TFS chief says he’ll hit ‘hard and fast’

FIREFIGHTERS were battling 72 bushfires across Tasmania last night as they braced for more to take hold over coming days.

About 2500 dry lightning strikes hit the ground in 48 hours from Tuesday afternoon to yesterday evening, with many sparking fires in rugged and inaccessible terrain.

Tasmania Fire Service State Fire Controller Bruce Byatt said the focus was on containing “new start” fires as quickly as possible.

“We are trying to contain as many fires as we can with the available resources as early as we can,” he said.

“Our strategy is to hit all new starts hard and fast.”

He said he expected the number of fires to rise from 70.

“What can occur is the lightning can strike and the fire can eventuate 24 to 48 hours later,” Mr Byatt said. “The amount of lightning strikes that have hit landfall are considerable and more fires, I’m sure, will be identified as days progress.”

The TFS had last night detected 24 bushfires close to each other in the Southwest National Park.

An “Emergency Warning” alert was issued for a blaze burning at Great Pine Tier on the state’s Central Plateau yesterday afternoon, which was downgraded to “Watch and Act” later in the evening.

It said the fire was “highly active and unpredictable” and might put Lake Fergus, Great Pine Tier and Little Pine Lagoon at very high risk.

The TFS and the Parks and Wildlife Service strongly recommended avoiding the areas of Lake Fergus, Little Pine La- goon and the southern end of Great Pine Tier.

“Advice” alerts were also issued for Dromedary, Tom Thumb in Wellington Park and Maydena, Tyenna and Mount Field National Park.

Mr Byatt said firefighters were not yet in control of the Great Pine Tier blaze and that people should leave the area.

“It’s a remote and rugged area … all of these fires are going to be difficult to control, they’re all in difficult places to access,” he said.

“The remote area teams do an incredibly good job under difficult circumstances and success can be measured by slowing or extinguishing the fire.”

Up to seven aircraft assisted firefighting efforts yesterday — including a fixed-wing airtanker from Victoria — as crews battled to get on top of the fires before more warm weather arrives next week.

Tahune Airwalk, one of the state’s most popular tourist attractions, was also closed for the day because of bushfires burning in the area.

Owner Ken Stronach said there were no fires burning in the immediate vicinity of the attraction, but he had closed it as a cautionary measure and to assist firefighters.

“There’s a number of spot fires which have been created by the lightning strikes in the region and there’s a lot of smoke in the area,” he said.

“Everything is well away from us. We expect to be open as normal (today).”

Premier Will Hodgman and Emergency Management Minister Michael Ferguson praised Tasmania’s brave firefighters who they said were doing an “incredible job” to protect life and property in hot and difficult conditions.