AUTHORITIES have said two bushfires burning in the Northern Mallee are not yet under control.
The largest of the blazes, which started about 10 kilometres south of the Mallee Highway locality of Boinka had its warning level downgraded overnight.
Following a wind change Friday afternoon people in Boinka, Linga, Patchewollock, Torrita, Underbool, Walpeup, and Baring were placed on a watch and act – prepare to leave direction, with an evacuation centre set up in Ouyen.
Late last night that was lowered to a watch and act – threat is reduced.
“The threat is reduced and it is now safe for you to return to your home or business,” advice from Emergency Victoria.
The Boinka fire began on Thursday evening and was placed under the control of Forest Fire Management Victoria with support from Country Fire Authority units from Murrayville, Cowangie, and Underbool.
The fire initially ran through paddocks along the side of Morrison Road before making its way to public land toward Wyperfeld National Park in a south-easterly direction.
A wind change late Friday evening pushed it north-east along the edge of Wyperfeld National Park, parallel to the Mallee Highway.
As of last available data the fireground was almost 51930 hectares in size.
At the same time authorities issued a stay informed advice for Baring, Hopetoun, Patchewollock, Yaapeet, Yarto, and Dattuck as another fire front in Wyperfeld National Park ignited on Friday morning south-east of the Boinka blaze.
A second major fire in the region at Colignan was also listed as a stay informed for communities at Kulkyne, Colignan, and Hattah.
That fire ignited on Friday morning near the intersection of Brown Road and Regent Drive before running south into Hattah-Kulkyne National Park in the afternoon.
At last measurement is had grown to almost 760 hectares and was listed as “not yet under control”.
“There is currently no threat to you, but you should stay informed and plan for what you will do if the situation changes,” a statement from Emergency Victoria said.
“Monitor weather conditions and warnings, review your fire survival plan, if you do not have a plan, decide what you will do if the situation changes.”
Updates on fires across the state can be found via the Emergency Victoria website and smart phone app as well as via emergency broadcasters ABC Local Radio, commercial and designated community radio stations, and/ or Sky News TV.
Today, Saturday 10 January is a day of total fire ban in all regions of Victoria, including the Mallee with the fire danger rating in the Mallee listed as high.
The rest of Victoria via AAP:
AN unknown number of homes and properties have been destroyed in Victoria’s escalating bushfire crisis, amid a state of disaster declaration, a total fire ban and an ongoing battle to control blazes that have razed more than 150,000 hectares.
Premier Jacinta Allan, who declared a state of disaster in 18 local government areas overnight, said on Saturday morning there were 36 active fires, 19 emergency warning alerts and 16 relief centres open across the state.
“We have seen property losses at a number of locations, and so it’s only when it’s safe on the ground to do so, can the impact assessment teams go in to assess the properties and to give us a firm number,” she told ABC News.
“We’ve also got a lot of people in those relief centres who are also anxiously waiting for information about what’s going on in their neighbourhood.”
Three out-of-control fires remained at emergency level in central Victoria, with 69 warnings and 168 incidents across the state.
Ms Allan said the disaster declaration was in response to danger to life or property in the affected areas and “sends a clear message to those who have been advised to leave: if you can, you must”.
Three people remained missing in the dozens of fires amid a severe heatwave on Friday, in what state authorities described as the worst bushfires since the 2019-2020 Black Summer blazes.
Those missing – two adults and a child – were unaccounted for on Thursday after fire destroyed their house in the hard-hit town of Longwood, about 50km north of Melbourne.
In the nearby town of Ruffy, properties, including a school, were lost to fire and a local firefighter was hospitalised with third-degree burns to his hands.
Early on Saturday, Euroa MP Annabelle Cleeland said there were “townships destroyed overnight”.
“We’ve got firefighters that will carry the toll of battling this forever. I received calls from people surprised that they are alive,” she told ABC News.
“These are firefighters that have been defending our region for nearly 40 years, and this is like nothing they’ve ever seen – the scale and heat and ferocity of this fire is just like nothing you could imagine.”
Three major fires continued to burn in central Victoria, at Longwood, Walwa and Raveswood.
CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said the Longwood fire was “still very much uncontained”, and emergency warnings were in place for the Walwa and Ravenswood fires.
While conditions were cooler on Saturday, Mr Heffernan said strong winds were “enough to cause firefighters quite some concern and make things difficult on the ground”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said “at the worst of times, we see the best of the Australian character”.
“This will be incredibly traumatic and one of the issues that needs to be dealt with in the aftermath of something like this is for mental health support to be provided,” he said.
In Wahring, 150km northeast of Melbourne, Strathbogie Shire deputy mayor Claire Ewart-Kennedy said the situation was “catastrophic, it’s devastating”.
“I’ve got communities that are completely obliterated,” she told ABC News.
“I’ve never seen the type of disruption, displacement of people that I witnessed yesterday, and I’m sure I’ll witness again today.”
“We’ve had issues with drinking water. We’ve had issues with telecommunications and power. We’ve still got people cut off in certain areas.”
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Narramore said a cool change had moved through overnight.
“Thankfully, we didn’t see those really strong winds with that change, but it has led to a direction shift, and … we’re going to see those fires moving towards the east or northeast,” he said.
“So if you were east of any of the fire zones yesterday, you were OK, but today you could be in harm’s way.”
Emergency Management Victoria said the situation remained incredibly dynamic, describing fire conditions as “catastrophic and extreme”, and the gravest in the state since Black Summer in 2019-20.
