A FORECASTED heatwave over Christmas and Boxing Day has spurned a warning of caution from local CFA, with the authority fearing conditions could present the worst fire risk day the state has seen for a number of years.
Authorities on Tuesday declared a Total Fire Ban (TFB) for the entire state of Victoria for Thursday, 26 December.
They said hot, dry and windy conditions are expected to impact the state ahead of a westerly wind change late on Thursday and into Friday morning.
A Total Fire Ban means no fire can be lit in the open air or allowed to remain alight from 12.01am to 11.59pm on the day of the Total Fire Ban.
CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said the TFB has been declared due to the soaring temperatures in the mid 40s across the state on Boxing Day combined with strong winds of 70-80km/h gusting to 100km/h in elevated areas.
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“There are two major concerns on Thursday – the fires already burning in the landscape, and any new fires that start as a result of the extreme fire risk,” Mr Heffernan said.
“Thursday’s conditions will make it difficult for firefighters to supress a fire should one start.
“The fire at the Grampians National Park hasn’t been contained and is likely to spread further under the forecast conditions on 26 December.
“We want people to continue to enjoy the holiday period but fire safety is a joint responsibility and the community need to remain alert and in tune with current fire danger ratings and warnings via the VicEmergency website or app and your emergency broadcasters.
“Follow the strict conditions associated with the Total Fire Ban declaration and understand the how the increased fire risk will impact you and ensure your fire plan covers all possible contingencies.”
Victorians can find out if it is a Total Fire Ban on the CFA website www.cfa.vic.gov.au, where it is usually published by 5pm the day before a Total Fire Ban.
For more information on what you can and can't do visit the Can I or Can't I page on the CFA website.
As of 3pm on Tuesday, Bureau of Meteorology forecasts a maximum temperature of 34 degrees for Wangaratta on Wednesday and 39 degrees on Thursday, with winds of around 35km/h expected during the day.
CFA District 23 commander Daryl Owen urged the community to remain vigilant around open air fires, particularly keeping on top of barbeque safety.
“Check for gas leaks, tight fittings and don’t leave barbeques unattended,” he said.
“We don’t want any new fire starts, particularly in the North East and over the Christmas and New Year period...barbeque safety is of high importance.
“We’ll be recommending not to use campfires on Thursday or Friday and people should enact their fire plans accordingly and enjoy the festive and holiday period.”
Mr Owen said while the weather was expected to cool off on Friday, strong winds were expected to persist Thursday night into the morning and increase fire risk throughout Friday and into Saturday.
Mr Owen said one CFA District 23 strike team will be deployed to Central Victoria on Boxing Day to assist with ongoing efforts to fires in the state's west and be on standby for a to help fight the blaze at the Grampians as early as this weekend.
“The Western Victorian brigades have been working for quite a number of days on those fires,” he said.
“They’re [CFA District 23 strike team] being positioned to respond anywhere as needed but to provide some local coverage and into the west should it be needed.”
As of 3pm Tuesday, the fire in the Grampians had grown to around 43,500 hectares since it was ignited by a series of lightning strikes last week.
Multiple communities engulfed by the fire have been given evacuation orders, including tourist hub Halls Gap.
CFA District 23 acting assistant chief fire officer Steve Contessa said a number of people from the local area were already stationed at Horsham’s Incident Management Control centre in incident management roles.
Mr Contessa said if conditions over Christmas and Boxing Day were to affect the blaze as expected, the strike team would be deployed around Sunday or Monday following the three-day deployment of a District 24 strike team from Wodonga.
“We understand the workload over there is going to be quite intensive so we’re planning around a three-day rotation from this part of the state to support the west,” he said.
“We’re also sending further incident management team personnel from across the Hume region.”
Mr Contessa said conditions over Boxing Day had the chance to present the worst fire risk day the state has seen for a number of years.
Fires also remained ongoing at The Gurdies in Melbourne’s South East and Bullengarook, near Gisborne.
Mr Owen said the region still remained with adequate capability to fight fire risks in the North East over the weekend despite the deployment of the strike team.
