With summer temperatures sizzling in some areas, grey nomads and other travellers are once again being warned about the risk of bushfires … and of the need to take care with campfires.
Earlier this month, firefighters were forced to attend a fire which had not been properly extinguished and then left unattended at Mount Dryden in Victoria
The Country Fire Authority said the fire was reckless rather than suspicious, but it reiterated that campfires at Halls Gap should only be lit in designated areas.
Ararat Country Fire Authority duty officer Ian Morley said the persons responsible had cooked a meal over the fire and had then failed to put it out properly before leaving.
“We want people to go out camping and have a wonderful time in the surroundings with their families and friends, but we also want everyone to be responsible while doing so,” he told the Stawell Times-News. “But we also want to remind people about following the fire danger provisions … that legal campfires must be completely extinguished before leaving the site; trenches of 30 centimetres must be made when using a campfire; and the wind must be no greater than 10 kilometres per hour.”
He said irresponsible campfire behaviour placed a burden on volunteer firefighters who had to respond to incidents that could have easily been avoided.
Both the police and Parks Victoria were notified about the incident.
Grey nomads and other campers lighting fires while travelling are also urged to be extremely careful around campfires and not to leave odd bits of wood or other tripping hazards laying about. They are cautioned to make sure they extinguish campfires completely. There have been incidents in which campers have arrived at a site and suffered burns from a campfire that was buried in sand rather than put out completely with water.
· Have you ever come across a campfire that has not been properly extinguished by previous campers? Comment below.
Our last trip into the Vic High Country, our group found two campfires left absolutely blazing in the middle of the day with no one around.
Luckily I have a 70 litre water tank in the back of the Pajero, so was able to extinguish them, but we were gobsmacked at the lack of responsibility shown
Just as Bad are the ones who Cover Fires on riverbeds and beaches with Sand. A Danger to anyone who happens to Walk across it. As can end up with 3rd Degree Burns causing a lifetime of Pain and Disfigurement if Not Death for young children
You see camp fires abandoned in remote areas too. We were camped just up from the Pentacost river on the Gibb river Rd. about ?? 8 mths ?? ago which is basically on the El Questro Station. Not too far from us were 2 other couples travelling together and all of them, while maybe not of retirement age were certainly not “spring chickens”, but amazed all in our group (6 of us), when they packed up and left the next morning leaning their camp tidy but also leaving a still burning camp fire. Now, while there was not too much to burn in the immediate area, it is a working cattle station and there was dry grass surrounding the camp. Had the wind picked up and started a grass fire, then apart from the problems it could have caused the land holder it could also force them into closing off this “free camp”. But to those campers who left the burning fire, and I emphasise the fact that it was a well established burning fire and not just a few hot embers, don’t worry as we made sure it was well covered with soil before we left and also doused with a little water from our sink drain. What really did amaze me though was that they could well of been at the age that would read this forum and should have known better. Cheers Sundy