Victoria braces for bushfire weather

A BLAST of spring heat has put Victoria on bushfire alert for tomorrow, giving the state its first taste of the long fire season ahead.

A BLAST of spring heat has put Victoria on bushfire alert for tomorrow, giving the state its first taste of the long fire season ahead.

Classic bushfire weather will hit drought-affected Victoria on Tuesday, with strong northwesterly winds gusting to 100km/h expected, before a cool and largely dry southwesterly change from early afternoon.

Extreme fire danger is forecast for the North Central region, including Seymour, Maryborough and Castlemaine.

Severe fire conditions will hit the South West, Central and Mallee districts, affecting metropolitan Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Warrnambool, Hamilton, Mildura and Swan Hill.

Very high fire danger is forecast for the North East, East Gippsland, and South and West Gippsland, including Wodonga, Wangaratta, Bairnsdale, Sale and Warragul.

Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley says the forecast is a significant concern so early in the season.

“This wind is actually drying Victoria, and it will significantly set the scene for what is the summer ahead of us, and it’s very early,” he told reporters on Monday.

“It’s October, and the Bureau of Meteorology has reported that these are abnormal conditions for this time of year.”

Mr Lapsley said central and western Victoria had experienced drought-like conditions through winter and into spring, with many farm dams and creeks now dry.

He said 12 firefighting aircraft will be available on Tuesday, with a full fleet of 47 aircraft in service from December.

Mr Lapsley urged people to avoid lighting fires and have bushfire plans ready. He also urged landowners to spend time in October preparing their properties for summer.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning is investigating how its planned burn near Lancefield, which started on Wednesday, broke containment lines on Saturday and burnt about 100 hectares of public and private land and destroyed 1km of farm fences.

FIRE DANGER RATINGS FOR TUESDAY

North Central - Extreme

Central - Severe

South West - Severe

Mallee - Severe

North East - Very High

East Gippsland - Very High

South and West Gippsland - Very High Wimmera - Low to Moderate

Northern Country - Low to Moderate

WEATHER FORECASTS FOR TUESDAY

Melbourne - sunny, 35C

Mildura - hot and mostly sunny, 39C

Swan Hill - hot and mostly sunny - 39C

Horsham - sunny, 37C

Shepparton - sunny, 35C

Geelong - mostly sunny, 35C

Seymour - sunny, 34C

Albury-Wodonga - 34C

Bendigo - sunny, 34C

Bairnsdale - sunny, 34C

Latrobe Valley - morning fog then mostly sunny, 33C

Warrnambool - becoming windy, 32C

Ballarat - sunny, 31C