Witnesses have revealed the frustration they endured when trying to alert authorities about a fire near Daylesford on Saturday.
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Passing motorist Stacey Kelly said it took almost 15 minutes to make contact with authorities due to a lack of mobile phone service once she and her husband, who were first on the scene at Eganstown, noticed smoke.
Ms Kelly said she first dialed the 000 number at 3.43pm, however, a Country Fire Authority spokesperson said crews began responding to the blaze at 3.57pm.
The fire, which reduced a single storey timber dwelling to ashes, was located in a gully between two hills, less than 200 metres from the Midland Highway on Morgantis Road.
The CFA took just one hour to take control of the blaze, sending 20 vehicles and a precautionary helicopter to the site, with the fire marked as ‘under control’ at 4.57pm.
The blaze was located in a dangerous thicket of trees on a dirt road and had the potential to spread into bush in the right wind.
The blaze extended well beyond the property boundary and Ms Kelly said the house and surrounding trees were “well alight” by the time she arrived at the site.
“We tried to call 000 from there (the site) and we couldn't get anything,” Ms Kelly said.
“So I drove up to the corner on the highway and started flagging cars down. I flagged down maybe five cars and one car had four people in it, all with phones, but none of them had reception.”
“Between me and my partner, we probably called 10 or 15 times – no one had service.”
FILL OUT THE FORM BELOW TO REGISTER YOUR MOBILE BLACKSPOT
Ms Kelly said authorities were eventually notified of the blaze when a nearby resident called from a landline.
The ordeal gave locals a first-hand look at the dangers of a mobile phone black spot.
Eganstown is funded under the federal government’s Mobile Black Spot Programme, with a tower set for construction less than five kilometres from the site of Saturday’s fire.
A Telstra spokesperson was contacted for comment on the status of the Eganstown station, but did not give details on planning.
“The Mobile Black Spot Programme has a three year roll out and funding time frame involving 429 separate sites across Australia,” the spokesperson said.
“We expect to be able to provide more detail about the schedule in the near future once agreements are finalised with all contributing governments.
The source of the fire is ‘undetermined’, however, Bacchus Marsh police confirmed an arson squad investigated the area on Sunday.
