An extreme fire danger rating is expected to be in place across the entire state on Friday, which is the most dangerous condition for bushfires.
“I can confirm now that we are expecting the upper end of extreme across the entire state of Victoria for Friday, we will see, yet again, continuation of those mid-40 degree temperatures and an even greater increasing … very hot and northerly winds,” CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said.
Firefighters at Moyreisk earlier today.
“Fires under these conditions are uncontrollable. If a fire starts and take hold, it will spread very quickly.”
Heffernan said best practice involved people avoiding being in bushland on Friday and putting in place fire safety plans.
Any bushfires raging during Friday’s scorching conditions will be so fierce emergency services won’t be able to control them, said Forest Fire Management Victoria chief fire officer Chris Hardman.
“With the conditions that we have ahead of us, these fires will not be able to be suppressed,” Hardman told reporters.
“This is mother nature saying that I’m going to do something that is beyond people’s capacity to stop those fires from spreading in the landscape.”
Hardman said fires on days like Friday – which has an extreme fire danger rating across Victoria – could lead to major home losses.
“They can be devastating, and they can cause terrible outcomes for communities and these are the sorts of days where we could see lots of assets lost.”
