A helicopter drops water on a fire at Pateena Road at Longford yesterday. Picture: SCOTT GELSTON
TWO firefighters have been treated for smoke inhalation after battling a blaze that flared again near Hobart's north-eastern suburbs.
The two men were fighting a fire that has burned 420 hectares since it began at Risdon Vale a week ago and which was fanned again by strong winds yesterday afternoon.
They were taken to hospital but have not been seriously injured.
``One of them probably could have stayed there and done some more work, but we always like to err on the side of caution,'' Tasmania Fire Service district officer Mark Dobson said.
The fire had caused residents at Cambridge, 20km east of Hobart, to activate their bushfire plans yesterday afternoon.
Gusts of close to 90km/h made fighting the fire dangerous, but winds had abated by evening and the blaze was downgraded to advice level.
``There's not enough fuel for it to continue that run and the winds are dropping down a little bit so we've been able to knock that level back,'' Mr Dobson said.
In the state's northwest, two properties were damaged and a car destroyed by a fire that has burned 400 hectares and threatened the small community of Pieman Head.
Tasmania Fire Service chief officer Mike Brown said that while the worst of the heat might be behind us, the parched countryside could make for a nervous autumn.
Mr Brown said that strong winds, as well as a continuing lack of rain, meant that yesterday's lower temperatures did little to mitigate the statewide bushfire danger level.
Mr Brown told The Examiner 's live online blog The Grill that Tasmanians should remain vigilant about bushfire danger until the state gets a decent spell of rain.
A transcript of Mr Brown's interview will appear in The Sunday Examiner this weekend.