- A large grassfire has come within 400m of the popular Rainbow Serpent festival
- Attendees were issued with a ‘Watch and Act’ fire message on Friday afternoon
- Fire crews were able to bring the blaze back under control just before 4.30pm
A large grassfire missed a popular music festival by metres on Friday afternoon, with revellers being warned that it was ‘heading directly towards them’.
Crowds at the Rainbow Serpent Festival in Lexton, Victoria were among those issued with a Watch and Act message as the fire came within 400m of music venue.
But according to the Herald Sun, firefighters were able to bring the blaze under control and halt the spread of flames just before 4.30pm.
A large grassfire missed the Rainbow Serpent festival by about 400 metres on Friday evening
Crowds at the festival in Lexton, Victoria were issued with a Watch and Act fire alert message
Concertgoers were warned not to leave the festival area in their cars but to ‘move away’ from the fire as it raged towards the campground.
Residents in Amphitheatre, Chute, Lexton, Mount Lonarch and the 12,000 festival attendees were then issued with a downgraded ‘Advice alert’ warning.
Plenty of smartphone users posted snaps of the smoke and fire to Instagram, with one writing that it was a lightning bolt that ignited the blaze.
Witnesses said that a lightning bolt ignited the inferno near the festival camping ground area