Ash Wednesday – 40 years on

The Greendale Rural Fire Brigade has marked the 40th anniversary of the devastating Greendale Fire, which saw two Forestry Commission workers make the ultimate sacrifice.

On Saturday 8 January, 1983, a fire started south of Dales Creek in the forest near Greenhills Road, at around 3 am.

It was a drought year in 1983 – in the 12 months prior, rainfall was less than 70 per cent of the long-term average throughout Victoria.

The fire initially spread slowly, but with the wind increasing and the dry conditions, the fire began sweeping through the bush towards the Greendale township, making it to the edge of the housing estate and continuing east toward Gisborne Road near Bacchus Marsh.

The area hadn’t been burnt for decades, and it’s likely the forests carried heavy fuel loads of more than 25 tonnes per hectare.

By 8 am, Forestry Commission Victoria (FCV) forces working on the fire, or heading towards it, included: 33 firefighters (including 2 in the Daylesford office), 1 Bedford tanker, 5 Slip-On-Units (SOU), 1 First Attack Dozer (FAD) from Trentham, 2 Komatsu 65A dozers, and 1 Komatsu 85A dozer.
The CFA numbered about 20 units, 10 private units plus one dozer and spotter aircraft.

Despite the best efforts of FCV and CFA crews, the tempo of the fire began to escalate between 1 – 1.30 pm that afternoon, with the wind unexpectedly and violently beginning to gust up to 70 km/h. The swirling fire became uncontrolled and headed towards Dales Creek, breaching the CFA control lines along the southern private property boundary and spreading rapidly towards open country and Bacchus Marsh.

FCV workers Des Collins and Alan Lynch were alone with their Komatsu D65A bulldozer east of Dales Creek, attempting to break through to Charcoal Track, while a base camp was set up at the FCV nursery at Trentham after 4 pm.

But no word had been received from Collins and Lynch by 2.30 pm. By 4 pm, FCV workers were growing nervous at the radio silence after repeated efforts to contact them both.

John Nankervis instructed Kevin Noonan and Owen Matheson to take a portable radio and go on foot across Dales Creek and follow the dozer trail to find Alan and Des. Bob Dobinson drove them as far as the drop-off and waited to relay radio messages. John Nankervis anxiously checked every five minutes or so on their progress.

Tragically, about 40 minutes later, Kevin contacted John Nankervis to say he had found the machine, and the two men were dead.

The deaths of both men, Des Collins, aged 37, and Alan Lynch, aged 36, was the first loss of Forests Commission firefighters since 1939.

The fire was eventually declared safe 55 days later, on 4 March 1983.

A plaque to commemorate Des and Alan was later unveiled at the Daylesford FCV office on 5 November 1983 by the Minister Rod Mackenzie.

The Greendale Rural Fire Brigade took the opportunity on 7 January 2023 to honour the outstanding work of the Forestry Commission and CFA volunteers to protect property and life during that fire, and honour the sacrifice made by Des and Alan.

This information was sourced from Victoria’s Forests & Bushfire Heritage – for a more in-depth account on the Greendale Fire in 1983, visit victoriasforestsbushfireheritage.com and search ‘Greendale’.