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On 7th February 2009, extreme fire weather conditions gripped the state of Victoria with temperatures in excess of 46ºc and very strong north-westerly winds. These extreme conditions led to one of Australia's worst natural disasters in living memory.
In the space of a few hours, a fire which started at Kilmore East had spread to the nearby forest areas of Mount Disappointment, Whittlesea, Humevale and Kinglake.
Significant numbers of lives and houses were lost.
The Woodend CFA were involved in Strike Teams that spent nearly a whole week in the Whittlesea/Wallan/Kinglake area. The Strike Teams involved vehicles from Woodend, Newham, Hesket-Kerrie, Gisborne, Macedon, Mt Macedon and Riddles Creek working 24/7 on a range of tasks. Twenty seven individual volunteers from the Woodend Brigade alone gave up their time to work in dangerous conditions each on a twelve hour shift, with some members going two or three times.
The following is a summary of Mt Macedon Group's involvement in fighting the Black Saturday fires from 7th February 2009 until end of dayshoft on February 16th 2009:
- 13 appliances
- 3 strike teams (day and night shifts)
- 1 FOV
- 2 Sector Commanders
- 3,776 man hours over 9 days
- Approx 70 volunteers deployed per day
- 306+ individual shifts
- 164 personnel deployed (many personnel were deployed more than once)
Appliances provided from Mt Macedon Group:
- Hesket Tanker 1
- Hesket Tanker 2
- Riddell Tanker 1
- Macedon Tanker 1
- Mt Macedon Tanker 1
- Gisborne Tanker 1
- Newham T1
- Bullengarook T1
- Bullengarook Slip On
- Gisborne Car
- Woodend Car
- Riddells Creek Car
- Mt Macedon Group FOV
The Woodend CFA would like to thank the community for their support throughout this time, and also express our deepest condolences to those affected by this disaster.
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