Fire strike in catchment area

A LIGHTNING strike ignited a fire just outside a Melbourne Water catchment in the Upper Yarra burning through half a hectare of land.
The fire was reported about 10.30am on Sunday 18 November after it was spotted by an aircraft surveying the Upper Yarra Dam.
Firefighters from the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne Water and Parks Victoria were called in to fight the fire which was eventually put out after 1pm just five kilometres from the dam.
Incident controller Nigel Brennan said the 16 firefighters did a great job particularly considering they had to walk 1.5km off the nearest road just south of Woods Point, to reach the fire.
“The perimeter of the fire was initially hand-trailed then consolidated with the help of a dozer when it was eventually able to get on-site around 4.45pm,” he said. “The dozer had to first build its own track to allow vehicle access to the fire.”
Fire management officer for Yarra Fire District at DSE Chris Hodder said it was a smooth operation.