BENDIGO firefighters will not be part of a Victorian team helping combat the bushfires in Tasmania.
Sixty-four Victorian firefighters and staff have been deployed to two Tasmanian locations in a bid to stop the fires.
But none of the CFA, Department of Sustainability and Environment or Parks Victoria firefighters came from the Bendigo area.
A CFA spokesman said people had been chosen on their skills and availability.
“It’s not a regional thing,” he said.
“They put themselves on an availability list and it’s based on their skills and availability.
“There are firefighters and what we call interim management team members, people with specialist skills in things like resources, planning and public information and they’re selected based on their qualifications and availability.”
The spokesman said they had gone to the Tasman Peninsula and the Derwent Valley with most of the attention on back burning and strengthening containment lines yesterday.
“It’s going quite well,” he said.
“The Tassie guys have done an outstanding job of keeping it at bay.”
He said the fires were being brought under control yesterday afternoon.
Victoria has sent health officials and a specialist police officer to help with the bushfire recovery effort in Tasmania.
Acting Victorian premier Peter Ryan said yesterday Victoria would send three staff from the Department of Health and a police officer with expertise in planning and recovery to Tasmania.
The deployment of 64 Victorians arrived in Tasmania on Sunday, including strike teams of firefighters and incident management teams.
“We are continuing to assist the Tasmanians where we possibly can at what is a very, very difficult time for them,” Mr Ryan said.
