People residing in certain areas of Victoria have been asked to leave immediately or seek shelter as firemen fight several bushfires amid acute heat conditions with forecasters predicting deterioration by the end of this week.
Bushfire warnings are active in the northeast areas of Victoria on Wednesday as efforts to contain a fire near Longwood, along the Hume Freeway Corridor continue.
The warning issued for people in Longwood East, Avenel, Longwood, Ruffy, Tarcombe and Upton Hill advised those who hadn’t yet evacuated the area to go inside and take shelter immediately, as it was not safe enough to evacuate.
Vic Emergency reported that there were road closures around the fire area, including along parts of the Longwood Ruffy Road and an emergency relief center established at Seymour Sports & Aquatics Centre.
Further east, an emergency warning occurred again, this time for areas including Bungil and Thologolong in the Upper Murray region concerning a bushfire in Mt. Lawson State Park some 25km west of Walwa.
Although it was reported that this blaze was not yet controlled but moving in a southerly direction, with a community meeting scheduled for Thursday morning at Fire Station.
These came at a time when the state of Victoria was experiencing hotter conditions with parts of the state posting a high temperature of over 40 degrees. According to national broadcasts, Melbourne posted its hottest day in years.
Total fire bans and catastrophic forecast
A total fire ban has been declared for Thursday, January 8 for the Mallee, Northern Country, North Central and North East fire weather districts due to an ongoing heatwave and the risk of fast moving fires.
Northern Victoria was expecting temperatures between 42 to 46 degrees on Thursday, while the threat will be heightened by strong winds and a chance of thunderstorms bringing dry lightning.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s fire danger ratings on Wednesday afternoon showed catastrophic conditions were forecast for Friday January 9 in the Wimmera, North Central and Northern Country districts, while extreme ratings were expected elsewhere across Victoria.
In a statement, the Emergency Management Commissioner, A Catastrophic fire danger rating means fires are unpredictable and uncontrollable. He urged people in areas forecast to face catastrophic conditions to leave early for a lower risk location.
The Chief Officer for the CFA, Jason Heffernan said, “We are experiencing day after day of extreme heat with very little overnight relief. There will be very little room for error if a fire does eventuate.”
Forest Fire Management Victoria’s Chief Fire Officer Chris Hardman, explained “We were working to contain the already existing fires but we were expecting a deterioration of these weather patterns and people should act early when warning systems alert them.”
It was also advised that Victorians do not depend upon any one source for information with conditions likely to change quickly in order to protect their safety in the heat as the days go by due to inevitable changing wind conditions.
