The community of Swifts Creek is once again playing host to fire crews battling to contain bushfires burning east of Ensay.

Weary firefighters are averaging 14-hour days to stay on top of the fires and finding a place to sleep and fuelled up on food is paramount.

The Albion Hotel in Swifts Creek has become the hub of food activity for the hungry fire crews.

Proprietors, Tennille and Shannon Mee, have been working virtually around the clock to keep the crews fed with breakfast and dinners.

Since November 21, the hotel has been catering for the firefighters and while Mr Mee admits he hasn’t had much sleep, he says copious amounts of coffee have kept him alert and focused.

“We prepared 211 dinners on Monday, which were required to go out at 4.30pm. In the last three weeks, I think we’ve done about 2200 meals,” Mr Mee said.

“At this rate, I think we’ll be going until the fires are out.”

The Albion Hotel is still open to regular customers, although Mr Mee said he has had to amend the hours to enable him to manage the workload.

The Mees have had the hotel on the market for some time. Their plan is to relocate to Cairns to be closer to family but at the moment they’re not going anywhere.

“We’ve been here 11 years and seen lots of fire seasons. The family offered to come down here for Christmas, but with the fires we’ve suggested they don’t,” Mr Mee said.

Taskforce leader for the Yarra Ranges District team of Forest Fire Management Victoria, which is currently staying in Swifts Creek to help fight the fires, David de Podolinksy, said his team was more than happy with the catering arrangements.

He said the crews of 20, which rotated weekly, were conducting back-burning operations and constructing control and fallback lines.

“It’s hard work and it’s mentally draining. I think the longest day we put in was abut 16 hours,” Mr de Podolinsky said.

“We’re also doing a bit of asset protection. We were working up at Holstons on Monday night.”

Mr de Podolinksy said it was very likely “we’ll be sending taskforces here until it rains”.

Mr Mee conceded he was preparing to be still catering for the fire crews at Christmas.

Over at the Swifts Creek Bakery, staff were busy providing lunch for the crews.

“We started with 60 lunches but it just keeps growing,” Karen Ennis said.

“We’re now preparing 120 lunches.”

Mrs Ennis said the township was taking the fires in their stride and preparing for the long haul.

“Nothing is going to put it out apart from God,” she said.

Another local resident, Joan, was watering her garden in McMillan Street on Tuesday morning when the Advertiser caught up with her.

While Joan reported she didn’t “feel particularly threatened” by the nearby fires, she admitted to feeling “a bit uncomfortable with the smoke”.

“I do feel protected by the department (DELWP) given they’re across the road, but it’s the threat, the heat and the possibility of strong winds which makes the situation a bit dangerous,” Joan said.

“We’ve been through it so many times before, it builds up a nervous tension.”

The owner of the Swifts Creek General Store, Richard Darby, has been in the town for 33 years and confesses to seeing “a lot of fires”.

“We’ve had a lot worse than this, that’s for sure,” Mr Darby said.

He said most residents were taking the fires in their stride and had placed their trust in the fire crews.

“They’re doing the best they can,” he said.

Mr Darby said the bushfires were likely to keep the tourists away but said the fire crews had replaced them by booking out accommodation in the town.

“We’ve got three miners cottages and they’re all booked out with crews,” he said.

Colleen Porter from the Creekers Café said tourists would definitely be deterred from coming to the town while there are fires in the area.

IMAGE: Zoey Godfrey, David Lefel, Brydie Stagg and Kirsten Phelan, from the Yarra Ranges District, are among a plethora of Forest Fire Management crews undertaking back-burning operations and constructing containment lines for the Ensay bushfire. They’re pictured enjoying breakfast at the Albion Hotel in Swifts Creek before heading out to work. K1510-2551