CFA District 20 yesterday deployed its second strike team, consisting of 22 members from Echuca, Wyuna, Tongala, Girgarre, Rushworth, Rochester, Kyabram and Stanhope brigades.
They worked a night shift last night and will again tonight.
‘‘The crew will be firefighting and carrying out asset protection of the small local townships which have been under threat,’’ Echuca CFA captain Rob Amos said.
Mr Amos said the first crew of three left Echuca on Sunday and were back Monday night with eight trucks from the district.
‘‘They were tasked with asset protection in a small township called Maryknoll,’’ he said.
The volunteers are among more than 2000 firefighters who have been deployed to fight the blazes which have destroyed multiple properties and forced thousands of people to evacuate.
‘‘This is a great example of what the CFA calls surge capacity,’’ Mr Amos said.
‘‘By the CFA having thousands of volunteers, they are able to quickly call upon this large numbers of resources, both personal and trucks to help fight fires anywhere in Victoria and elsewhere as required.
‘‘Echuca has a long history of proving volunteers when called upon to help with these types of incidents.’’
Among them is CFA District 20 operations manager John Cutting who is investigating in the Bunyip area where fires at Bunyip State Park have covered more than 11,500 hectares.
Seventy-six Forest Fire Management Victoria firefighters from central Victoria, including five from Cohuna, have also been deployed to Gippsland to help bring the fires under control.
FFMVic forest and fire operations regional manager Allyson Lardner said two taskforces left on Saturday and one on Monday to help with the Bunyip fire, while another was deployed on Monday to Yinnar.
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