Tasmanian fires being fuelled by damaging winds

Damaging winds have helped fuel fires in southern Tasmania, with five blazes listed as still burning.

Some of the 25 fires that sparked in the southern region since Sunday morning got close to houses and the Tassal fish processing plant in Dover but none are causing concern at the moment, Tasmania Fire Service spokesman John Holloway said.

The Bureau of Meteorology warned damaging winds gusting up to 110km/h were expected in the southern region, which also has a total fire ban in place.

The Tasmania Fire Service has issued only one advice message for the Dover area, saying while there is no immediate threat, fire under these conditions can be difficult to control.

Changing weather conditions along with some rain is helping the fire-fighting effort.

But crews are expected to manage the fires for the next few days so they are completely safe, Holloway said.

Earlier, the road into the Dover fish processing plant was blocked and crews took action to ensure it was not impacted.

“It’s now run away from the buildings that were down there and into bushland,” Holloway said.

“It doesn’t appear to be affecting those areas any more.”

Most of the fires started on Sunday afternoon are either contained or under control and the ones still going are not causing concern, as weather abates.

“Early on in the day, three of those we had some concerns about – but we resourced them fairly heavily,” Holloway said.

“We’ve nearly got all of those fires contained. None of them are causing us any concern or worries that they’re likely to hurt anyone or burn anybody’s property.”