Power lines not arson to blame (Gippsland Times ) Feb. 20, 2014.
POLICE investigations have concluded the Jack River, Hiawatha, Devon North fire that began on Egans Rd, Sunday, February 9, was most likely caused by power lines, not deliberate arson.
Wellington CIU, and DEPI fire investigators concluded power lines across land leased by Hancock Victorian Plantations were the likely source of the fire.
The fire spread to the south west at first before swinging back to the north east under the influence of a strong south westerly change about 1pm spotting to Devon North and Tara Valley before finally being contained.
The fires caused the loss of at least one residence, hundreds of kilometres of fencing and property losses running into millions of dollars.
Fires Flatten Plantations Latrobe Valley Express February 17 2014
The Latrobe Valley's extensive pine plantations were another notable victim of the Hernes Oak and Morwell fire last week, with swathes of Hancock Victoria Plantation trees lost in the blaze.
While still assessing the extent of the damage on Friday, HVP chief operations officer Cameron MacDonald said thousands of hectares of plantation had been destroyed.
"I was out at our affected Maryvale site this morning where we have 10 to 12 year-old pines which are too small to salvage but difficult to replace, so it's the worst of both worlds in that sense," Mr MacDonald said.
"Once a tree is 15 years of age it can be recovered, but there is still the issue of charcoal which is a major contaminant (for paper making purposes) so we have to look at how to supply those customers while avoiding that additional issue."
While HVP plantations were under fire, three separate locations across Gippsland - in Stockdale, Yarram and Maryvale were also under attack. The Stockdale fire was contained by Wednesday, allowing about 110 HVP personal and contractors to allocate resources to the Yarram and Maryvale clean up operations.
"When the fire picked up on the Sunday, direct attack was not possible because it just wasn't safe, but getting in that evening our crews were able to get in and minimise losses - we've made some big saves," Mr MacDonald said.
"We've got a lot of guys with skills in deploying dozers and knowledge of the landscape geography, so their work has impressed me in terms of the minimal losses we have incurred since Sunday."
Still moving to replant plantation timber in areas lost in the 2009 Black Saturday bushfire, Mr MacDonald said the latest fire damage would have a noticeable impact on forward production schedules.
"Long term we will have to manage the cash flow of the business having now to incur cost over and above our normal replanting costs," he said.
"Fires are part and parcel of the plantation industry, but you'd like to think we would get a few more years to recover after Black Saturday."
Mr MacDonald said a large timber pile lost at the Maryvale Mill site was mostly eucalypt, and would not create any short term supply issues as most local plantations were pine forests.
Image of Jack River Fire. Yellow line is approxinate boundary of fire. Red indicates approximate boundary of Hancock's land. This fire looks like the 7th most damaging plantation fire ever. Full list here
Image highlighting approximate bushfire areas between 2009-2014
Approximate burnt areas near Morwell 2014
March 2014: 3 weeks after the fire. Antonio Creek catchment - Emmersons Road in South Gippsland.
March 2014: 3 weeks after the fire. Antonio Creek catchment - Emmersons Road in South Gippsland.
March 2014: 3 weeks after the fire. Antonio Creek catchment - Emmersons Road in South Gippsland. Warm Temperate Rainforest, weed infested, spared from the inferno.
March 2014: 3 weeks after the fire. Antonio Creek catchment - Emmersons Road in South Gippsland. Road punched through Antonio Creek breaches Code of Forest Practices.
March 2014: 3 weeks after the fire. Antonio Creek catchment - Emmersons Road in South Gippsland.
March 2014: 3 weeks after the fire. Antonio Creek catchment - Emmersons Road in South Gippsland.
March 2014: 3 weeks after the fire. Jack River catchment - Kalladay Road in South Gippsland.
March 2014: 3 weeks after the fire. Stony Creek/Jack River catchment - Kalladay Road in South Gippsland. Hundreds of hectares of young pine lost at this location. All will have to be replanted.
March 2014: 3 weeks after the fire. Stony Creek/Jack River catchment - Kalladay Road in South Gippsland. Hundreds of hectares of young pine lost at this location. All will have to be replanted.
March 2014: 3 weeks after the fire. Stony Creek/Jack River catchment - Kalladay Road in South Gippsland. Hundreds of hectares of young pine lost at this location. All will have to be replanted.
March 2014: Strzelecki Ranges College Creek 30 month old Regeneration inside Cores and Links Rainforest Reserve. See here for images of when this site was originally logged.
March 2014: Strzelecki Ranges South Middle Creek recent logging inside Cores and Links Rainforest Reserve. This site was logged between July/September 2013.
March 2014: Strzelecki Ranges South Middle Creek recent logging inside Cores and Links Rainforest Reserve. 6 months after logging, no signs of regeneration.
March 2014: Strzelecki Ranges South Middle Creek recent logging inside Cores and Links Rainforest Reserve.
February 2014: Strzelecki Koala located near Graingers in Smiths Creek catchment
February 2014: Stand of Messmate located near Graingers in Smiths Creek catchment
February 2014: Smiths Creek catchment off Ange's Track - looking south. Catchment now dominated by E.nitens - a non-koala feed tree.
February 2014: Smiths Creek catchment off Ange's Track - north side of catchment.