 16 houses have been confirmed destroyed
in bushfires that ripped through several towns in Victoria's east.

A 48-year-old man who had been fighting a fire started by an arsonist died yesterday
near Heyfield when he fell from the back of a trailer and was run over by a truck travelling
behind.

The largest property loss was at Mt Ligar near Cowwarr Weir in Gippsland, where seven
houses were destroyed by a fire that was deliberately lit earlier in the day.

Four houses were razed at the A1 Mine Settlement and five at nearby Gaffney's Creek
in the state's north-east.

A Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) spokeswoman said last night's
devastation brought the total number of property losses since the fires began almost two
weeks ago to 21.

The man who died was battling a blaze that is believed to have been deliberately lit
earlier and police are hunting two men seen in the area at the time.

The bushfire was lit near Coopers Creek in Gippsland yesterday morning and spread rapidly
through bushland.

A strong south-westerly wind pushed the fire to the towns of Cowwarr Weir, Toongabbie
and Seaton, on the outskirts of Heyfield.

Country Fire Authority deputy chief officer Graham Fountain said it was a cowardly
act to light a bushfire that impacted on people's lives and property.

He said yesterday was the worst day since the bushfires began.

"As anticipated, yesterday's weather wasn't kind to us, the fire did come out of public
land and impact on private land and penetrated a number of properties and unfortunately
we suffered a number of losses during yesterday's extreme weather," he told the Nine Network
today.

Mr Fountain said firefighters would take advantage of today's milder conditions over
the next few days.

"We've now got a window of opportunity until early next week with milder weather conditions
across the fire areas," he said.

"We'll be trying to take advantage of that obviously to secure and strengthen containment
and control lines, however we still have got some active fire and we shouldn't be complacent.

"There's still communities in and around these fire areas which today still have threat
messages on them, and fire can now be seen by Woods Point, for example, which we've talked
about for many days now.

"But the weather conditions are a bit kinder to us. We had some very light rain over
the fires last night, but certainly not enough to extinguish them totally."

AAP ce/jt/nf

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES VIC 2ND DAYLEAD

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