Out-of-control bushfire near Ballarat is downgraded after mercury cools from 40-degree peak

Firefighters have downgraded an out-of-control bushfire near Ballarat, as cooler conditions offer a reprieve from Melbourne’s hottest day of the year on Monday.

An advice message was issued shortly before 7am on Tuesday warning residents in Victoria’s west to stay informed of a bushfire that is still burning out of control from Melbourne Road, Creswick, in a north-easterly direction towards the town of Springmount.

Smoke billows from a bushfire near Creswick on Monday afternoon.

The stay-informed warning was downgraded from Monday’s major alert that warned residents to leave immediately.

A dramatic cool change hit Melbourne shortly after 7.30pm, after it originated in the state’s south-west.

The temperature at Melbourne’s Olympic Park dropped from 37.2 degrees at 7.30pm to 26.2 degrees at 7.56pm, a fall of 11 degrees in 26 minutes.

The mercury in the city peaked at 39.4 degrees just before 6pm, while Melbourne Airport reached 40.8 degrees and Point Cook hit 41.3 degrees. Geelong reached 42.3 degrees.

In Victoria’s far west, the Bureau of Meteorology’s station in Walpeup – a tiny Mallee town west of Ouyen – recorded the highest maximum in the state, hitting 47.1 degrees at 2.25pm. Mildura and Swan Hill both exceeded 45 degrees.

In Melbourne, a grass fire near the West Gate Bridge on Monday morning briefly caused plumes of black smoke to billow across the major freeway.

However, about 45 firefighters and a water-bombing helicopter brought the blaze at Westgate Park under control shortly before 2pm.

Tens of thousands of Victorian households were hit with power outages amid Monday’s heat.

In Victoria’s east, AusNet reported 2000 customers were without power after 7am. In Melbourne’s north and west, Jemena reported 735 customers had no electricity around the same time.

Firefighters battle a grass fire at Westgate Park.Credit: AAP

Powercor reported 336 customers were without electricity in the state’s west and inner Melbourne. United Energy reported 221 households in Melbourne’s east and south had suffered unplanned disruptions shortly after 7am.

In the Wimmera, temperatures above 40 degrees and northerly wind caused a watch-and-act warning to be issued for a blaze among pine plantations on Casterton-Edenhope Road.

The alert for Chetwynd, Kadnook and Powers Creek was downgraded to an advice message shortly after 2pm.

Another watch-and-act warning was issued late on Monday for a bushfire in the Grampians National Park.

However, the alert for the out-of-control blaze in dense bushland was downgraded to an advice message about 8.30pm.

Another advice alert remained active for a smouldering fire near Glenorchy, near Stawell, on Monday night.

Premier Jacinta Allan said on Monday morning that some schools had closed because of the extreme heat.

State Control Centre spokesperson Luke Heagerty said the heat, combined with strong wind, had prompted bushfire fears on Monday.

“It’s the first day this summer of that sort of level of significant danger across such a large part of the state,” Heagerty said.

Credit: Matt Golding

The summer scorcher comes after an early start to the fire season in Victoria, as blazes burnt parts of the state last month.

“Particularly in the west of the state, the grass has been dry for a couple of months now. That’s unusual to have it as dry as it has been as early as it has been this year,” Heagerty said.

“It’s pretty significant in terms of what it could signal for the rest of the summer.”

Despite Monday’s persistent heat, the sweltering temperatures are not expected to return on Tuesday, which has a milder forecast of showers and a maximum of 24 degrees in Melbourne.

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