By Tuesday 21st of January temperatures fell to 28.8 degrees. It wasn't until the daylight hours that another fire ban day was declared with temperatures rising to 39.7 degrees with northerly winds persisting.
At approximately 10:20am the first call to CFA was received with two small scrub fires at Fussel Rd Montrose. Nine tankers and one pumper attended this fire and had it under control by 11:00am.
At 10:45am the CFA was alerted of another fire near the corner of Inverness Rd and Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd Kalorama. The fire spread uphill, splitting into two flanks heading south and south-west. First house destroyed in Scenic Crescent. A second home burns on the corner of Hands and Grange Roads. Water bombing contains blaze in a small area but the blaze flares up with afternoon winds.
A third fire reported at 11:01am in scrub at Trig Track, about 1.5km east of the Sky High Restaurant atop Mt Dandenong. The fire burnt slowly uphill in a south-westerly direction. Fifteen tankers and three pumpers attend.The restaurant's car park acts as a fire break the fire is controlled in around one hour.
At 12:24pm the CFA received the first reports of a fire at the corner of Tobruk Avenue and Outlook Road, The Basin, bordering the Dandenong Ranges National Park. The fire eats through One Tree Hill picnic ground. Northerly winds drove the fire towards Ferny Creek.
The CFA was alerted to a small bushfire at Walbdury Avenue Upper Ferntree Gully at 12:30pm. This is less than 2km south of the Basin/Ferny Creek blaze. The area is situated on the south side of a hill and so it is shielded from the north wind. Flames drew away from the heavily populated suburb of Ferntree Gully and cut a swathe of destruction through the national park, heading uphill. The flames struck a ridge and a north wind which sent the fire east. It leapt Mt Dandenong Tourist Road and moved into Upwey. Five houses destroyed in Dealbata RD, Jones, Irene and Olivette Avenues and in the Highway.
The frequency of new fires and their geographical spread lead Arson Squad detectives to believe the fires were deliberately lit. This was the most disturbing element of these fires. The other concerning factor was the predicted change in weather conditions, with northerly winds changing to a south - westerly direction in the afternoon and spreading out again. The change did occur but was not as strong as predicted.
By the time the fires were all controlled, thousands of residents had chosen to leave the area, a total of about 364 hectares of land burned out, 41 houses were destroyed, approximately 20 other homes were damged, 180 private gardens were burned and 3 people had died.
41 Houses Burnt To The Ground
3 People killed
The Heroes:
1000 CFA Firefighters with 223 Trucks
60 MFB Firefighters with 10 Trucks
205 DNRE Fighters with 55 Tankers
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