WHEN Rural Fire Service (RFS) crews first got to the scene of the bushfire near Tingha, they knew they “were in for the long haul”.
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Faced with dense, woody and largely inaccessible bush-land, the Hilton Road fire kept volunteer crews busy right through the Easter long weekend.
Aircraft and bulldozers were called-in to help build containment lines on the western side of the blaze.
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Incident controller Scott Keelan said fire authorities were first notified about 3.30pm on Good Friday and crews had been hard at it ever since.
He said the fire had been officially contained on Monday, only before burning through 1200 hectares of bush and breaking through earlier containment lines.
“[Sunday] was a big day,” Mr Keelan said.
“We had 36 firefighters working into the night back-burning.
“We had trucks driving around putting out trees, rolling over logs – all the dirty work.”
Volunteers from Armidale, Guyra, Inverell and Glen Innes were on the ground helping with containment efforts.
Mr Keelan said crews would continue to patrol and maintain the 17km perimeter of the fire-zone and there was no longer a threat to surrounding properties.
It wasn’t clear how the fire started and Mr Keelan said investigators would probe the area in coming days, once the fire was completely extinguished.
The fire raged-on through the weekend as the statewide bushfire danger period drew to a close on Saturday.
While landholders no longer need permits for fires, Mr Keelan said there was still a need to be diligent, given how dry it has been.
“The message is the same all year round,” he said.
“Don’t be complacent, even though you don’t require permits, be responsible lighting or maintaining fires.
“Whether you need a permit or not; whether it’s the danger period or not, be responsible around fires.
“Fires and the environment don’t care if you have a permit or not.”
Mr Keelan said it had been a busy summer for Northern Tablelands crews with “four or five big fires” in the region.
He said hazard reduction burns had been planned in the area, with outer-lying communities, including Tingha, Gilgai and Bundurra, listed as a higher priority due to isolation.