Vic: Burned Wilsons Promontory will recover: officials

AAP General News (Australia)
02-19-2009
Vic: Burned Wilsons Promontory will recover: officials

By Katie Bradford

MELBOURNE, Feb 19 AAP - Authorities are confident the Wilsons Promontory National Park
will bounce back from fires that are devastating the area.

More than 150 firefighters are battling the blaze which has so far burnt more than
12,000 hectares in the popular park in Victoria's south.

It has been closed to visitors until at least the end of Labor Day weekend, on March 9.

A Parks Victoria spokesman said the impact of the fire on the ecology of the park will
not be known until it has been brought under control.

"We haven't been able to assess what the impact has been," the spokesman told AAP.

"But it has always bounced back in the past and we are confident that will happen again."

He said Parks Victoria was not aware of any damage to major infrastructure or communities.

Firefighters are using the public land in Tidal River inside the park as a staging
base to fight the blaze.

Strong winds of up to 170 km/h are fuelling the fire, pushing back containment lines,
Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) spokesman Stuart Ord said.

The nearest community of Yanakie is not under threat, Mr Ord said.

All 50 residents have been warned to activate their fire plans but firefighters are
working hard to keep the fire within the reserve and away from homes.

"Fire is part of the natural ecology and so the park will recover, it will bounce back
from this and not cause irreparable damage," Mr Ord said.

"The main damage is to signage, roads that have been heavily used by firefighting vehicles."

Heavy vegetation and rough terrain are making it difficult for firefighters to bring
the blaze under control.

A 2002 study showed Wilson's Promontory brought in over $50 million to the community.

The number of tourist visits lost as a result of the fire is estimated to be in the
hundreds, the spokesman said.

As other fires rage across the state, many resources are being pumped into the state's
major blaze, the Kilmore East-Murrindindi South Complex fire.

More than 300 personnel and 96 fire trucks are working to contain the fire, no longer
considered a threat to communities.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) has warned residents that due to smouldering logs
and trees on containment lines, the area is smokey and care should be taken.

Three other fires - the Kilmore East-Murrindindi North complex, the Bunyip Ridge complex
and the Churchill-Jeeralang complex - are still burning across the state.

Meanwhile, a group of researchers has been assembled by the Bushfire Cooperative Research
Centre to look at key issues of the recent devastating fires.

The research will look at which fires were ordinary or extreme, fire behaviour, human
behaviour, community safety issues, and building and planning issues.

The information will provided to fire agencies and the Royal Commission.

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