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Residents in parts of far eastern Victoria have been urged to leave their homes as an out-of-control bushfire burns towards them in hot, gusty conditions.
Key points:
- The eastern flank of the Ensay fire is the main area of concern and fire conditions are at a severe level
- An expected sea breeze could send the fire off in a different direction
- For all the latest warnings visit the Vic Emergency website
A fire east of Ensay, in East Gippsland, is threatening the area of Buchan, Buchan South and Sunny Point.
A watch and act message issued at 3:00pm warned residents to leave immediately as conditions could worsen after an evening cool change.
People at Timbarra Settlement, south-east of Ensay, were also told to leave in a watch and act message issued at 4:00pm.
"Don't wait, leaving now is the safest option — conditions may change and get worse very quickly," the advice message said.
Fire activity has increased with soaring temperatures and there is significant spotting ahead of the blaze.
Weather proving 'tricky' for firefighters
Thousands of hectares have already been burned this fire season in East Gippsland, where six fires of significance have been burning in recent weeks.
The fires are believed to have been ignited by dry lightning.
The eastern flank of the Ensay fire, which has burned about 7,000 hectares, is the main concern.
This afternoon, fire controller Brett Mitchell said the fire could impact on Buchan this evening.
He told the ABC's Statewide Drive the fire behaviour was at a "severe level".
"The weather is quite tricky here at the moment," he said.
"We're getting some north-westerly winds, which is driving the fire in a south-easterly direction towards Buchan."
'Some of the driest conditions on record'
Fire officials are expecting a sea breeze to kick in early in the evening, which could push the fire in a different direction.
"This landscape in East Gippsland is extremely dry, [with] very similar conditions to New South Wales — so some of the driest conditions on record," Mr Mitchell said.
Mr Mitchell said the community of Buchan was well prepared and an emergency warning would be triggered if the fire crossed the Timbarra River, south-east of the main fire.
Another concern for firefighters was that the temperature would remain high overnight, a time when fire behaviour normally eases.
"So we could see these fires move throughout the landscape throughout the night," said Mr Mitchell.
There are more than 500 firefighters on the ground, being helped by more than a dozen aircraft.
The fire controller said it would be difficult to contain the blaze and it could burn for a number of weeks.
"Until we get significant rain on these fires, these fires are in really remote terrain, very steep, very rocky, very hard to contain," he said.
"It may be a matter of weeks before the fire is out".
Topics: bushfire, fires, disasters-and-accidents, emergency-incidents, buchan-3885, ensay-3895, sale-3850, vic
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