FIREFIGHTERS, farmers and homeowners yesterday faced the mammoth clean-up after Thursday’s firestorms with a sense of grief and relief.
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The fires at Gerogery and Ournie, fanned by gale-force winds and 40-degree temperatures, destroyed 10 homes.
Hundreds of houses remained without power or phones as crews worked on restoring both while monitoring burning trees that threatened existing supply lines.
Firefighters continued to douse trees still burning by the roadsides, monitoring the fireground for any hint of outbreak.
Farmers were kept busy counting the cost of dead livestock and those they were unlikely to save.
Haystacks and sheds remained alight.
The Walla tip, the origin of the blaze that hit Gerogery, continued to burn under the watchful eye of NSW Rural Fire Service crews while 60 of their colleagues in the Upper Murray fought to bring the last, northern edge of the fire near Tooma under control.
The blaze, which began at Ournie, had torn through 10,416ha by last night but yesterday’s improved conditions had crews predicting it would be contained by this morning.
At Gerogery, firefighters continued to improve containment lines with backburning and mop-up operations.
Thirty crews continued to work in the area, assisting landholders with extinguishing trees and helping recovery efforts.
Two tree-felling crews were dealing with trees that remained dangerous.
No properties were at risk; most residents had returned to their homes.
Ian Byrne, the firefighter who suffered burns to more than 30 per cent of his body while defending his property at Gerogery, is in a stable condition at Melbourne’s The Alfred hospital.
Gerogery losses reported to date include 800 sheep, 40 cattle, four horses, 450ha of unharvested crop, about 6000ha of grazing land and 300km of fencing.
Further losses are expected to be realised as assessors move through the area.
Telstra Countrywide Riverina Murray general manager Andrew Cotterill said 150 households in the Gerogery and Gerogery West area were without landline telephone services.
“There is cable damage but we have only been able to get our technicians in there this morning to assess the damage,” he said.
Mr Cotterill said damage as a result of the Tooma-Welaregang fire was more superficial, with a small number of individual households without a telephone service.
A spokeswoman for Country Energy said crews were working to replace 10 power poles — four in Culcairn and six in Gerogery.
“We can’t say when the power will be restored — we have been hit by the firestorm and windstorm in Albury,” she said.
