Bittersweet victory for fireys who saved Alexandra’s town centre but lost their homes

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Volunteer firefighters working to save townships from the Longwood bushfire returned to find their own homes in Alexandra destroyed.

After 30 straight hours of constant firefighting, dozens of crews were forced to pull back to Alexandra late yesterday to make a desperate last stand to save the town.

While they were able to protect the centre of the township, Murrundindi Mayor and Alexandra resident Damien Gallagher says numerous houses have been destroyed.

CFA volunteers were forced back to save Alexandra.

“Some streets you drive along and there’s not a house that has been saved,” Gallagher said.

“To the south of Alexandra it’s black all around and, even to the north, the hills are all covered in black. But the township itself has miraculously survived.

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“There are a lot of impacted homes around Alexandra, but the main infrastructure – the hospital, aged care facilities, the business district and key infrastructure – have been able to make it through.”

Like many in the region, Gallagher was on a CFA truck fighting the fires from Thursday, initially at Longwood East trying to prevent the fire from spreading. His crew had to fall back to Ruffy and then Terip Terip.

On Friday, he was with the Ancona crew patrolling between Yarck and Merton trying to stop the fire crossing the Maroondah Highway so more towns would not come under threat, but conditions were just too harsh, and the flames leapt the highway.

“Just the intensity got to those dozens of trucks that were there trying to prevent it coming further south,” he said.

Fire burning out of control on its march towards Alexandra on Friday, where firefighters fought desperately to save the town.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui