VOLUNTEER firefighters from across the district are receiving high praise for their work at a large fire near Casterton that engulfed a shed last Thursday, ahead of what is expected to be a busy season for local brigades.

The alarm was raised for the Noss Retreat Rd fire just after 9am, with crews arriving to find the shed and its contents – hay and machinery – fully involved, and smoke from the fire visible from Dunrobin.

“By the time the crews got there, it looked like the fire had been going for some time and all of the machinery in the shed was 100 per cent alight … there was not a lot they could do with that,” District 4 Commander, Jeff Whittaker said.

“Over the days we had 20 appliances there and around 60 members and they threw everything at it to try and save as much of the hay as they could.”

Crews worked in shifts on Thursday, overnight and on Friday then again on Saturday, in an attempt to extinguish the blaze.

Cdr Whittaker said heavy machinery was brought in to remove the hay from the shed and drag it into open ground, with a large fire break around the pile to contain the fire.

“In the end, due to the size and amount of hay, we ended up digging two large holes and burying it,” he said.

Relatively new to his role with District 4, Cdr Whittaker said he was “extremely impressed” with the response from district brigades and he was confident the community was in safe hands, coming into what is expected to be a high fire danger season.

“This is the first big job I’ve had with them and I am really proud of the way the crews worked together to get the job to a successful and safe conclusion; no one was injured, which is the best result, in my view,” he said.

“They pretty much had the fire contained from the start and they worked tirelessly, with a positive attitude too, for the three days.

“We know there’s a few farmers and farm workers among them and this was chucked right in there at cattle sale time … some went off for a couple of hours and dealt with that, then they were back on the line with us.

“It was a fantastic effort from all of our CFA volunteers and I can’t thank or praise them enough.”

Cdr Whittaker said while fire investigators attended the site, “I can confidently say there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding this fire, at all” and “at a guesstimate”, total loss of property from the fire would be “close to $2 million”.