A wild weekend for the Rural Fire Service (RFS) across the Western Plains Region is slowly drawing to an end with the containment of three large grass fires at Byrock, Girilambone and Lightning Ridge. 

The most recent outbreak was the Lightning Ridge fire which, despite being relatively quickly controlled, put a spotlight on the need for greater community awareness and planning.

The major blaze that began on Booramugga Road, Girilambone had been burning since Saturday afternoon 4 March, covering 3,444 hectares, blocking off the Mitchell Highway and temporarily cutting power to a large area around Bourke.

It is now only an advice alert level and firefighters are confident it is completely controlled. 



“The only damages caused by this fire were just some unoccupied, abandoned structures on mining land so luckily it didn’t really affect anyone,” said the Rural Fire Service’s Public Information Officer, Steve Kada. 

Just north of Girilambone, a fire at Glenariff Station, between Coolabah and Byrock, began shortly after and has currently burned a massive 7,530 hectares. Due to the inaccessible location of this fire, aircraft and heavy machinery were called to assist while fire service crews worked to strengthen the containment lines around the 66kilometre perimeter of the fire through back burning operations. 

The difficulty of the terrain in this area resulted in extra resources being called, with 80 firefighters from the Hunter Valley and other coastal areas arriving in Nyngan to relieve local firefighters. 

To accommodate the increased RFS presence, a base camp was established at the Nyngan Showgrounds with two shipping containers holding infrastructure such as kitchens, bathrooms and accommodation facilities. 

Mr Kada has confirmed that the base camp establishment will be demobilised within the next couple of days.

“We’ve had great support from out of area crews as well as aircraft assisting with the fire so we’re at the point now where the Section 44 State of Emergency will be revoked and all of those out of area resources will return back home, so we’re in the process of demobilising that base camp now,” he said. 

A third fire on the Castlereagh Highway at Lightning Ridge that got underway on Friday 10 March is also now under control after burning through 1,719 hectares. 

“A fire investigation will be undertaken today on the fire ground to ascertain the cause but other than that it’s pretty well all over,” said Mr Kada.

This morning (Monday 13 March) in Lightning Ridge, a bush fire information session was held by the RFS outside the local IGA. 

“Basically the crews when they arrived found there weren’t many people who were aware of what they should do in the event of the fire or any of the precautionary measures they could take to prevent a fire,” said Mr Kada. 

“So we thought it would be a good idea to set up a bush fire information point today for any locals to pop past and give them a bit of information about bushfire survival plans and some measures they can take.” 

Mr Kada has asked locals in the Western Plains Region to be prepared for bushfires in the future.

“We’re not quite over summer weather yet,” he said.

“It almost seems like we’re on a three week cycle at the moment where we go through a week of hot weather and then it will chill out for a week or two and then you’ll get the warmer weather and the high winds come back and cause some issues.

”It’s very important to be prepared and know what you will do in the event of a bushfire,” he said.

Mr Kada says the most important point to remember, however, is to report a bush fire if you see one. 

“Don’t assume that someone else has done it because nine times out of ten they haven’t,” he said. 

To stay up-to-date on bushfires in your area, check the NSW Rural Fire Service website for updates. In the event of an emergency, call 000.