Firefighters work to contain Scone fire
Firefighters were last night working to contain a blaze near Scone in close proximity to major Hunter Valley stallion farms, an effort which is expected to take several days, writes Tim Rowe.
The bushfire, which had burned 521 hectares by 7pm last night, was heading in an easterly direction towards Segenhoe, an area where prominent studs Arrowfield, Vinery, Turangga Farm, Kia Ora Stud and Segenhoe Stud are based.
The fire is believed to have started on Barton Street, Scone, early afternoon before quickly spreading to the east of the township. Water bombers were also called into support firefighters yesterday.
Despite the emergency, the Rural Fire Service last night downgraded to an advice alert level. Gundy Road was closed between Barton Street and Glen Creek Road as a result of the fire sweeping through the area.
There had also been no reports of loss of life, homes or livestock, but White Park in Scone was opened to horse owners who wished to relocate their animals away from danger.
It is unclear how the fire started, with police continuing their investigation.
The RFS told ANZ Bloodstock News: “Trying to determine whether they can drop that back from watch and act to advice. As welcome into the night we’ll see cooler conditions and calmer conditions and that’s likely what will happen, but just at the moment once things start to settle and back down to an advice level but it will be declared a Section 44 Bushfire emergency which is just something we do behind the scenes, which means it’ll likely go for a number of days given the significant resources we’ll have to throw at it.
“521 hectares was what it’d burnt out, so hopefully they’ll do an updated map to see where the fire exactly is and that’ll allow us to determine … as for loss of animals it’ll be a couple of days before we know. There’s no reports of loss of stock, animals or homes and hopefully it’ll stay that way.”