Lexton fire: One year on from the blaze that nearly took out a town

A damp spring, but a bone dry first three weeks of December, had led to what loomed as one of the most dangerous early summer days ever experienced in the central and western districts.

The grass was at its peak growth, the wind was going to howl, and expectations were that areas around Ballarat were likely to see the hottest December day on record.

But while it was undoubtedly hot, and the temperature record did break - soaring to 43.5 degrees in Ballarat - by 4pm, it looked like potentially the region had dodged a massive fire bullet. That's when the calls started coming in.

"We were on high alert and just hoping nothing was going to happen," Amphitheatre CFA captain Rod Lusby said.

"About 3.30pm-4pm that afternoon we got a pager message to say there was a smoke sighting at the Lexton end of Ararat Road, so I jumped in the ute, got on the radio and took off towards the fire. Our tanker also responded pretty quickly.

"Within 5km, I could see a fair bit of smoke and called back to VicFire and called for 10 tankers or something like that which is what you do on a bad day like that."

It was a call from the Mount Lonarch tower that set off the alert.

"I was in contact with the Mount Lonarch tower and he was saying there was a lot of smoke," Mr Lusby said.

"Once we got a bit closer, we realised we were in a bit of strife. The wind was blowing, it was at the foot of Ben Major forest and heading straight towards it.

"I worked my way to around the area where we thought the fire started, we had District 16 on the radio and phone, trying to get a tanker there, but by the time we got there Mount Lonarch had called in again to say they thought it was in the bush and we realised there was not much we could do."

Mr Lusby said at this stage the fire was about 8-10km from the township.

"It was blowing from the north, so the wind was blowing it diagonal across from Lexton. Initially it wasn't blowing towards the town," he said.

"The wind change was coming later in the day, but that wasn't the first thing on our mind, there was plenty we needed to think about."

The fire would tear through the state park, but the wind change meant it turned straight for the town in the early evening.

For Lexton farmer Rod McErvale, it was a day he will never forget.

"We lost 1000 acres and 300 sheep," he said. "It was a bad day, there's only one other that I can remember being worse and that was when there was a lightning strike direct on the music festival, I thought we were going to lose thousands of people that day.

"This was always going to run, we knew that and it just took off. What was unusual about it was that it was a night fire. At 11pm on the night, this driveway was lit up like a Christmas tree with the amount of fire trucks we had here.

"When we were speaking with the insurance company, they were asking us 'how many aircraft did you have'? We had to tell them, it was a night fire, and they don't fly at night, so it was pretty much all fought from the ground.

"It was unusual in that respect, you wouldn't have expected it to burn as much as it did at night."

While much of Mr McErvale's property and that of his father's was destroyed, other than the loss of livestock, land and a shearing shed, the rest of his family farm he shares with wife Rebecca and their two children, survived.

He anticipates it will be about a five-year recovery to get the farm back up-and-running to the same level it was prior to the fire.

"I lost my farm, but we saved the town, and I'd do it all again," he said.

"So far we've got about a third of our fences done, the priority was fixing the perimeter. We've got about 11km worth of fencing still to do, so that's about $200,000 or thereabouts. We just tried to get as much of the boundary fence done so we could get sheep on it.

"Once we got to March or April, we had to go back to farming. Whatever we hadn't done by then, we just had to leave it. It all takes time."

The fire burnt out just on 3000 hectares across the region, but considering how many fires took hold across much of eastern and north-eastern parts of Victoria, the Lexton blaze barely rated a mention after the initial days.

In all, the fire took about two weeks to be out, but by then attention had well and truly turned to the disaster unfolding in East Gippsland.

"We were the start of it all," Mr McErvale said.

"If we had have been a town that was burned out we would have been remembered in some way, but we weren't so this fire almost got forgotten about. It had potential, but no-one got hurt, no-one got injured, we lost a shearing shed, it's certainly not the easiest country to fight a fire in.

"We were also extremely lucky in that we got BlazeAid in early. We were the first to get going, and it was fortunate that Lexton became sort of their base.

"And the fact it was holiday time, we also had a lot of families come up and help out.

"The township itself got caught out, Rainbow was a huge loss, then COVID happened and the pub lost out as well - they were shut down for about eight months."

Mr McErvale's wife Rebecca said what stood out was the camaraderie between all the crews and volunteers.

"The boys all knew what you were doing, we all looked out for one another," Mrs McErvale said.

However, what had surprised her was the support that locals and those from all across Australia had given the family business, Leroy Mac Designs, which specialises in merino woolen rugs from the sheep on their properties.

"It's been absolutely phenomenal, the response," she said. "We were fortunate in that just before the fire we got our next batch of yarn back just after the fire.

"People wanted to help, the support we got we just couldn't believe. This was people from all around Australia.

"There was a Facebook page created and we got involved in that, it was just amazing how generous people were, they were even offering to come out and help us. These are people we didn't even know."

Mr Lusby said volunteers always dread days like that one. "It's your worst nightmare on what is the worst day of the year," he said.

"You're hoping nothing happens, but then if it does you hope it's not in your own backyard, but you've always got that in the back of your mind that there's always a chance.

"That day unfortunately, it was in a bad position and it took off. It got to the north-west outskirts later in the day, while we had some strike teams across the town, it didn't quite get there."

Driving down from her home in Ararat to Lexton is a sobering experience for Louise Staley.

The Ripon MP only has to look just to the right of her car window to see the scars on the hills left over from the December 19, 2019 fire which tore through nearly 3000 hectares of bush and crops.

"You can see when it came over the hills and all of that is still burned out," she said. "You can also see the power of work that's been done too.

"But there's still a lot of rolled-up fences that haven't been completed. I was quite surprised by that, although I know how much work had been done, it takes a lot longer.

"People tend to think the fire comes and goes, but it's not like that at all; it takes years - years for the landscape and years for the people."

Ms Staley said it took major events like bushfires for country community to show their true colours

"Lexton people have a tendency to just get on with it," she said. "It's really hard that communities have to be tested this awfully for people to notice what a great community we have here. This is a fabulous community and it gets on with doing it.

"People who don't live in small country towns or rural areas fully appreciate the amount of support and response the town gives, whether it's the CFA, the people in the general store, it's everybody."