Risk area expands

■ The Flowerdale fire, for which an alert was first issued at 3.56pm Tuesday (Feb. 21), had the potential to quickly expand north into areas including Dairy Creek, Homwood, Kerrisdale and Strath Creek, authorities said.

Warnings for Yea residents to leave were issued as firefighters continued to battle the blaze.

Residents of areas more distant - including Ghin Ghin, Whiteheads Creek and even Avenel - were advised to stay informed about the fire.

Aircraft were used to drop water on the hot spots, and continued their activity into Tuesday night.

An Incident Control Centre was established at Alexandra, but there had been no call for a relief centre.

Elsewhere, 12 vehicles attended to a two-hectare west of Jamieson.