Statewide total fire ban declared as Boxing Day scorcher looms

A statewide total fire ban has been declared for Boxing Day as Victoria braces for a scorching day that will bring extreme fire conditions.

The ban will begin on Thursday at 12.01am and end at 11.59pm that day, and means no fire can be lit in the open air or allowed to remain alight.

All parts of Victoria, except for East Gippsland, have an extreme fire danger rating for Thursday.

A fire that broke out in the Grampians has engulfed more than 44,000 hectares in the national park and is expected to continue burning for weeks. Authorities fear the blaze could be exacerbated by wind gusts up to 100km/h and temperatures nearing 40 degrees in the Wimmera region on Thursday.

Meanwhile, fire-affected communities near the Grampians have made mercy dashes to prepare their homes and collect personal belongings as a raging bushfire bears down.

Tuesday’s mild conditions allowed residents to return to Halls Gap – a town at the foot of the Grampians National Park – for two hours before the mercury spikes and wind picks up in the coming days.

Country Fire Authority chief officer Jason Heffernan said allowing residents the opportunity to return home would help them have “some semblance of a Christmas” before Thursday’s conditions made any fire “uncontrollable and move exceptionally fast”.

“It is exceptionally hot, but … those winds will bring the real danger,” Heffernan said.

Vic Emergency incident controller Mark Gunning described Thursday’s forecast conditions as a “different beast”, saying strong gusts could lead to the fire moving 20 kilometres in less than 20 minutes.

“If this fire jumps containment lines, you’re not going to have a lot of time … you’re not going to have time to think,” Gunning told a community meeting of residents gathered in Moyston, 30 kilometres south-east of Halls Gap.

He warned locals of the potential harm posed by the fire, with radiant heat, falling tree branches, and thick smoke among the dangers.

“There’s kids here and I’m not trying to scare them, but adults get scared when that sort of stuff happens and that’s natural,” Gunning said. “The only way to guarantee your safety in a high bushfire risk area ... is not be there.”

On Thursday, temperatures in Halls Gap are expected to peak in the low 30s, but nearby Ararat and Stawell could reach the high 30s, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Belinda House said.

“But … we’re going to see a lot more wind,” House said.

“Hot windy conditions just fuel those fires along and then … the concern becomes on days such as Thursday that the winds are going to change in direction.”

The wind is forecast to initially pick up from the north-west before a westerly wind change in the late afternoon.

“What happens then if there are fires burning and you’ve had the wind coming from one direction, suddenly that wind can change in direction and the fire starts burning in a different direction,” House said.

Additional firefighters are coming from interstate to assist Victorian crews on Boxing Day.

“The difficulty that we’re going to have on Boxing Day is that extreme fire danger is across most of the state,” Heffernan said.

“Firefighters will need to be alert right across the state, and so too will communities, because it’s just going to be one of those days.”

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