FORTY people were last night evacuated from their Musselroe Bay homes as a 92-hectare bushfire threatened their properties.
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Six residents last night chose to stay and fight the blaze, which had travelled more than 700 metres towards the town between 10pm and 11pm.
The fire was 2.5 kilometres south of the town and was expected to reach shacks by about 2 this morning.
Six fire brigades were deployed to the area, although Launceston Tasmania Fire Service station officer Dale Lapham said last night he was unsure whether the fire would be contained before the morning.
``At the moment it's going through heavy growth vegetation and into a sparser area . . . it's purely going to be dependent on actual weather conditions tonight,'' Mr Lapham said.
Fire crews had initially contained the blaze to 90 hectares yesterday afternoon and were stood down. Mr Lapham said it was likely that weather conditions caused the fire to break its line.