Perched sky-high above Bendigo is the One Tree Hill fire spotting tower, manned by Forest Fire Management Victoria’s Daryl Anderson, Bendigo’s eye in the sky.
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With a panoramic view stretching from Mount Macedon to Mount Ida, north up to Echuca and back around to Mount Tarrengower, his job is to spot any bushfires.
“Local knowledge is fairly important,” Mr Anderson said.
“I have a fairly good knowledge of the layout of the land, both in the town and the district.”
“Local knowledge is a bit underrated and it’s important because one of it’s advantages, if I see something, I need to get a bearing and instantly refer to it on a large-scale map, so I can see the line between the tower and the fire.”
The threat of bushfires can change on a day-to-day basis dependent on the external environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and wind strength which are then combined to determine the fire danger index.
Mr Anderson said he has been in the role for “the best bit of 20 years” and it’s essential to understand the visual differences between the similarities of a dust storm and smoke from fires.
“The last thing, especially volunteers, want to do is chase dust all day, but generally all of us get it right,” he laughed.
During days of operation Mr Anderson will communicate every hour with all eight towers within the Murray Goldfields district which includes Mount Macedon, Mount Ida, Growlers Hill and Mount Brananah.
“It’s fair to say that during the usual fire season, the role is pretty constant.”
The hourly check-in confirms that all fire towers are free from visible smoke and they also help ground crew, the various depots and the CFA keep up-to-date with any activity.
“Particularly on high fire danger days when there are plenty of people out in the field,” he said.
“The controllers and those organising research need to know where the incident is, how quickly it’s gathering, the nature of the fire, because smoke colour can give an indication of what type of fire it is,” he said.
Mr Anderson said a crucial element of the role is communicating wind changes to crews that are fighting fires on the ground.
“Sometimes there’s a very immediate and distinct change of wind, it may go from a northerly and instantly swing around and come from the west.”
“Those on the flank are exposed to the head of the fire, and they want, and need to know when the wind changes because the flank of the fire can very quickly become the head, and they can be in immediate danger.”
Mr Anderson still recounts the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 as the worst incident he has observed at the One Tree Hill fire tower.
