January 10, 2026 — 5:45pm
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Volunteer firefighters working to save townships from the Longwood bushfire returned to find their own homes in Alexandra destroyed.
After 30 straight hours of constant firefighting, dozens of crews were forced to pull back to Alexandra late yesterday to make a desperate last stand to save the town.
While they were able to protect the centre of the township, Murrundindi Mayor and Alexandra resident Damien Gallagher says numerous houses have been destroyed.
CFA volunteers were forced back to save Alexandra.
“Some streets you drive along and there’s not a house that has been saved,” Gallagher said.
“To the south of Alexandra it’s black all around and, even to the north, the hills are all covered in black. But the township itself has miraculously survived.
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“There are a lot of impacted homes around Alexandra, but the main infrastructure – the hospital, aged care facilities, the business district and key infrastructure – have been able to make it through.”
Like many in the region, Gallagher was on a CFA truck fighting the fires from Thursday, initially at Longwood East trying to prevent the fire from spreading. His crew had to fall back to Ruffy and then Terip Terip.
On Friday, he was with the Ancona crew patrolling between Yarck and Merton trying to stop the fire crossing the Maroondah Highway so more towns would not come under threat, but conditions were just too harsh, and the flames leapt the highway.
“Just the intensity got to those dozens of trucks that were there trying to prevent it coming further south,” he said.
Fire burning out of control on its march towards Alexandra on Friday, where firefighters fought desperately to save the town.Luis Enrique Ascui
“We retreated to Alexandra and just the wave of emotion as we had to retreat away, and then further away. All of a sudden, we’re in our own town and defending our own patch.
“And we struggled.”
At 6pm the crew drove down one street in Alexandra where the driver of the truck found out the worst had happened.
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“His house was gone,” said Gallagher.
“It’s never great news when you roll up to a familiar home and you see that it is not what it was. There are a lot of people like that right across the community who woke up to a new reality.
“One of the group officers in Alexandra, who was formulating the incident response, his property is gone.
“We are starting to hear stories like that. There are other people out there out defending homes who had to sleep on couches last night.”
Gallagher’s own rural property to the south of Alexandra was narrowly spared, though many of his neighbours were not as fortunate.
“Our home is still standing. It burnt right up to the lawn and all around,” he said.
“All the fencing and pasture is gone, but we haven’t had any stock losses.
“We are fortunate. Over the road there is a place that is on the ground and didn’t make it.
“There’s a house 100 metres away and then there’s another one on the other side of the road. Next door up the hill as well.”
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