Clematis Fire Brigade

2008/09 FIRE SEASON

The 2008/09 fire season started late with above average rainfalls in December, but by February it was well underway with extreme bushfire conditions present across most of Victoria. On February 7th the extreme bushfire conditions precipitated bushfires throughout Victoria, involving several major complexes, which continued to burn across the state for one month. 173 People lost their lives in these fires, over 2,000 homes were destroyed, 3,500 buildings in total and left 7,500 people without homes.

The season involved very little bushfire occurrence during late 2008, due to the higher than average rainfall fire danger was decreased. Initial observations in October 2008 predicted an above average fire potential across Victoria's coastal regions with below average in central Victoria.

In late January early February, the effects of the 2009 South Eastern Australia heat wave increased temperatures across south-eastern Australia particularly in Victoria and South Australia, where several locations broke all time temperature records. Various days of high wind speed, combined with hot dry conditions, created extreme bushfire conditions between 25th of January and 7th of February 2009.

TIMELINE FOR CLEMATIS CFA

DATE	LOCATION	BRIGADE RESOURCES	INCIDENT
30/01/2009	Churchill Park Endeavour Hills	5 Members crewed Narre Warren East Tanker, a further 2 members operated Dandenong Ranges Group FOV (Communications Van) With Clematis Car being used to transport FOV operators.	Grass and Scrub fire Churchill Park drive

07/02/2009	Emerald Golf Club	Clematis Tanker, Clematis Slip on and Clematis car were all requested to respond to a fire which had been lit within the grounds of the Emerald Golf Club, Crews spent 2 hours extinguishing the fire with Emerald, Macclesfield and Cockatoo.	Grass and Scrub fire Emerald Golf Club

07/02/2009	Narre Warren North	Clematis tanker and Clematis Car responded from the Emerald golf club fire to form up as Strike Team 1333, Clematis tanker spent the night on Berwick Road Narre Warren north blacking out a fire that was lit earlier in the day.	Grass and Scrub fire Crawley Rd Narre Warren North

08/02/2009	Chum Creek	Clematis Car was pages as part of strike team 1334, the car was used as a forward command vehicle. Clematis car returned on the 14/02/09.	Murrindindi Complex

15/02/2009	Terry's Avenue Belgrave	Clematis slip on responded as part of Strike team 1302 to a grass and scrub fire that started earlier in the day.	Grass and Scrub fire Terry's Avenue Belgrave

17/02/2009	St. Andrews	Clematis Slip on responded as part of strike team 1301 to St. Andrews. It remained there for a good proportion of the night.	Grass and Scrub fire St. Andrews

21/02/2009	Toolangi	Clematis slip on was sent on a 2 day deployment to Toolangi as part of strike team 1301, along with TIC (Thermal Imaging Camera) crews.	Grass and Scrub fire Toolangi

23/02/2009	Nixon's Road Upwey	Clematis Car responded as part of strike team 1344 to act as a forward command vehicle for a grass and scrub fire burning at Nixon Road.	Grass and Scrub fire Nixon Road Upwey

23/02/2009	35 Muddy Creek Rd Narre Warren East	Whilst the Nixon Road job was still going Clematis was paged to a Grass and Scrub fire at 35 Muddy Creek Road in Narre Warren East. Menzies Creek and Narre Warren East were also paged, when Clematis Tanker arrived on scene approximately 1ha of scrub burning and spreading quickly. A make Tankers 5 Request was made, at this time Upper Beaconsfield Tanker had gone to investigate a smoke sighting and had come across this job. 10 Tankers along with one Forward Command Vehicle and one slip on ended up attending, with the last vehicle leaving at 0100 the following morning. The fire was believed to have been started by a spot fire from the Nixon Road blaze. Vehicle in attendance (In order of response) Clematis Tanker, Upper Beaconsfield Tanker, Menzies Creek Pumper Tanker, Emerald Tanker, Strike Team from Melba Group.	Grass and Scrub Fire 35 Muddy Creek Road Narre Warren East

SUMMARY

Over the fire season Clematis members spent 69 shifts out on deployments, plus many more hours spent organizing crews, picking up and dropping off. A number of Clematis members also spent the summer working in the Incident Control Centre at Belgrave. Many people sacrificed their time and money to fight the bushfires that devastated Victoria on the 7th of February 2009.