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A district unit from Central Victoria is among the state’s firefighters enlisted to help control blazes in South Australia which have already claimed two lives and left more than a dozen in hospital.
A convoy of 38 volunteers and ten vehicles from District 20 left the headquarters in Kerang shortly after 7am this morning.
The volunteers come from: Bridgewater, Pyramid Hill, Echuca, Kyabram, Rochester, Girgarre, Rushworth, Fentons Creek and Kerang.
District 20 Operations Manager Peter Taylor said his firefighters would help give local volunteers a rest.
“This fire covered 50 kilometres in an afternoon and the local people who are most affected are the local volunteers – they are on the front line and they need our support,” he said.
“We need to go over there to help consolidate control lines and give the locals a rest.
“That is why we’ve stepped forward... it’s just great that our volunteers stepped forward and it’s very humbling to put together a team who is so willing to go out and help our neighbouring state in its time of need.”
The District 20 vehicles include: six tankers, a forward command vehicle, a big fill – used to help resupply tankers with water – and a forward operation vehicle, which is essentially a bus with radio equipment used to transport firefighters.
The unit is expected to arrive in South Australia this afternoon. Operations Manager Taylor said it was yet to be determined if they would begin firefighting today or first thing tomorrow.
“It’s not clear at the moment, which you would expect given the amount of devastation,” he said.
“A lot is unknown at this time – but that’s the space we’re used to working in.”
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said in a tweet on Wednesday night that 200 firefighters and 50 trucks would head to Adelaide on Thursday to help fight the fires.
District 18, which is headquartered in Swan Hill, is also sending a unit.