mmg.com.au

Kyabram Country Fire Authority captain Mick Crompton said the first firefighters were called to a property on McKenzie Rd at 12.48pm on Thursday.

Mr Crompton said a farmer had decided to slash a dry paddock despite the expected high temperatures.

‘‘Obviously, (slashing) is not ideal in hot weather ... you only need to hit a rock or a wire, or the bearing could falter underneath the slasher, and it could spark,’’ he said.

Mr Crompton said Kyabram and Merrigum CFA members arrived to find the large grassfire moving towards a house and shed.

Denise Raftis was inside the house working and did not know about the fire until father and daughter David and Jessica Evans, who live about 2km away, saw smoke and drove to her Kendal Green property to check she was safe.

‘‘I had no idea ... I owe them everything,’’ an emotional Mrs Raftis said at the scene.

Mr Crompton said 16 tankers, two helicopters and one aeroplane needed about an hour to control the fire.

The helicopters and aeroplane dropped water from a nearby dam.

Firefighters limited the damage to 26ha of land north and south of McKenzie Rd.

‘‘Crews did a marvellous job to save lives and property with minimal resources,’’ Mr Crompton said.

He said it was lucky that wind was minimal, so the fire did not spread quickly.

‘‘Fire creates its own weather, and with dry land it just skips across the top,’’ he said.

North-east Victoria did not have a total fire ban yesterday, despite nearby Kyabram recording a maximum temperature of 41.1°C about 4.30pm.

Mr Crompton said farmers still needed to think about using machinery in hot weather — total fire ban or not.

‘‘Given how dry rural areas are in summer, they need to look at it and think, ‘Do I need to do it today?’,’’ he said.