Saturday, 25th January 2003, was declared a day of Total Fire Ban over all of Victoria with the temperatures expected to be in excess of 40 degrees across the state with north-westerly wind gusts of up to 40 kph.
By 11am, the Shoreham brigade was already in action when the Bigfill, with Roderick McKillop and Roger Voges, headed out with four local tankers to form a Strike Team. They were headed to a large fire threatening homes in Governor Road, Braeside. By 12.30pm, that incident was under control and mopping up procedures were in place.
Meanwhile, being the middle of summer and the school holidays, Shoreham beach, at the bottom of Beach Road, was packed with holiday makers and locals alike – all trying to get relief from the heat.
At about 1.30 in the afternoon, a four-wheel drive came down from Red Hill and, finding the car park full, the driver decided they could make their way onto the grass and blackberries at the back of the car park. The hot exhaust set fire to the dry grasses and blackberries. Alerted to the fire, the driver tried to remove the vehicle back out to the roadway – unfortunately catching the burning blackberries in the process and then dragging them further along the grass.
With the strong winds, the fire quickly spread along the hillside and beach reserve behind the toilet block. The Shoreham and neighbouring brigades were called out at 1.34pm. Ten Shoreham Brigade members attended the fire. The Strike Team in Braeside were finishing up when the Shoreham tanker called for more support and the Strike Team immediately set back to Shoreham.
Brian Pickersgill, 1st Lieutenant at the time, took charge at the Beach Road carpark including firefighting activities, arranging water supply and clearing the beach and car park.
The fire was moving quickly upwards and along the cliff face towards Flinders. Further brigades and the Strike Team, were deployed along properties on the Frankston-Flinders Road to contain and extinguish the fire as it came up the cliff and onto the properties.
The fire was finally contained after travelling for over a kilometre towards Flinders near the Drought Tolerant Plant Farm.
The Shoreham Auxiliary rallied and provided drinks and other refreshments during the fire. In addition, a local resident provided pizzas that night for the firefighters still on site.