Northern Territory firefighters have managed to contain a bushfire that has been burning since yesterday afternoon at Lake Bennett — with the watch and act alert now downgraded to advice.
The fire on Marrakai Road, about 85 kilometres south of Darwin, was upgraded to a watch and act alert Sunday afternoon but was downgraded to advice on Monday afternoon.
Bushfires NT chief fire control officer Andrew Turner said fire crews and volunteers had worked through the night to contain the blaze.
"It’s been very difficult to bring under control," he told ABC Radio Darwin.
Mr Turner said dangerous fire conditions were forecast to return on Tuesday.
"The severe fire weather is expected to continue in the Darwin and Adelaide River forecast area into tomorrow," he said.
Mr Turner said a representative from Bushfires NT attended community meeting in Lake Bennett at 9:30am today to update local residents on the unfolding situation.
Mr Turner said there had not been any damage to property yet but that they would be monitoring the situation with conditions expected to worsen.
"That is all based on the containment lines holding," he said.
Mr Turner urged anyone who noticed the fire breaking containment lines to call 000 and inform emergency services immediately.
Across the Northern Territory, Mr Turner said potentially incendiary conditions forecast today had emergency services on high alert.
"As the winds rise we are expecting probably some of the worst fire weather that we've seen this year," he said.
A total fire ban is in place on Monday and Tuesday across the Darwin, Batchelor and Adelaide River emergency response areas, as well as the Litchfield municipality and Coomalie Shire.
Across the weekend, fire crews also attended fires at Lookout Station and Windows Wetlands, both on the Arnhem Highway, and at Darwin River on Boundary Road.
You can follow the latest bushfire advice at the SecureNT Facebook page.
