Dry conditions threaten another ‘extreme’ fire season in Victoria despite spring rain relief

Bone-dry conditions have set the stage for a potentially explosive fire season, with a “high-risk” day on Thursday as the temperature is tipped to pass 30C.

Nearly a year on from a horror bushfire in the Grampians, emergency services have urged vigilance in the face of a “challenging” summer and a particularly risky day on Thursday in the state’s west.

Despite spring rain staving off an earlier start to 2025’s fire season, an above-average fire risk remains due in part to extremely dry soil.

Acting deputy chief fire officer Michael Condon, from Forest Fire Management Victoria in the Grampians, said on Wednesday that managing fuel loads at Wombat State Forest and Hepburn Regional Park had so far been a focus for the organisation.

Services are also gearing up for a “high-risk weather day” in the Wimmera on Thursday, forecast to be around 30C at the Grampians and even higher across the state.

“We absolutely have been aware that this was going to be another challenging season in the west of the state,” Mr Condon said.

“We’ve just come out of the impacts of two really extreme fire seasons.”

“This year is the third year of a drying cycle that we’ve seen, so if you scratch below the surface, go down about a metre, the subsoil conditions are very very, dry.

“This spring rain has been amazing, but once we get through that rain and the summer weather really hits, that heat will dry out that surface moisture very quickly and leave behind it some really quite dry conditions across the bush.”

FFMVic Grampians Region Acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer Michael Condon.

Mr Condon urged landholders to prepare their properties and not to let recent rain make them complacent.

“The risk when you have a spring season like the one we’ve seen is that you can become complacent ... a lot of the spring rains do produce some regrowth that can turn itself into some of those finer fuels once they dry out,” he said.

FFMVic has recruited some 600 seasonal officers, prepared its ground and aviation fleets, and worked on fuel management in the lead-up to this year’s hot period, while 130 fires were managed from its new firefighting centre in Mount Rowan last year.

The centre is designed to handle large-scale emergencies involving various agencies, including FFMVic, the CFA, Victoria Police, the SES, and utility companies.

When needed, staff there generally work 12 hour day or night shifts to ensure constant coverage of any disasters.

Recently, the CFA welcomed $22.6m in grants for various projects and equipment, including 14 medium tankers, 12 ultralight tankers and 31 field command vehicles.

A new breathing apparatus support vehicle received by the CFA in Wendouree.

District 15, headquartered in Wendouree, received a $104,000 breathing apparatus support vehicle.

“We’re a support brigade attending more than 50 support call-outs per year, particularly to fires where the need to refill and replace BA cylinders is required,” Brigade captain Fabian McHoul said.

“BA is important for maintaining firefighter safety when working in hazardous and toxic smoke conditions.

“With the urban spread growth in this area, the need for BA has increased.”

The state government funding was spread across 168 projects in total.

Tens of thousands of hectares were burnt and much livestock was lost in a bushfire that started at the Grampians in late December last year.