 Firefighter incident: Harrietville, Victoria Two firefighters have died after a tree fell on their vehicle as they fought a large bushfire according to reports from Australia's Herald Sun. The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) firefighters were battling a large bushfire at Harrietville near Mount Hotham. The Australian Workers Union (AWU) said two DSE firefighters were also killed in the line of duty in a fire in the Ovens region on Wednesday afternoon. The DSE said there had been a serious accident at the Harrietville-Alpine North fire, but authorities have not confirmed any deaths. A police spokes person said: "At this stage we believe the vehicle was on the fireground and was hit by a falling tree. Due to the fire in the area and the terrain, emergency services are having difficulty attending the scene". The fire in Harrietville has now destroyed 27,000 hectares since it started by on January 21. Fire Incident Controller, Mr Tony Long said its likely that the fire would continue to burn until the alpine region received significant rain. The deaths come a month after Peter Cramer, a DSE firefighter and CFA volunteer from Tyers in Gippsland, died while working on bushfires in Tasmania. Mr Cramer, 61, died on January 13 at Taranna, east of Hobart, while working on foot to identify potential containment lines on the southern boundary of the Forcett fire about two to three kilometres from the active fire edge.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Bush TelegraphI studied a semester of my degree at Murdoch University in Perth. Great times and sunny days! Archives
February 2015
Categories |
RSS Feed