The Rural Fire Service (RFS) hosted the community meeting in Bundarra on Friday morning and told landholders the Bonnay fire – which has burnt close to 12,000 hectares – was being patrolled, with the much of the danger passing.

Superintendent Tim Butcher told The Leader there was still some burning and smouldering trees, particularly in the Ironbark Nature Reserve area.

“[The meeting] was partially about giving them updates about what we’re doing and addressing their issues and concerns,” he said.

“The RFS places such high importance on local knowledge and decision making, we rely on it so part of it was about that search for local knowledge and getting the feedback from local and looking forward to what we can do better.”

Superintendent Butcher said it was important “to acknowledge the effort they did to bring this fire under control.

“We had about 40 people and we also had representatives from The Salvation Army and Department of Primary Industries and Local Land Services and they were able to provide some advice on what they can do in recovery efforts,” he said.