HAMILTON Police crime investigation unit (CIU) suspect a roadside fire about 19 kilometres south of Hamilton early Sunday morning may have been deliberately lit.

Hamilton Police CIU detective sergeant, Mark James, said it was suspicious in nature as there was no explanation as to how it started.

He said it was the second time in the past three months there had been a fire along Mount Napier Road at Gazette.

“The other one was in November about 700 metres north of the fire on Sunday morning - it was also on the side of the road - so obviously there is some speculation that the two fires are linked,” he said.

With regard to the latest fire, Det Sgt James said the first call came in at about 1.20am Sunday morning.

“There’s not very much traffic at that time of night,” he said.

“It started in multiple areas - it is what we call a suspicious fire given the circumstances and the time.”

Det Sgt James appealed to the public if anyone has any information in relation to the fires to give the Hamilton Police Station a call on 5551 9150 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

“Anyone that was driving through on that road early Sunday morning or late Saturday night on Mount Napier Road or the corner of Byaduk-Penshurst Road, if they saw anything to please get in touch,” he said.

“Four local brigades turned up and did a good job putting it out.

“It was a fairly calm night with dewy conditions and not strong winds so that assisted in stopping the fire from spreading too rapidly.

“We examined the fire scene (Sunday) afternoon - investigations are ongoing.”

CFA District 5 commander, Rainer Kiessling confirmed local brigades were in attendance and were able to quickly extinguish the fire.

“We sent four tankers - that’s a standard response,” he said.

“It was really minor and was put out pretty quickly.

“It was long and thin, about 200 metres by four metres on the side of the road.”

Separately, on Saturday, multiple CFA crews were also sent to extinguish a large haystack fire with over 400 hay bales on Gallie Road, Coleraine.

Muntham Brigade was the primary brigade involved with initial crews sent from Carapook, Coleraine, Casterton, Muntham and Paschendale with assistance from as far away as Dunrobin.

CFA District 5 Commander Rainer Kiessling said the shed was well involved on arrival.

“Crews were committed there for over two and a half days,” he said.

“The shed was also next to a pine plantation so with the warm days over the weekend and with a spike day forecast on Wednesday, it was important for crews to make sure the fire was out.

“Because of the quantity of bales, we had to let that shed basically burn out.”

Meanwhile, Commander Kiessling said District 5 had also sent multiple strike teams daily to the Mt Cole and Buangor area near Beaufort since fires started there last week, which has so far burnt around 20,000 hectares and destroyed six homes.

“Concurrently we were providing multiple strike teams to that fire,” he said.

“We sent another strike team over the weekend, another one on Monday, and yesterday.

“Volunteers from all over the place have gone.”

He said District 5 staff and volunteers were also working on preparedness for an extreme fire danger day forecast for today in the South West and catastrophic for Wimmera; a Total Fire Ban has been called across both districts.

Through the National Resource Sharing Centre, yesterday NSW sent five Strike Teams made up of 110 firefighters on a five-day deployment to Ballarat and Halls Gap.

Commander Kiessling again encouraged the community to keep vigilant over the coming days especially those who live in or adjacent to bushland areas to ensure they have a fire plan.

Be familiar with a fire plan and know the trigger to leave.

Keep an eye on the Fire Danger Rating on the VicEmergency app.

More information on fire safety is available at bit.ly/3SV9LQJ

“I also encourage farmers to keep an eye on their hay especially with the wet conditions we’ve had leading up to summer,” Commander Kiessling said.

Spontaneous ignition is the leading cause of haystack fires in Victoria, and just one damp bale is enough to ignite a haystack.

See more information on managing heat around haysheds and haystacks at bit.ly/3OSBj83