“Where the hell do I start?”
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This was the question Indigo Valley Fire Brigade’s Craig Cross and about 80 other people asked when they attended a community meeting on Wednesday to talk about fire recovery.
Helen McGowan, Indigo Valley resident and Indi MP Cathy’s sister, organised the meeting at Middle Indigo Primary School so frustrations could be turned into community action.
Her home was spared by the fire, but the property in the family for four generations was destroyed.
“I’ve been trying to get my family to talk about something other than the fire and focus on Christmas,” Ms McGowan said.
A survey conducted at the meeting found some people were sad, worried and fearful of their future after the fires.
The group committed to creating a working committee to work between the community and Indigo Shire as rebuilding continued.
CFA incident controller Graham Healey said volunteer firefighters were granted Christmas Day off as a well-earned break, with DELWP staff to take over.
But they will not go without a Christmas lunch.
“The local brigades have said they still plan to patrol residences,” Mr Healy said.
About 150 firefighters continued work on Wednesday.
The fire was still running out of control around the edges as firefighters burned out the south-west area between the flames and the track as a firebreak.
Mr Healy said repel crews and water-bombing aircraft also battled flames in remote bushland.
His Christmas wish was for about 10 to 12 millimetres of gentle rain to completely knock down the fire.
Friday’s weather forecast changed from being another dangerous day to a 33-degrees with only light winds and some rain.
More rainfall and a chance of storms was forecast for weekend.
The Department of Resources Land Management has warned farmers their dam water supplies could be at risk of contamination from debris in rainfall run off this weekend.
Officer Brad Costin said sediment fences made of sediment fabrics, shade cloth or spoiled straw should be in place as soon as possible.
“Not all dams may be affected and any impacts may only be temporary, it all depends on severity of rainfall,” Mr Costin said.
