Fire crews arrived to find the fire spreading, largely due to a strong southerly wind of 30 to 40km/h that drove the fire in a northerly direction towards paddocks.
CFA Campaspe catchment commander Paul Elso said the fire was quick to grow.
“It appeared that the fire started by a mechanical issue with a car that was travelling on the highway,” he said.
“It grew very quickly, and we ended up with, at the peak of it, 22 CFA fire trucks, and then after that, we had another 10 come in with relief crews to cycle our crews out and be able to rest and feed them.”
The spread was contained within two hours of the firefighters’ arrival, with fire services continuing to monitor the fire throughout the night as strong winds continued.
Although there were no injuries and no homes were damaged, the fire came close to one home.
Asset protection was undertaken to help protect the resident's home and private units assisted by supporting nearby neighbours.
Victoria Police officers were on site assisting with traffic control and Campaspe Shire Council also supplied fire services with a bulk water tanker.
A staging area was set up at the Rochester Recreation Reserve, supported by local businesses and volunteers, to help feed the firefighters.
Forest Fire Management Victoria returned to the site on the morning of Wednesday, December 31 with an excavator and six fire trucks to deal with residual trees that were smouldering overnight.
The CFA and FFMV crews were expected to vacate the scene by Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Elso encouraged all residents to be aware of their surroundings by downloading the VicEmergency app.
“We always recommend for people to download the VicEmergency app and have a watch zone set for where you live or where you're travelling,” he said.
“For campers and tourists, if you're in this sort of area, and you're camped in the bush that might be a bit more vulnerable than normal, definitely have that source of information available to you so you know what's going on around you and what action to take if something does occur.”
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