Community
20 January, 2026
FIRES 2026: Brigades go across state in massive strike team response
Crews from St Arnaud and Wycheproof supported at a number of large fires around the state.
WHILE they worked to keep their home turf from going up in smoke, our local brigades gave their time to fight the other big fires burning around the state.
A number of units from St Arnaud and Wycheproof were called in different directions last Friday to do their part on the catastrophic fire danger day.
In 30 hours, the St Arnaud brigade was here, there and everywhere.
“Across the State, it’s been an extremely busy period with challenging and dangerous fire conditions impacting many communities,” St Arnaud CFA said.
“Our pumper and four crew travelled to Skipton yesterday to assist with asset protection.
"The town was coming under threat from the oncoming Streatham fire front.
"We set up on the outermost hydrant on the Lismore Road (pumpers only carry a small amount of water and require a water source to operate) and set up to protect nearby structures.
“We also assisted in filling various fire fighting vehicles with water.”
Closer to home, the brigade’s ultralight tanker, big fill pump and forward command vehicle stayed to monitor the Moyreisk fire from earlier in the week.
And after all that, the brigade turned out to fight the fire that was started by dry lightning at Stuart Mill on Saturday morning.
Wycheproof had its forward command vehicle and tanker form part of Strike Team 1875 at Ravenswood.
“[We were] assigned to stop the spread once it came down the other side of Mt Alexander,” they said.
“Crews worked efficiently under the terrible circumstances, stopping it from jumping the Harcourt-Sutton Grange Road.”