The first thing that strikes you about these bushfires is they call them "wildfires". We drove into the wildfire region from Sale on the East Coast of Victoria. As we moved inland we encountered the first dramatic signs of burnt out, blackened forests. It was immediately apparent that extensive bulldozing, and tree felling beside roadside had taken place.

In some places the road had acted as an effective boundary , in others it had jumped the road and carried on its destructive pathway. We learnt that the main preventative effort was not to try and stop the fire but rather to manage or guide it. This is mainly achieved by backburning from a reasonable boundary line like a road, a stream, or bulldozed firebreak, or extinguishing hotspots after the firefronts have moved on. Even though the main fires were extinguished in mid Janauary we were amazed to encounter hundreds of firefighters still on the case weeks later.
They were cleaning up hotspots which were in danger of reigniting forestry blocks.

This reignition was aggravated by extensive thunderstorms and lightening strikes while we were in the area. Following a heavy downpour at Omeo where we were camped with a hundred firefighters we were told the next day that lightening had started three new fires in the area.

The Victorian Alps area is frequently a victim of bushfires. The area was still licking its wounds from the massive 2003 fires when the 2006 fires erupted. We saw huge areas of logging taking place salvaging trees burnt in the 2003 flames. The farms in the valleys had taken precautions such as ploughing a 3 meter wide strip around the boundary of major paddocks . This was to try and stop grassfires advancing to homesteads, sheds etc.

We also saw a number of helicopters including the massive sky crane known as " Elvis". Elvis can suck up and carry about 2 tonnes of water to a fire. However opinions on the effectiveness of helicopters with monsoon buckets was mixed. It was suggested that the helecopters had real difficulty trying to work out where the seat of the fire actually was in amongst all the smoke and turbulence. The main strategy seemed to be to backburn and try to steer the bushfire into a deadend.

After the fire has been through the main effort seems to be addressing hotspots with smokechaser crews. Typically 4wd utility vehicles carrying a 200 litre tank and a hose reel - lightweight highly mobile fire engines. We were interested to see the Canadian fire crews with hired 4wd utilities and selfcontained tanks and hose reels strapped on the back. The other big post fire effort goes into felling and removing burnt out dangerous trees from the roadsides. This job will keep contractors lucratively employed on Government contracts for months.

We talked to a hotel publican from the small hamlet of Dargo, where the bushfires went all round the township but miraculously spared the town. He told us that most residents had stayed with their homes during the fires. Apparently occupied homes are far more likely to survive. The trick is to stay inside the house as the flame front roars through then come out and extinguish the smaller fires created around the house - sounds like lots of fun doesn't it ! Apparently the most frightening thing is the roar of the flames approaching.