Firebugs blamed for six blazes

DELIBERATELY lit fires erupted into a full-blown blaze near the town of Glenburn, about 4 kilometres north of Steels Creek over the weekend.
The six fires were spotted from the Kangaroo Ground fire tower at 3.30pm on Saturday.
Fifteen fire trucks, eight Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) vehicles, three bulldozers and three helicopters were recruited to control the flames.
The first four fires were extinguished quickly by responding brigades, but the other fires merged, burning a total of five hectares.
CFA operations officer Colin Brown said the fires burned out of control for at least five hours. “We’re still patrolling the area now,” Mr Brown said yesterday. “Some trees are still burning and are too dangerous to cut down so we expect to monitor the situation until at least Wednesday.”
The DSE, Parks Victoria and numerous fire crews fought the fires, along with the Erikson Air-Crane “Elvis” and two other helicopters, which were waterbombing the blaze.
Although the fires did come close to some houses, there has been no loss of property or stock. DSE fire investigators and police are investigating the fires.
They are also investigating a deliberately lit fire that occurred about 11.30am yesterday.