According to RFS Federation Zone captain Greyd’n Davis, at about 7.20pm the fire was caused by clashing powerlines when high winds reached up to 74km/h.
He said the fire posed such a threat to the area that up to 14 RFS tankers were called with 50 firefighters from across the Southern Riverina including Finley, Mt Gwynne, Tocumwal, Savernake, Barooga and Berrigan.
He added the Victorian CFA from Cobram and Yarroweyah were also called.
‘‘First units on the scene put an urgent warning out due to the ferocity and unpredictable fire behaviour with horrible weather conditions being experienced at that time,’’ Capt Davis said.
‘‘It was quickly established that properties and lives were going to be at immediate threat so additional resources were requested and the CFA Cobram responded with three appliances to assist.
‘‘Lalaty Hall was under direct threat and through great work by the RFS contingent with the co-operation of local land owners, we were able to interrupt the spread of the fire to steer it away from the houses and local hall.
‘‘The winds were coming in a northerly direction and we were fortunate not to have southerly winds, otherwise it would have been incredibly tough to contain.’’
Capt Davis said it took around three hours for crews to contain the fire.
‘‘We were fortunate to have cooler weather at that time of the day and a shower came through about 10.30pm to soften things up.’’
Other than a tree limb reigniting at 9am on Thursday, Capt Davis said the fire had been extinguished.
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