NEW TECHNOLOGY: Department of Sustainability and Environment fire-fighters Josh Fischer and Jayden Whitworth of Horsham use a heat-sensing camera in the Cherrypool area of the contained Grampians fire yesterday. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
AUTHORITIES aim to control the 35,875-hectare Grampians bushfire in the next five to seven days.
The fire was officially contained by 4pm on Wednesday.
The blaze began a fortnight ago in the southern Grampians after lightning sparked more than 34 fires on public land in the Wimmera.
The Grampians fire spread across the Victoria Valley, over the Victoria Range and towards Rocklands Reservoir, Cherrypool and Glenisla.
The fire perimeter is 216 kilometres.
At the height of the fire, more than 400 people from the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Parks Victoria, Country Fire Authority, Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria, State Emergency Service and Wimmera municipalities were working on it.
NSW and New Zealand fire-fighters also assisted. Authorities reported no further asset losses since February 18.
Incident controller Russell Manning said for such a big fire, it was rare that rain did not help to contain the blaze.
"We only had a couple of millimetres of rain, but the fire was contained before then," he said.
"It was the hard work of the ground crews, with the help of agencies, aircraft, bulldozers and other vehicles which contained the fire.
"It was a fantastic, multi-agency effort.
"Everyone worked well together.
"We also had the only Hover Exit crew in the state, based in Horsham, working on the contained Cassidy's Gap fire in very difficult terrain."
Mr Manning said it been a difficult couple of weeks for authorities.
"The more than 34 fires on public land since February 14 stretched our resources to be able to manage those just in the Wimmera," he said.
"But we managed to quickly bring most under control within a few days."
Mr Manning said authorities' community engagement had been good, with about 800 people attending the four public meetings about the Grampians fires.
Public information officer Jenny McGennisken said people were more educated about fires and expected more information from authorities.
She said people accessed information online or via mobile phone applications.
Mr Manning said new technology also helped fire-fighters.
Aircraft at the scene passed the latest information about the fire to Horsham Incident Control Centre staff and crews on the ground used electronic devices to view the latest fire maps.
A 5000-hectare burn in the Victoria Range last year had also helped to control the Grampians fire.
"People need to be aware that, even with this level of fuel reduction burns, we still have large fires when we are dealing with the climatic conditions that we have," Mr Manning said.
"Most lightning will be on public land where there are trees; lightning looks for the highest point."