February 15, 2009

New fire breaks out near Melbourne

Per The Australian, "A bushfire has broken out in the Dandenong Ranges National Park and has several communities under ember attack."

Residents of Ferny Creek, Sherbrooke, Kalliste, Tecoma and Belgrave have been notified that they may be affected by the blaze, per the article.

Parts of the Melbourne suburb of Belgrave caught fire, and the town name trended to one of the top tweeted words in the last few hours.

@polyxena (Melbourne): Fire in Belgrave and Ferny Creek fireplans in action My sister & family and cats and dog evacuating



A Melbourne radio station affiliated with ABC has been providing live updates the last two hours through Twitter. Its tweets have been re-tweeted dozens of times; among them this one:

@774melbourne (Melbourne): 4 water bombing air-craft & 22 fire trucks sent to Belgrave bushfires. Urgent threat issued for residents in the area.


Here are some other tweets from the area.

@mr_billiam (Melbourne): A bushfire has started in Belgrave and seems to be growing relatively quickly...keeping track of it. #bushfires


@nifwlseirff (Melbourne): 6 helicopters and a plane, some of those are hanging very high - spotters maybe? (Tecoma/Belgrave fire)


@ChrisClayton (Melbourne): i am worried bout the fires!!!! they are in belgrave now and coming down the mountain towards ferntree gully!!!


Following the Country Fire Authority (CFA) Web site for live updates, @mr_billiam wrote just a few minutes ago that the fire is under control.

@mr_billiam (Melbourne): 16 trucks and 2 water bombers later it's under control. Phew. #bushfires

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