Firefighters say unburnt fuel on the ground of the Carlisle River could travel tens of kilometres ahead of the main fire.
“At times there are patches of unburnt fuel, areas that aren’t burnt and they can flare up inside the line,” Drayton said.
“The stringy barks are notorious for throwing ash and bark, burning bark outside of the containment lines, and that’s what our biggest concern was today.
“[It’s] the type of vegetation that can be thrown 10, 20, 30, 40 kilometres away depending on the trajectory of the winds.”
Firefighters have done an “extraordinary amount of work” to prepare for today’s heatwave peak, Drayton said.
“We’ve had a significant number of firefighters maintaining fire line presence for 24 hours a day,” he said.
“The aircraft are used in particular to keep the fires at bay.”
