A LOOSE wheel bearing on a boat trailer caused a large fire that quickly threatened a local winery and two homes at Beverford on Sunday afternoon.
The fast-moving grassfire was reported to fire authorities about 1pm, quickly taking hold of properties on the Murray Valley Highway.
Cars stopped along the highway as police rushed to the scene to turn vehicles away from the emergency.
Two homes and local winery Buller Wines were within the vicinity of the fire, which burned 25 hectares of vegetation.
Beverford and District Fire Brigade captain Geoff Smith said about 100 firefighters fought the blaze, with 28 Country Fire Authority vehicles at the scene.
He said it took volunteer firefighters, from at least 17 different Country Fire Authority and Rural Fire Service crews, about three hours to get the fire under control.
“There was a four-wheel-drive towing a boat trailer and a wheel bearing on the trailer gave way,” Capt Smith said.
“The driver pulled over on the side of the road and that’s what caused the fire.”
Capt Smith said both homes were occupied, with the occupants remaining on their land to defend their properties; they were uninjured.
Capt Smith was on the fire ground until 5am on Monday.
“There were crews there overnight and there’s still a crew there now,” he told The Guardian on Monday morning.
“It was attended all night until at least 6.30am.”
Capt Smith said the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning also attended the scene with Woorinen South Fire Brigade captain Jed O’Brien to assess damage to trees in the area.
“There were a couple of trees damaged that were potentially dangerous (branches falling down because they’d burnt),” Capt Smith said.
He said a fire controller helicopter also assisted in getting the fire under control.
“The helitack was called in, but it was turned back,” he said.
“The highway was closed for a period of time but there were speed restrictions throughout the night.”
