A fire that has burnt out thousands of hectares in the south-west and killed scores of livestock started near a ‘rotten’ power pole, a farmer says.
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Jack Kenna, of The Sisters near Terang, said 100 kilometre an hour winds were blowing after 9pm last night when he saw a glow to the east of his house.
Mr Kenna said the strength of the winds were unbelievable and he had not experienced winds of that ferocity before.
He believes the winds snapped a power pole to the east of his house and the power lines ignited the blaze that swept through thousands of hectares near Terang and Ayreford.
The fire burnt about 60 hectares (150 acres) of pastures on his property as well as fencing but he lost no livestock because agisted animals had been shifted off before the fire.
However his neighbours were not so fortunate and scores of sheep and cattle on neighbouring properties died in the blaze that swept across paddocks rapidly.
“It’s one thing to lose your own cattle, it’s even worse losing someone else’s cattle,” Mr Kenna said.
His wife Betty Kenna said the winds were “vicious” at the time the fire started.
“It was scary,” she said.
Mrs Kenna said she could see “balls of flames everywhere” in the paddock when the fire was.
Jack Kenna Junior said neighbours had lost “heaps of livestock and heaps of hay”.
Neighbour Bernie Harris said he had seen the glow from the fire after 9pm on Saturday night and had thought the Kennas’ house was on fire.
He said the fire had “gone straight through to Ayreford” from the Kennas’ property.
