Overview
- Volunteer crews reported mayday after two tankers broke down on the fireground, with one CFA truck destroyed, as the agency says responders assisted and four vehicles were affected in total.
- The grassfire burned about 1,600 hectares near Goomalibee, destroying one house and six sheds and inflicting heavy losses on farms including crops, fencing and machinery.
- Officials deployed more than 200 firefighters and roughly 50 tankers after emergency-level warnings as 146 properties came under threat.
- Crews are strengthening control lines and blacking out hotspots, and incident leaders said they hoped to have the blaze under control by Friday afternoon.
- Fire authorities caution that high temperatures, low humidity and forecast lightning will keep risk elevated, and the CFA defended not declaring a total fire ban for the North East on Thursday.