source : the age
An out-of-control bushfire is threatening lives in three central Victorian towns, just a few kilometres away from where a deadly major fire burned in January.
The fire has started on a day on which emergency services are warning people to stay alert to extreme fire danger across the state.
Residents of Kerrisdale, Tallarook and Trawool – about 15 kilometres south of Seymour – are being urged to take shelter immediately from the blaze as it is too late to evacuate.
“You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive,” the 1.55pm warning read. “The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately. It is too late to leave.”
Further south, a watch and act warning is in place for people who live near King Parrot Creek Road from Tehans Road to Strath Creek Road. Residents are being urged to leave now.
State Control Centre spokesperson David Nugent said the fire was burning in a south-westerly direction towards Flynns Road.
The CFA says a wind change is predicted between 6pm and 8pm, which will change the fire’s direction and send it north-east.
“The change will… create additional challenges for us,” said Nugent.
Nugent said it was important for people to monitor the fire’s movement if they were in that area, and to regularly check the VicEmergency app.
The fire is burning around 15 kilometres from the western edge of the Longwood fire.
A 78-year-old man died and hundreds of homes were lost when that fire burned through more than 100,000 hectares of land in January, with firefighters only able to contain it last Friday, five weeks later. Police are still investigating that fire’s cause.
Across the state, temperatures are forecast to reach the mid-30s.
Melbourne is set to hit 37 degrees, as is Mildura, while Seymour, Bendigo and Wangaratta will reach 35, Geelong and Bairnsdale 36 and Ballarat 32.
The heat, combined with dry weather, wind gusts up to 60 km/h, and the risk of thunderstorms in central and western regions, prompted emergency services to warn on Monday that if a fire began, it would be difficult to fight.
“The concerns will very much be for the western parts of the state, in particular, down into western south Gippsland, where we still have a lot of grassland fire load in our landscape,” said Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch in an update on Monday afternoon.
“The whole state is still a tinderbox in terms of the fuel types that are there, and so the concerns, particularly around the metropolitan area, would be in those north-western suburbs, all the way through the grasslands down towards Geelong.”
A total fire ban has been declared for the Central (including Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat), North Central, South-west, West and South Gippsland and Wimmera fire districts, meaning no fire can be lit in the open air or allowed to remain alight on February 17.
Extreme fire danger is forecast in each of these areas, and also in Victoria’s north-east.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Morgan Pumpa said a cool change would not reach Melbourne until the late afternoon or evening, as a south-westerly wind change pushes an ocean breeze across Victoria.
“That’s in the east that we’ll see a little bit of cooler air … for the most part, everyone should just expect winds to be hot, and they’re going to be dry,” Pumpa said.
Thunderstorms were possible in a large swath of Victoria, stretching from Echuca-Moama to Mount Baw Baw to Traralgon, Pumpa said.
Parts of the state have not had meaningful rain for weeks, leaving abundant dry fuel despite major blazes already this season.
Speaking on 3AW radio on Tuesday morning, CFA chief Jason Heffernan said firefighters were hopeful for some rain on Tuesday, but the long-range forecasts were bleak.
“So we could see a dry autumn and the beginning of winter,” he said.
The dangerous weather predicted follows a January during which fires burnt more than 400,000 hectares of Victoria.
One person was killed and nearly 1600 structures were damaged or destroyed after fires began in the first week of the year, and were then aggravated by extreme heat peaking on January 9.
A major bushfire in the Otways flared up later in the same month, prompting further evacuations and causing further property losses.
On Monday, Wiebusch said the Otways fire would hopefully be contained next week.
A gusty south-westerly wind change with some rain is set to move through parts of Victoria on Tuesday afternoon.
With AAP
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Angus Delaney is a reporter at The Age. Email him at angus.delaney@theage.com.au or contact him securely on Signal at angusdelaney.31Connect via email.
