An extreme fire danger warning has been issued for north-western Victoria at the weekend, including the Mallee and Wimmera districts. Country Fire Association chief officer Jason Hefferan says with warm, dry conditions expected, the next 24 hours will be a challenging time for firefighters.
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00:00We're expecting some really concerning fire weather over the next 24 hours.
00:07In fact, that weather will be coming across from South Australia, where we see they have
00:10quite, you know, really bad, extreme, in some instances, catastrophic conditions.
00:15But for Victoria, particularly in the northwest, we're going to see predominantly those extreme
00:19fire dangers, particularly for the Mallee and the Wimmera.
00:22Temperatures around the 30, up towards the 39 degrees, but concerning for firefighters
00:27will be the single-digit relative humidity.
00:30And what that means, it's going to be very warm, it's going to be very dry.
00:33Fires that do start will spread quite rapidly, and we're seeing wind strengths around 30
00:38to 40, up to 50 kilometres an hour in some parts.
00:42That will be around for most of the day this Saturday, and we're not going to see relief
00:45across the state of Victoria until well into Sunday night, when a southwesterly change
00:50will make its way across the state.
00:52Over Saturday night, however, we'll see also risks of dry lightning and lightning and thunderstorm
00:57activity as well.
00:58So it will be a challenging day for firefighters, sufficiently so, that from midnight tonight,
01:03the CFA has declared a total fire ban for the Mallee and Wimmera weather districts for
01:08the 16th of November, as a result of these fire conditions that we'll see.
01:12Southwestern Victoria, western southwestern Victoria, and particularly a lot of the pockets
01:16down along the Great Ocean Road area, is the driest on record.
01:20We've seen real rainfall deficit across much of western and southwestern Victoria, which
01:26has resulted in a lot of dieback in forest vegetation and the like.
01:30So we've been keeping a very close eye on it.
01:33The AFAC spring outlook for spring saw that part of Victoria at above average potential
01:39for fires, and that rainfall deficit has continued across Victoria this month.
01:45So I actually anticipate that summer will see a wider area expanded as part of that
01:49above average bushfire potential.
01:51A concerning situation for particularly the west and the southwestern parts of the state.
01:58But as I said, tomorrow we'll be focusing on the northwest.
02:01Those areas will be hot, dry conditions.
02:04And again, it's very early for much of Victoria to be seeing some of this weather.
02:09So we're asking communities, have that bushfire survival plan.
02:13Make sure that Vic Emergency App is available to you tomorrow and start making those preparations
02:18for the summer as well and truly here.
02:20Yeah.
02:21How has it gone for you, Jason, over the winter, preparing, backburning, training?
02:27CFA and our fire agencies here in Victoria, Fire Rescue Victoria and Forest Fire Management
02:33Victoria, we've been continuing with our program of prescribed burning in readiness for this
02:39summer, as well as our program of training and upskilling our members.
02:43And certainly our CFA volunteer brigades, particularly over the last couple of weeks,
02:48have been making the final checks and balances, the tweaks to their training and their readiness
02:52and certainly the reports I'm getting back from the field, as they've done everything
02:56that they need to do to ensure that they're able to service Victorian communities when
03:01these fire conditions hit.
03:02We know in some communities they're having things like bushfire preparedness workshops.
03:07I mean, how surprised are you or not by the number of people who don't have a plan?
03:15It does surprise me, particularly here in Victoria.
03:18This state is no stranger to fire.
03:20In fact, I'm coming to you from Wye River, which itself was devastated by a fire back
03:25in 2015.
03:27It's essential that whether you live in a bushland area or whether you live in grassland
03:34areas, you're not immune for fires.
03:36And there is a need to make sure that we've got a bushfire survival plan, that you communicate
03:41that plan to your family and loved ones.
03:44And if there's a need to put that plan into action, that you know what the triggers will
03:47be and that you're able to put it into effect.
03:50CFA has been doing a longitudinal study since the Black Saturday fires of 2009.
03:55And one of the things that continues to concern me as chief officer for the CFA is this growing
04:01propensity for community to wait to be told what to do by authorities before they take
04:06action.
04:07And my concern is there that some people could be leaving it far too late to take action.
04:12And that's why I'd rather people to think about what they will be doing this summer
04:16to have that bushfire survival plan, have the Vic emergency app, be alert and aware
04:21to what's going on around you, have more than one source of information and be ready to
04:26take action on the days like tomorrow, where we see those extreme fire dangers in the Mallee
04:30and Wimmera.