Blaze sparks concern

An abandoned campfire started the blaze near the Lincoln Causeway about 7pm on Friday.

While the campfire had been partly extinguished, wind caused it to flare up.

High temperatures and strong winds fanned the fire and caused it to quickly spread into grass.

Firefighters attended the scene in nine trucks within 90 seconds of receiving a Triple-0 call.

While there had been fire restrictions about 500 metres away in Albury, Victoria did not have a fire ban.

Wodonga station officers Brett Myers said 57km/h winds had been recorded on Friday night.

“That really contributed to the spread of the fire,” he said.

“Given there was a substantial amount of smoke visible when we left the fire station, I requested extra trucks to attend to assist.

“We were able to contain it as quickly as we possibly could.”

The blaze covered about 400 metres by 200 metres.

“The main message is for people to extinguish fires when they’re finished,” Mr Myers said.

“There was potential for it to have spread very quickly.

“Thankfully it burnt into an area of green grass.”

People are required to have someone present at all times while a fire burns and the means to put it out.

Wodonga police Acting Sergeant Braithe Gibson said wood had been left next to the campfire, which was located next to a river.

“It’s about people having the awareness of the situation and the climate we’re in,” he said.

“They did the right thing by putting it out, but the winds picked the embers up and started the grass fire.”

The temperature reached 33 degrees in Albury on Friday and was about 27 degrees when the grass fire started. 

There had been concerns the fire would cross the train line, which Mr Myers said would have made it harder to contain. 

“It would have caused huge complexities,” he said. 

“It took us 40 minutes to contain it and then another 30 minutes to make sure it was completely extinguished.

“We’re now in the declared fire danger period and there are restrictions people need to adhere to.”