Firefighters are now into their third day as they battle a 14,000-hectare blaze in Victoria’s west, while emergency warnings remain in place for some areas.
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00:00 An emergency warning does remain in place for Bayingindine, Shute, Elmhurst and Mount
00:08 Lonark.
00:09 So that's where the worst of the emergency is still playing out.
00:14 It is now safe to return to places such as Avoca and Beaufort, but there are watch and
00:20 acts where it's not safe to return in many areas.
00:23 Emergency services have seen quite a few people returning to their homes and are urging them
00:27 to check the Vic Emergency App to make sure that where they're going is safe to return.
00:32 Obviously even if the fires aren't near townships there are still other dangers such as trees
00:38 that could fall over roads and become big hazards.
00:41 I'm at the Mariborough Relief Centre where there are a number of people who have come
00:45 from those areas, have been staying in the centre overnight.
00:48 About a dozen mattresses are still set up for people who will stay another night and
00:52 there are caravans that have been coming and going from outside the centre.
00:57 I spoke to two sisters who drove around all night in their car with a small toddler and
01:02 three dogs because every time they stopped the car their little toddler woke up and cried.
01:07 So the best thing for them to do was just to keep driving around.
01:11 You know that it's another 1,000 hectares have burnt overnight according to forest fire
01:17 management so that takes the total amount of land burnt to 14,000 hectares but most
01:23 of that is state forest.
01:24 There have been a number of sheds, livestock has been lost and we know forest fire management
01:30 have confirmed three houses have been lost but that number unfortunately is likely to
01:35 rise when those emergency services can get into those areas and really do a big assessment.
01:40 They think the figure could rise to 10 homes.
01:43 The emergency services said overnight that there were strong winds that really limited
01:48 what they could do to stop the fire spreading but they have been forming those containment
01:53 lines to the south of where the bushfire is and to the north to make sure that on Wednesday
01:59 when we are expecting hot gusty conditions to return that those fires really can just
02:05 stay in the area that they are right now instead of spreading further.
02:09 There's been high humidity overnight and it's likely that temperatures are going to stay
02:13 quite low for the coming days to give those firefighters a bit of an edge over the fire
02:18 movement.
02:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]