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Canberra Today 14°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Flames to south from fire spotting ahead of main blaze

Visible flames from the spot fire at Gordon. Photo: ESA

FIRE is spotting ahead of the north-eastern edge of the Orroral Valley Fire’s main fire front and flames may be visible from southern Canberra suburbs, says the ACT ESA.

Firefighters are monitoring this activity. There is currently no threat to homes.

The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted increasingly challenging fire weather for the coming weekend, driven by extremely high temperatures and low humidity.

The size of the fire is 16,571 hectares and the ESA says access to the fire front for direct firefighting operations is restricted due to inaccessible terrain.

The fire remains remains at an “advice” level bushfire warning.

MEANWHILE, a media crew went to a section of the Orroral Valley blaze not approved for access during an unescorted visit by accredited local media to the fireground today.

In a memo to media, the ESA stressed that when any person is unaccounted for on the fireground, “we consider diverting either ground crews or essential water bombing aircraft from the fire. This is an unacceptable and unnecessary diversion of essential resources in the current environment, when the weather conditions are changing quickly and presenting additional challenges to our firefighting efforts”.

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Ian Meikle, editor

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