Moorabool firefighters were among 300 people deployed in South Australia to help bring recent blazes under control.
Bacchus Marsh fire brigade group officer Gerry Lavery said he was extremely proud of his members who fought hard to contain the fire raging through 85,000 hectares of land.
The fire claimed two lives and destroyed 87 homes in the state’s mid-north.
Mr Lavery said five fire trucks and a command car left CFA District 15 about 9am on November 27. Crews flew into South Australia 12 hours later.
Mr Lavery said the crew was astounded by the sheer magnitude of the fire.
“Our role in anything like that is to consolidate the control lines … blacking out from the edge of the fire line, ensuring it doesn’t escape making sure housing is safe,” Mr Lavery said. “There was a lot of hard work.”
The perimeter of the fire was marked at 215 kilometres, Mr Lavery said, making it one of the biggest fires ever fought by members of his crew.
“The hardest thing was probably the distance involved,” he said.
District 15 teams arrived back home late, and tired, on November 30.
