3/01/2008

News Item

Town stalwart Jamieson crushed while building break

A TOWN stalwart became the first victim of Victoria's bushfire season yesterday when he was crushed by a bulldozer while building fire breaks.

Father-of-three Stephen Jamieson died when the bulldozer he was operating rolled 30m down a steep slope in the Snowy River National Park.

Mr Jamieson, 45, ran a timber mill at Bendoc, East Gippsland, with his brother Ray, and employed several local residents.

"He lived for his family, took them everywhere, and everything that he did was for the kids, basically," Ray Jamieson said.

"It's going to be hard."

WorkSafe officers are investigating the tragedy, which happened about 1am yesterday on Lightning Track, between Orbost and Bendoc.

WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt said it was a tragic start to the new year.

"The man was working with a spotter, building a fire break, and he has gone down a slope. And the dozer has twisted and rolled about 30m down the slope, and the man died in the rollover," he said.

"It was the middle of the night, and one thing we will be looking at is why they were working in the middle of the night."

More than 230ha of state forest and national park has been burned in fires started by lightning on New Year's Day.

The biggest, near Nowa Nowa, northeast of Lakes Entrance, has burned 160ha.

A number of smaller fires joined up yesterday, while about seven were contained.

Roads in the southern part of the Snowy River National Park were closed.

Extra crews and 19 water-bombing aircraft were sent to East Gippsland in a bid to contain the fires before extreme fire weather arrives.

It is forecast to hit 30C across the state today, and the high 30Cs on the weekend.

Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Kevin Love said conditions in East Gippsland were a little better than last year because of recent rainfall.

"We would still like to get the fires under control as quickly as possible, because the fire risk in the rest of the state is still quite high and we need to make sure we have the resources for any outbreaks," he said.

Mr Love said firefighters from the DSE, the Department of Primary Industries, Parks Victoria and VicForests were working in steep country.

"Most of the firefighting is being done by hand, using rakes to make control lines or using bulldozers or planes," he said.

source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23000066-661,00.html