THE township of Ouse in Tasmania was threatened last night by fires burning on both sides of the River Derwent.
The blaze was believed to be deliberately lit at Wayatinah, burning 18km south along both sides of the river and covering 10,000ha in just seven hours, The Mercury reports.
A massive effort by fire crews assisted by reconnaissance helicopters and a helicopter water bomber managed to restrain the fire before it reached Ouse.
Late last night it was still slowly spreading towards Ouse and crews were working through the night. Residents were urged to stay on alert.
Midlands District Fire Officer Gerald Crawford said a fortuitous wind change had helped.
"There are still kilometres of fire lines that will need to be worked on on Monday and following days to bring it to safe edges before expected hot weather on Friday," Mr Crawford said.
It was hoped conditions would ease overnight.
Until an aerial assessment today, he could not be certain if there were any property losses.
The Tasmania Fire Service was joined by Forestry Tasmania, Norske Skog, Forest Enterprises Australia and some private crews.
But as temperatures soared past 35C yesterday the TFS website crashed, prompting angry comments from Mercury readers. The website worked intermittently into the evening.
More web users logged on as smoke blanketed Hobart and Mt Wellington and ash rained on some northern suburbs, in particular Collinsvale, coming from as far as North-West Tasmania as well as the Wayatinah fire.
Meanwhile, as darkness fell, beekeeper Leigh Slater and son Dean, of Wayatinah, watched anxiously as fire neared their beehives on the edge of the blaze.
The hives, full of honey, could not be moved. Mr Slater watched as the glow from a fire front grew more intense.
"The smoke doesn't worry them too much, but the fire will," he said.
Elsewhere, the Overland Track was affected by smoke from a fire near Lake Mackintosh that had covered about 2500ha last night.
Walkers were prevented from accessing the track.
Those already on the northern section were considered safe and were being held there until any risk had passed.
There was a total fire ban in the South yesterday, but fires were burning across the state.
Among the more serious was a blaze at Montagu in the far North-West.
Motorists were asked to avoid travelling on the Murchison Highway, near Tullah on the West Coast, because of smoke from the Lake Mackintosh fire.
Parks and Wildlife Service incident controller Geoff Coles said it had significantly increased in size but was not threatening any properties.
Yesterday afternoon Mr Coles said the fire was moving rapidly in a southerly direction and had crossed the lake and was about 4km from the Lake Mackintosh Dam near Tullah.
A plan for Tullah is being organised.
Crews from the TFS brought several spot fires under control.
They included vegetation fires at Heather Rd, Risdon Vale, Glen Huon Rd, Huonville, Channel Highway, Gordon, Wattle Grove Rd and Glenbervie Rd, Dover.
Meanwhile, Mr Crawford praised fire crews that had been called from as far away as Margate to work on the Wayatinah blaze.
"They have done very good work and have made a concentrated effort that will have to continue during the week."
Read more at The Mercury.
