Victorians warned they face worst fire danger since Black Summer

Australian Community Media

The Wimmera region in Victoria is facing the worst fire danger since the Black Summer bushfires according to authorities. CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan briefed Victorians on the conditions for Tuesday, February 13, 2024.

Transcript

00:00 In reality for most Victorians today it will be quite a hot and sweltering day.

00:05 In fact at 6.30 this morning we already have seen 27 degrees here in Melbourne and up to

00:10 29 degrees in Mildura.

00:12 But that will rapidly climb and we do expect the low 40s across many parts of the North-West.

00:18 What's concerning for firefighters today will be those hot northerly winds.

00:22 Averaging around that 30 to 40, even up to 50 kilometres an hour will bring challenging

00:27 fire conditions which has led to those catastrophic fire conditions being declared for the Wimmera

00:32 Weather District.

00:33 We haven't seen these catastrophic conditions before.

00:35 In fact it's the first time Victoria has had a catastrophic fire day since the introduction

00:40 of the Australasian Fire Danger Warning System.

00:44 So it will be a challenging day.

00:46 It does mean for communities in those areas if your plan is to leave early you should

00:51 have already done so or be in the process of leaving those particular areas.

00:56 There are a couple of communities of concern today which are directly underneath those

01:00 patches of catastrophic rating conditions and they are for Rainbow, Wariknabeel, Minyip,

01:06 Rapunyip and Matoa.

01:08 Those communities are of particular concern for firefighters today as conditions will

01:12 be very, very nasty in those communities.

01:16 Total fire bans are also in effect across a fair chunk of the state, being Mallee, Wimmera,

01:22 Northern Country, Northern Central, Central and South Western Weather Districts.

01:27 The best thing for communities to do today is have that Vic Emergency app, download it,

01:31 have it on the phone, always have more than one source of information, listen to your

01:35 emergency broadcaster, watch the ABC for emergency updates and take advice from authorities because

01:42 today is a day that you cannot be complacent about fire.

01:45 When are we expecting those hot northerly winds that are worrying firefighters so much

01:49 to peak, Jason?

01:51 Those hot northerly winds have already started and in fact they are making their way across

01:57 the state.

01:58 I do anticipate them to be running in that direction for most of the day, which means

02:03 that those fine fuels, those grass fire fuels, will be baking in those hot temperatures and

02:08 those hot winds.

02:10 We are expecting quite a sharp westerly and southwesterly change to come through the state

02:15 later on in the evening.

02:16 However, that in itself is going to bring some dangers to firefighters and communities.

02:21 We are expecting thunderstorms and storm events, potential for dry lightning and winds up to

02:26 100 kilometres an hour.

02:27 So it's not beyond the realms of possibility today where we will see fire, but also storm

02:32 effects affecting communities as well.

02:34 Okay, I've got to ask, given those winds picking up already, any signs so far of even small

02:39 grass fires, outbursts in the areas we're talking about?

02:44 This is the third day in a row that Victoria has had quite hot conditions and we have seen

02:50 a number of haystack fires and other grass fires that have been occurring over the last

02:54 48, 72 hours.

02:56 Fire authorities are keeping a very close eye on those fires that have been in the landscape.

03:01 Again, our advice to communities, if you had a campfire, if you had some sort of planned

03:06 burn or other activity using fire, go out and check it today.

03:10 Make sure that it is out.

03:13 We are also very mindful that we're off the back of a weekend, so many people would have

03:17 been having campfires.

03:18 In fact, the Southern 80, like a large water skiing sporting event, occurred over the weekend.

03:24 So again, campfires, one of the leading causes of bushfires here in this state.

03:29 We're asking people to make sure that they are fully extinguished, cool to touch, before

03:33 leaving.

03:34 A number of parks closures and public lands have been closed today, in particular places

03:39 like the Grampians National Park, as well as a number of school closures.

03:44 So a lot of people getting ready for what is going to be the worst fire day we've seen

03:49 in this state since the 2019-20 black summer season.

Category

Transcript

Recommended