General News
29 November, 2025
Never ran so fast" runners encounter with harvest fire
MARATHON runner Carly Isaac sprinted into action Monday afternoon when fire started in the barley crop she was harvesting.
The quick action saw Carly hooking up the water tanker on her father’s property near Borung and calling OOO.
Carly was driving a header, working the paddock when she spotted fire near the second header.
The fire burnt more than 40 hectares before it was brought under control about 5.30pm
“I’d never run so fast,” Carly said after CFA volunteers from more than a dozen brigades mopped up and the Borung-Hurstwood Road re-opened to traffic.
“Never seen a fire during harvest before. Got out of the header, sprinted to the ute and hooked on the water trailer, calling 000 and started trying to stop the fire.
“I was actually a bit puffed afterwards,” said the Loddon champion sportswoman who has returned to work on her father’s farm this year.
Within 15 minutes, the first brigades on the scene were being assisted by the firefighting helicopter based at Boort for the harvest season. The chopper made several drops on the fire head as it raced to the paddock boundary.
CFA brigades were joined by district farmers with their slip-on firefighting units.
Ash Isaac, Carly’s father, said: “We can’t say thank you enough about the massive effort from all our local volunteer firefighters and local farmers ... they responded so quickly.”
Police closed the road in both directions until about 6.15pm when CFA units including Boort, Wedderburn, Korong Vale, Wychitella and the Inglewood forward command vehicle were boosted with the arrival of support crews from Yando and Yarrawalla to assist in mopping up.
The firefighting chopper arrived at Boort a fortnight ago and is on-call across an area stretching from, the Murray River in the north to Inglewood in the south.
Read More: Borung