Community Rallies Together As Terrifying Longwood Fire Rages On

[Wandering Eyes]

by Kit Gow/TTR AusNZ

The Victorian Thoroughbred community has come together over the last three days to evacuate hundreds of horses to safety as a major bushfire in Longwood ballooned in size and threatened to devastate several properties. Several Victorian farms have lost infrastructure, including homes owned by Ben Hayes and Magic Millions' Victoria and Tasmania manager Tim Brown.

Fires burning since Wednesday in Victoria's major breeding regions have caused significant losses to several major breeding farms. As of Saturday evening, one person lost their life at Harcourt after being found in his car, however police believe this wasn't directly related to the fire. Hundreds of horses have been moved to safety in a mammoth community effort. Several horses at Lindsay Park are receiving treatment for burns, and there are worries that there will be losses of stock across several properties.

Mammoth Moving Effort Includes Blue Gum and Lindsay Park

Late on Saturday evening, 11 fires were burning across Victoria at Emergency Warning level and over 18,000 properties remained without power.

Over 300 horses were relocated from Blue Gum Farm, and the stud released a statement on Saturday afternoon, sharing that the fire was burning five kilometres from the stud. The statement thanked the stud's team, Equilink, Goulburn Valley Equine Hospital, Ben Brisbourne, Shaun Nolan, and Olivia Osborne, as well as the Longwood Farm staff, for their assistance.

“Our priority is to ensure the safety of all humans and horses on farm,” the statement read. “Our thoughts are with everyone in our community and industry who have been affected by this tragic and devastating event.”

Lindsay Park also released a statement on Saturday, reporting that the property had lost nearly all of their paddocks, a pre-training barn, and a number of other structures to the fire, but that all horses in work were safe and a number of horses spelling were receiving treatment for minor burns. Racenet.com reported that an under-construction house belonging to Ben Hayes has also been lost to the fire.

“Due to the loss of our paddocks, we are now coordinating the relocation of 115 spelling horses,” said the statement posted on X. “These horses are being transported this morning via a massive, coordinated effort from Troy Corstens and the North East Thoroughbred Community Group to the Inglis Sale Complex at Oakland Junction, where they will be safely accommodated.

“The support has been nothing short of remarkable. Our hearts go out to everyone in the community that has been affected by this horrific event.”

The Lindsay Park training team's father David Hayes flew in from Hong Kong on Thursday to assist his sons in defending the property. Racenet.com reported that the Hall Of Fame trainer was on hand to hose down patches of the property, and that the Hayes team scratched two Flemington runners, Touchdown (Almanzor) and Stealth Of Night (Night Of Thunder), who were both stabled at Euroa.

In an update to racing.com on Saturday, Leneva Park's Mick Sharkie said, “we don't have a fence left on the joint. We haven't got a paddock that hasn't been charcoaled and there's no fencing left.

“There's still stuff smouldering around the property, but it looks like the fire has moved away from us. We're not in immediate danger now. There are still fires burning very close-by, but the property itself is not in immediate danger.

Sharkie reported that both farmhouses were still standing. The fire had turned back within metres of one house, which Sharkie called “quite incredible”.

“I can't stress enough how good the North East Equine Emergency WhatsApp group has been,” he added. “It's being managed by Kayley Johnson, Troy Corstens, and Megan McGrath. They were absolutely incredible regarding the horse movements.

“I couldn't believe what I was seeing, just the goodwill and selflessness of people to go in. It was insane.”

Larneuk Stud's Neville Murdoch reported lost fencelines, but the stud had been fortunate to be minimally damaged and all horses on the property were safe.

“We were out fighting the fires last night and the night before, we didn't stop,” he told racing.com. “We were trying to keep it from the boundary, but we couldn't stop it yesterday afternoon, it just came through and flattened all the fences and God knows what, but at least we're all safe and the horses are good. The buildings are good as gold. It's just fencing and pasture that's been damaged.”

The town of Ruffy had been particularly hard hit, with the three people reported missing now located and are safe.

“The main street looks like a bomb has gone off,” CFA Captain George Noye described the devastation in Ruffy to ABC News. “A lot of our critical infrastructure, power poles have been burnt, power lines laying on the ground. That is a job that's not going to take hours to fix, it is going to take a fair while.”

