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9 January, 2026
'It was bloody shocking, we'll be here for days': St Arnaud firefighters took control at Moyreisk fire
St Arnaud Fire Brigade units made up a vital part of the front that battled the blaze along the Sunraysia Highway on Thursday. Here's what it was like out there for them.
ST ARNAUD firefighters played an integral role in saving properties in what ended up being a "bloody shocking" fire near Moyreisk on Wednesday.
Multiple local brigades and others from across the west of the state worked hard all day to contain the blaze that ended up burning 37 hectares of farmland, grass and a whole lot of trees.
St Arnaud CFA captain Dave Reynolds said he and his units were apart of the initial call out at around 10.30am.
A team that would eventually grow to around 30 tankers, eight Forest Fire Management units, four fixed wing bombers and one black hawk helicopter.
"As we were driving out, you could see a big plume of smoke," he said.
"We had a group officer out there that was saying the fire was spreading towards the Maryborough-St Arnaud Road, but our focus was getting access.
"We had a bit of trouble getting through a gate and there was a house there under threat, so we focused on that and trying to get it before it jumped the creek."
Mr Reynolds said despite their best efforts, firefighters stuggled through the difficult terraine of trees, creek banks and a lot of grass.
And hot and windy conditions didn't make it easy to get a handle on the fire itself.
"Every time you'd attack it and think you had it, it would flare up behind you," Mr Reynolds said.
"You'd look behind you and think 'oh God' and it would rip through the creek.
"There's lots of growth in through there, so it's hard once it gets in there. We had a lot of trouble initially trying to get across the creek."
Mr Reynolds said while their main efforts were towards housing, and they prevailed with no properties being lost at all, there were a few other elements the brigades needed to keep under control.
"There were some issues with horses in through there they were concerned about," he said.
"There were a few out buildings as well, but the aircraft did a good job of coming in and cutting around and knocking down bits and pieces and giving us lots of observational stuff."
St Arnaud CFA group officer Wayne Rourke was also doing the same thing from the ground, tasked with ensuring each brigade was in the right place at the right time.
Mr Rouke said while the air temperature sat at about 43 degrees, the fire ground was at least a few degrees hotter.
"It felt even hotter because we have overalls on and we can't take them off," he said.
"We've been going through mountains of water.
"It's bloody shocking, we'll be here for days."
And they have been.
Mr Rouke said he and other crews were out on the ground overnight Wednesday, most of the day Thursday and again on Friday.
"We're out blacking out as much as we can before Friday," he said. "Then we will have crews out here throughout the day, just in case."
Mr Rouke also recalled the difficulty the brigades faced as they worked to contain the fire by 4pm on Wednesday afternoon.
"It was a very long day [on Wednesday], a lot of work went into the in between [from when the fire started until it being controlled]," he said.
"Only because of the terraine and the trees.
"It did jump to the other side of the highway for a bit, which caused a bit of grief, but we were able to jump on that fairly quickly.
"It burnt along the creek, which is still causing issues today [Thursday].
"It came out of the paddocks and into the creek and headed towards the Maryborough-St Arnaud Road and that's where we pulled it up.
"We had a couple of incidents where it re-ignited, but we had a lot of trucks that we were able to divert to where it would restart.
"Everyone did a really good job."
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