Holiday travellers warned to keep up to date with weather conditions as several states face growing risk of blazes
Residents near bushfires raging in Victoria’s west have been given a two-hour window to return to collect their belongings before Christmas.
A police roadblock at the junction between Grampians Road and Ararat-Halls Gap Road was to be opened between 10am and noon on Christmas Eve.
Proof of residence would be needed to access the areas, which have been engulfed by a 41,000-hectare inferno for the past week.
The Country Fire Authority (CFA) chief officer, Jason Heffernan, said the temporary access was being offered to help provide some festive normality for locals.
“In what I’m calling Operation Yuletide, we are allowing the residents under emergency services escort back into their properties … to get Christmas items … presents and the like,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program on Tuesday.
“[This is] to ensure if the residents of Halls Gap will be relocated for Christmas, at least they will have what they need.”
Heffernan said cooler, milder conditions on Monday night had helped firefighters on the ground in getting “some containment” of the southern Grampians fire.
At 12 noon AEDT, the CFA currently had four watch and act warnings for fires across the state, including Bellfield, Lake Fyans, Barton and Londonberry.
Another bushfire at Bullengarook in Melbourne’s north-west had been contained. A blaze at the Gurdies in western Gippsland had burned through 43,000 hectares, and continued to burn, heading north.
The Grampians national park remained closed as over 600 firefighters and 100 vehicles battled the out-of-control fire.
The CFA had issued three “stay informed” warnings, for Willaura, Lake Lonsdale and Bullengarook.
The CFA were expecting more than 100 personnel to arrive in the coming days, with more extreme conditions forecast for the rest of the week.
Holiday travellers were being warned to keep up to date with fire conditions as several states face growing bushfire risks.
Conditions were set to intensify across the state when temperatures reached into 40C on Boxing Day, fanned by strong and dry winds, according to the Victorian emergency management commissioner, Rick Nugent.
“We have some very difficult weather conditions on Thursday and Friday,” he said. “These conditions will make it far easier for fires to start and to spread and for existing fires to race off in the direction of the wind.”
Much of the state will be facing moderate fire danger on Christmas, rising to extreme fire danger on Thursday.
In New South Wales, several small bush and grass fires continued to burn but remained under control, though a significant part of the state faced high fire dangers on Boxing Day.
South Australian firefighters urged residents to leave in the Onkaparinga Hills in the Mount Lofty Ranges as they battled an out-of-control bushfire on Monday.
They later downgraded warnings, telling residents to monitor conditions.
Regional areas across South Australia are expecting hot conditions on Boxing Day, with Adelaide facing a peak of 36C after a predicted 37C on Christmas Day.
Firefighters in Western Australia on Monday night upgraded a bushfire alert, warning residents it was “too late to leave” as a blaze intensified about 100km north-east of Perth, near the wheatbelt town of Northam.
The fires burning across Victoria have the potential to worsen when extreme hot weather blankets most of the state on Thursday, leading to authorities pleading with travellers to reconsider their trips.
“Our state will have all areas … in extreme fire danger rating, except for East Gippsland on Thursday,” Nugent said.
About 100 fire personnel from NSW, the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and Tasmania were heading to Victoria to help battle the blazes.
