Ghost town

By Melissa Meehan
WARBURTON resembled a ghost town last night (Monday) as the fate of the town hung in the balance.
By 6pm the fire had spread to within four kilometres north of the town.
Residents had begun leaving the town along the Warburton Highway on Sunday evening and were still travelling out on Monday afternoon.
It was feared a predicted wind change would blow the Black Saturday blaze towards the town.
A relief centre was set up on Sunday night at the Lilydale Recreation Reserve and by Monday afternoon 150 had sought refuge there. The increased concerns came two weeks after the Black Saturday blaze killed at least 210 people.
Late on Monday afternoon Deputy Incident Controller Mark Thomason said that while the winds had not changed, residents should remain vigilant.
“We are currently worried about an unburnt island in the fire’s perimeter,” Mr Thomason said.
“If that starts to burn we are worried it will fuel the fires.
“Other than that we have everything pretty much contained.”
He said there were no active fires burning between Warburton and the fire front, which spanned a distance of eight kilometres. At the Woori Yallock Incident Control Centre, Information Officer Chris Carey said all information should be taken in context.
“At the moment we have a northerly wind,” he said. “But if the wind changes it’s difficult to predict what will happen.
“The CFA put out a warning that people should put in place their fire plans and that’s what people have done.”
When asked if it was safe for landowners to return to their properties, CFA media spokeswoman Heidi Geytenbeck said it was the property owner’s decision to evacuate their properties.
“According to CFA records Warburton has never been under threat,” she said.
“Residents need to remain vigilant and take precautions.”
Upper Yarra residents have been on high alert from ember attacks for the past two weeks as fire entered the Upper Yarra catchment and O’Shannassy Reservoir.
Reefton properties had previously been threatened by the Bunyip blaze.
Since then hundreds of CFA and DSE firefighters have been battling the blaze and during a lull over the past few days have been building containment lines.
On Monday night 679 firefighters from Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Canada and USA were on the frontline and 80 members were based at the Incident Control Centre in Woori Yallock.