TWO fires in thick bush to the north-west of Gloucester kept National Parks crews busy across the Christmas period.
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A major fire in the Woko National Park which started on December 21 remains under surveillance by crews after burning more than 1200ha.
Barrington Tops National Park area manager Anthony Signor said the organisation had been forced to close the Woko camping site to visitors over Christmas as crews struggled to bring the fire under control.
“The fire got up on the ridge top and threatened the cliff top walk,” he said.
“The park has since reopened to visitors but we’re expecting the fire to stick around for a while yet.”
Mr Signor said a fire at Curracabundi had burned more than 700ha of bush.
Neither fire posed a threat to infrastructure.
“We dodged a bullet with Curracabundi,” he said.
“The weather was in our favour. If our containment lines to the east hadn’t held we would have lost a lot of country.”
The Curracabundi fire was believed to have been started by a lightning strike, but Mr Signor said the Woko fire had started on a neighbouring property and was being investigated by both National Parks and the Rural Fire Service.
“The fire was deliberately started on a neighbouring property on a hot day without notifying us or other neighbours,” he said.
“At the moment both the RFS and the National Parks and Wildlife Service are investigating and the matter is likely to be taken further.”
- MEANWHILE, Rural Fire Service crews are battling a bush fire at Watchimbark.
The fire has burned more than 100ha of land at Bloxoms Rd at Curricabark.