A TREE stump in Kerang caught fire on Monday afternoon, with local fire authorities claiming it to be a case of an unattended campfire.
At 1.49pm the Kerang Country Fire Authority was notified by a nearby resident that a tree was smoking and on fire at Weir Road.
Acting quickly, fire fighters managed to have the incident under control in 10 minutes.
Kerang CFA captain Ramon Steel told The Gannawarra Times that the incident was caused by a previous “unextinguished and unattended campfire”.
“It looked as though there was a campfire from the long weekend left unattended and not extinguished properly,” he said.
“The campfire then began to smoulder underground and spread to the stump, causing a fire.”
Mr Steel said the incident was a timely reminder for the community to always extinguish campfires before leaving them unattended.
“Whoever had the campfire definitely didn’t extinguish any flames with water, which is the only way to completely put a fire out, otherwise smouldering like this will continue to happen,” Mr Steel said.
As burn off season begins, Mr Steel urged the community to register any burn offs they plan to have.
“This time of year we get quite a few callouts to fires that are actually burn offs on farms, so to avoid the confusion, it is extremely handy to have the community register when they are burning off,” Mr Steel said.
Community members are reminded to notify the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority of their burn offs by calling 1800 668 511.
