It will be several weeks before the fires that swept across Melbourne’s northern fringes are officially out.
And residents are being urged to remain on alert and on watch for any suspicious behaviour, with strong winds and hot conditions predicted again today.
After the firestorm subsided last week, Country Fire Authority assessors were out on Friday doing a final tally of losses.
PICTURE GALLERY: Craigieburn/Mickleham/Kilmore fire
They will be closely followed by insurance assessors, charged with the long and complex task of putting a price on the damage done and dreams shattered in a brief but brutal episode that lasted less than 48 hours.
About 23,00 hectares of farmland and rural residential properties were burnt after a branch from a tree fell over powerlines along the Mickleham Road at Mickleham on Sunday, February 9, causing a fast-burning grass and bush fire far to the north of Hume into Mitchell shire and threatening towns including Wallan, Chintin, Beveridge, Forbes and Kilmore.
Fanned by massive winds, the Mickleham-Kilmore fire – as it was known – destroyed 18 homes in the Hume area alone and left hundreds more scorched and damaged.
It ran along a 40-kilometre front stretching from just north of Craigieburn to past Kilmore, taking out hundreds of kilometres of fences and leaving survivors without electricity or access to supplies for days afterwards.
Sheds filled with summer hay and precious equipment were reduced to piles of twisted tin and molten steel; water supplies were left undrinkable, polluted by ash and burnt debris; surviving livestock flocked in search of slim pickings over charred stubble and a Donnybrook vineyard had its vintage wiped out. It was still too early to say whether the vines will recover or need to be replanted.
In neighbouring Macedon Ranges shire, flames came to the back door of Sunbury, threatened Riddells Creek, Lancefield and Pyalong and destroyed more homes at Darraweit Guim. The fire is believed to have been deliberately lit.