 

Burnt farmland near Longwood, Australia on Saturday | Getty Images

Interstate Assistance Sent to Ongoing Situation

By Saturday evening, the Longwood fire was reported to be moving toward Euroa.

“That fire is becoming more active on the northern side with some of the westerly and south-westerly winds blowing it to the north,” spokesperson Reegan Key said at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night.

In some good news, Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Christie Johnson told ABC Melbourne Radio at 10 p.m. on Saturday, “We are seeing the wind, south-westerly winds, they are starting to ease off a little bit. They may pick up a little bit during the day [tomorrow] compared to sort of the overnight period, but they're certainly not going to be as strong as we saw today.

“And we're going to see a reasonably settled period of weather for the next few days, which is good news for our firies trying to get on top of all of those fires.” No rain is forecast.

As the sun went down on Saturday, Premier Jacinta Allan had declared a state of disaster for Victoria with 36 fires still active and more than 300,000 hectares burned across the state. Power has been restored to many homes with 18,000 still remaining without power (down from 90,000 on Thursday). At least 130 buildings have been lost. New South Wales will send an additional 200 personal to support Victorian efforts.

“All up we'll have over 300 personnel from New South Wales to support our colleagues over at the Country Fire Authority,” RFS Deputy Commissioner Ben Millington from the RFS told abc.net.au.

South Australia have also sent assistance. “South Australian personnel will undertake frontline firefighting, incident management, planning, logistics and safety roles as part of the Victorian response,” CFS SA said.

In addition, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed the Australian Defense Force would be sent to help “The ADF have been requested to provide accommodation support for the Victorian Country Fire Service, and once again, we see our Defence Force personnel providing that support, both through personnel, but also through infrastructure,” Albanese told abc.net.au.

 

Burnt farm after the fire swept through | Getty Images

Timeline of Events

As temperatures hit 42 degrees in Melbourne on Wednesday for the first time in 11 months, a bushfire was reported in Longwood, traveling from the Hume Freeway towards the town of Ruffy, and by 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon, the fire had rapidly escalated to the point that the Country Fire Authority declared an Emergency Warning in the area, advising residents that the time to evacuate had passed already, and strong winds overnight expanded the blaze.

More than 400 firefighters were drafted to fight the blaze, and south-easterly winds on Thursday threatened a number of properties including Lindsay Park, Leneva Park, and Longwood Thoroughbred Farm.

That evening, Leneva Park General Manager Mick Sharkie reported to racenet.com that the fire had reached the property's boundaries, which was already sheltering horses from neighbouring properties, however fierce winds forced the property to evacuate more than 110 horses on Friday. Longwood Thoroughbred Farm evacuated on Thursday night, with 165 horses moved off the property.

Another bushfire had started near Horsham to the west of Longwood, and Racing Victoria reported that trainers Paul Preusker and Simon Gebert were among those who evacuated horses out of the region.

Lindsay Park co-trainer JD Hayes told racing.com on Friday that the fire had reached the training facility in the night, but all horses, staff, and property were at the time still safe. Benalla Racing Club welcomed 15 staff from Lindsay Park on track overnight while it was unsafe for them to return to their homes, and offered them a bed again the following night.

By midday, 9News reported that over 48,000 hectares of land had been burnt by the Longwood fire. Racing Victoria has released a list of transport providers and available agistment properties for industry participants, and Inglis Sales Complex at Oaklands Junction also opened their doors to evacuees and offered transport.

9News reported a number of properties lost in the region, and that the shelter in place warnings remained. It was reported in thestraight.com.au that a house near Creightons Creek belonging Magic Millions' Victoria and Tasmania manager Tim Brown near had been destroyed by the fire. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen announced that fire victims would be able to access hardship support.

“I can also advise that in discussions with the Commonwealth we have activated the personal hardship payment processes and those payments are being made available from now,” she said in a statement released on 9News.

“We thank you and all of the emergency services who are providing support for these efforts. Today is an incredibly difficult day, the most dangerous day we have had in years.”

A total fire ban remains in place statewide for Sunday.

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