Extreme heat and bushfire risk across Australia’s south-east on Christmas and Boxing days as Grampians blaze rages

Total fire bans are in place for the Mount Lofty Ranges and west coast region.

Fire services are working to control minor blazes and scrub fires in the NT, NSW and in Sprent, southwest of Tasmania’s Davenport.

In Victoria’s Grampians national park, where a more-than 40-hectare blaze has burned for days, watch-and-act warnings are still in place and it remains unsafe for people to return to Bellfield, Halls Gap and surrounding areas.

Firefighters from multiple states are assisting their Victorian counterparts as they work to secure containment lines before Boxing Day, which is expected to bring the worst conditions since the 2019 black summer.

Residents in parts of Pomonal in the Grampians national park were urged to leave immediately on Wednesday afternoon, amid an out-of-control bushfire. Relief centres had been established at Ararat and Stawell.

“There are two major concerns on Thursday – the fires already burning in the landscape, and any new fires that start as a result of the extreme fire risk,” the Country Fire Authority’s chief officer, Jason Heffernan, said.

A total fire ban has been declared across the state, with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting temperatures above 40C and strong winds of up to 80km/h, with gusts of up to 100km/h in elevated areas.

With some residents evacuating from around the park’s north today, those remaining to defend property have been urged to monitor changing conditions and stay up-to-date with alerts.

“Most at risk are elderly people, young children and those with medical conditions, however heat and heat-related illnesses can affect anybody,” Armstrong said.

Victorians have been urged to prepare for outages with provider AusNet warning power faults could be triggered to prevent bushfires starting on Thursday.

Senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, Dean Narramore, said hot, dry and windy conditions would drive extreme fire dangers through parts of South Australia and Victoria on Wednesday and Thursday.

“[Conditions] are ripe for fires to become uncontrollable and uncontainable, particularly with fires already ongoing around the Grampians and central parts of Victoria,” he said.

“Boxing Day will be even hotter, with temperatures in the high 40s through parts of Queensland extending all the way down into western New South Wales and northern parts of Victoria.”

Victoria faces extreme fire dangers in all but one region, leading to a total fire ban for the state on Boxing Day.

Melbourne was expected to reach the high 30s and low 40s in some suburbs on Christmas Day, rising into the 40s on Thursday before a cold front arrived at around 8pm.

A severe weather warning for damaging wind gusts was in place over western and central parts of Victoria from Thursday morning, with gusts of up to 100km/h expected over the Grampians and large parts of western Victoria, including Mildura and Broken Hill.

Narramore warned the strengths of the winds would be enough to bring down trees and power lines, while also elevating fire dangers and fuelling ongoing fires.

Meanwhile, South Australia is in one of the driest periods on record, the Country Fire Service chief officer, Brett Loughlin, said, warning fires can spread rapidly.

“All we need is heat and wind to combine to create conditions for total fire bans and high-risk fire weather,” Loughlin said.

The state’s premier, Peter Malinauskas, has urged people to enjoy the festive season but to act sensibly and cautiously if they are in bushfire zones.

On Wednesday bushfires were continuing to burn out of control at the Grampians national park in Victoria’s west while another has been contained at Bullengarook in Melbourne’s north-west.

The Grampians bushfires were travelling in a northerly direction, however elevated winds were pushing smoke towards the south.

The Country Fire Authority’s chief officer, Jason Heffernan, warned strong winds could make fighting blazes challenging.

“We did not see those winter rains. We didn’t see those spring rains, which has led to the bush land areas being exceptionally dry,” he said.

Narramore said a cool change would sweep through on Thursday night, focusing fire conditions into northern and eastern parts of New South Wales.