By Callum Ludwig
An unfortunate incident for some Launching Place landowners has ended in the complete loss of a tractor which burst into flames on Monday 14 October.
CFA crews from Hillcrest and Yarra Junction responded to the reports of a tractor fire in a paddock at around 4.12pm between Wickhams Road and Government Road in Launching Place.
“Crews arrived to find a tractor fire burning and quickly worked to contain the situation,” a CFA spokesperson said.
“The incident was deemed under control at 4.28 pm and safe at 4.32 pm.”
The cause of the fire is unknown, with the tractor parked, turned off and otherwise safe.
Hillcrest CFA 3rd Lieutenant Peter Jenkin was the incident controller and said the fire was contained almost completely to the tractor.
“It was surprising, it was near a stringybark tree but the fire did not spread, the grass was very short and it was a well-maintained property,” he said.
“As a result, it was totally just contained to the tractor, probably not even a metre around the tractor.”
Unfortunately, the tractor was not able to be salvaged at all.
Mr Jenkin said while they don’t know what caused the tractor to set alight, it’s a good reminder to maintain properties as well as these owners had.
“As we come into summer, obviously the fewer fuel loads that are lying around in the paddock, then the less chances there are of something setting alight,” he said.
“I came off a farm myself as a young bloke and the farm was always maintained to the utmost, particularly in summer, so I advise any owners to tidy up and get rid of any rubbish they can prior to the summer coming in,”
“Make sure you have equipment that’s well maintained, this one was from what I could tell because it was already on fire but I feel for the owners because it wasn’t a cheap, nasty tractor, it was a decent piece of equipment.”
