SIR, – Lightning strike ignited a scrub fire in the Jilpanger flora and fauna reserve at Tooan, west of Natimuk, on December 21, 2019. 

Burning on the north fringe of the reserve boundary, southerly winds pushed the fire through boundary fences and onto our farm property.

Several local CFA brigade tanker crews attended the blaze and put in solid efforts over many hours to contain and then safely extinguish the fire, saving both property and livestock. 

Had the crews not responded so quickly and worked so diligently, the outcome might have been much more severe than the loss of fence lines.

Some of the CFA brigades in attendance on the day included the tanker crews of Wonwondah one and two, Mitre, Toolondo, Clear Lake, Noradjuha and Natimuk.

On behalf of my son Christopher, daughter-in- law Colleen and wife Shirley, I wish to convey heartfelt thanks to these brigade members, as well as to all other brigade crews who attended not mentioned above, the Parks fire management crews and the skilled efforts of the driver in the tractor and large clay delver, who worked diligently in creating firebreaks and tracks for fire containment lines. 

We also wish to thank our farming neighbours, many of whom also arrived quite promptly with personal water carts and firefighting equipment to join the crews and help where ever they could.

We are all incredibly grateful for the efforts of the responding firefighters and of our neighbours as well as for the wonderful job done by all in protecting our property and livestock. 

It was a hard-fought job, yet a job done extremely well by you all and we wish to sincerely thank you all very much.

Wavell McPherson

Tooan

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