Central Victoria is bracing for a day of hot, dry and gusty weather, putting emergency services on high alert.
That’s especially the case in the Wimmera, North Central and Northern Country forecast districts, where the highest Fire Danger Rating level of Catastrophic has been issued for January 9th.
A statewide Total Fire Ban is also in-place until midnight.
Speaking to Gold, CFA community engagement coordinator for the North-West region, Paul Tangey encouraged residents to leave early in the event of a fire emergency.
“Make sure you know what you’re going to do, [and] communicate with the people around you, whether it be carers, friends, family – whoever might be there with you,” Mr Tangey said.
He also stressed the importance of alternate plans, organising them well ahead of time and not waiting “until the last minute”.
“Make sure that you’ve got things prepared as much as you can… so that when the time comes, if it comes… you are well-advanced and you’re not spending precious time doing things that could have been prepared well ahead of time.”
Other agencies are making changes to their operations in response to the heightened fire risk.
Ambulance Victoria has declared a Red Escalation, meaning paramedics and first responders are being relocated within the districts mentioned above, as well as those identified as high-risk in other parts of the state close to bushland and with limited road access.
The organisation says crews will only be redeployed into these zones in the case of serious or life-threatening illness, and only after a thorough risk assessment to consider the safety of its employees.
Meantime, V/Line has suspended all train services on the Bendigo, Echuca, Swan Hill and Maryborough lines, with a limited number of replacement buses operating between Kyneton and Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station.
They’re both located in the Central forecast district which is subject to an Extreme Fire Danger rating, one level below Catastrophic.
More information about the service changes can be found on V/Line’s website.
