Firefighters killed by fallen tree

DSE firefighters tackled the fires in the Harrietville region this week. Picture: Simon Dallinger Source: Herald Sun

TWO firefighters have died fighting a gigantic blaze in isolated bushland in northeastern Victoria.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment officers were killed yesterday afternoon by a tree that fell on their vehicle.

Authorities confirmed last night the victims were a man in his 30s from Corryong and a woman in her late teens from Tallandoon.

They were working around the remote Pheasant Creek Track at Selwyn, 170km north-east of Melbourne. Emergency services converged on the area last night, braving the fire, harsh terrain and the risk of of further falling trees.

The Australian Workers Union said the two DSE firefighters were killed in the line of duty.

"Our members have confirmed that two firefighters unfortunately lost their lives," AWU Victorian secretary Cesar Melhem said.

The pair had been part of a major effort fighting the fire that has been burning in the Harrietville area for weeks, intermittently threatening communities.

The fire threat prevented emergency crews from getting to the pair. Officers did not get to the scene until 8.10pm.

A coroner will head to the scene this morning.

Mr Melhem said last night members were in mourning, adding the loss would be shattering for their families.

He said the DSE firefighters were "the SAS of the firefighters. (They) work in the most horrific conditions imaginable, away from the big centres, out in the bush, and with very little recognition of their heroic contribution to the state. They have died heroes, which will be no small comfort to those that grieve them."

They are the third and fourth Victorian firefighters to die this summer.

In December, CFA volunteer Peter Harry collapsed died while battling a house fire in Gisborne.

Last month, 61-year-old DSE firefighter Peter Cramer, from Gippsland, died fighting a fire in Tasmania.

- with Anthony Dowsley and Angus Thompson

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