Record numbers of people got active in the outdoors during the past few months, with many travelling from towns such as Benalla to enjoy nature.
On Christmas Day more than 15000 people visited the Twelve Apostles, the highest daily number recorded and in January more than 85000 people visited Wilsons Promontory National Park, the highest monthly number recorded there.
Visitors to other popular sites across Victoria are also on the rise.
This increase in visitation occurred while Parks Victoria worked alongside other agencies as part of Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) to prepare for, fight and recover from fires that burned across Victoria.
FFMVic crews quickly suppressed a small fire in the north of Wilsons Promontory National Park with minimal impacts to visitors, attended a major fire which impacted most of Holey Plains State Park and responded to large fires started by lightning strikes in Walhalla, Timbarra and along the Thomson Jordan Divide Rd.
The Walhalla fire is now contained and the Thomson Divide fire is under control.
During milder conditions there are ongoing measures to suppress these large fires, much of it hard labour, with crews extinguishing hot spots, treating hazardous trees, digging out hot stumps and blacking out hard to reach areas with hand tools and water.
Parks Victoria undertakes a variety of approaches to keep parks open during the busy bushfire season and ensure emergency management teams are equipped and supported.
Staff are drawn in from districts unaffected by fire, to help support with core functions such as visitor services and park maintenance.
More than 200 seasonal project firefighters are recruited and other employees have fire roles either on the ground as firefighters or helping with incident management and logistics.
Additionally, seasonal rangers are employed during the summer to assist with the general day-to-day functions and provide essential support.
This summer between 350 and 400 Parks Victoria staff were deployed on any given day to support fire-suppression efforts.
This is more than 30 per cent of all staff.
Parks Victoria regional director Graeme Baxter thanked park visitors for their patience during fire events.
‘‘We appreciate the community’s ongoing patience and support while we assist in suppressing some major fires,’’ he said.
