ALL control centres will be manned by firefighters in District 24 at the weekend in anticipation of catastrophic weather conditions.
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A dangerous combination of wind gusts, thunder storms and temperatures up to 40 degrees on Sunday have prompted a CFA boss to compare conditions to those on Black Saturday.
District 24 rostered duty officer Mark Owens said it will be the biggest fire danger day they have seen in years.
“It's very unstable weather on Sunday afternoon, we will get northerly winds most of the day then a south westerly wind change.
“We are concerned about all of Sunday, if we a fire starts in morning then get the wind change you could get a front up to 15 kilometres wide.
“Our main aim, if a fire does start, is to get onto it quickly, put all our resources onto it so it’s under control by the time the wind change comes through.
“The winds are up, it’s dry and the conditions similar to what we saw on Black Saturday.
“Sunday will be the biggest fire danger day we've had for some time.
“It's going to be a nasty day and there will most definitely be total fire bans for the whole weekend.”
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts temperatures will reach a maximum of 41 degrees on Saturday with a low of 21.
Sunday is expected to reach 40 degrees with a possible storms and winds up to 45km/h.
Mr Owens said he believes winds could reach 75km/h – much stronger than the Bureau’s forecast.
“We did modelling on gusts for Sunday afternoon and it’s well off the scale - that's just on wind gusts,” he said.
“The advice we would give is for people not to do any work which could cause a spark this weekend.
“I encourage everyone to access the Can I Can’t I brochure on the CFA website.
“If we come to your house and you haven’t complied with it, we’ll call the police.”
Meanwhile Victoria Police are closely monitoring a list of known arsonists at risk of lighting bushfires.
Police have assessed people on file and paid them a visit to speak to them as part of Operation Firesetter.
The Australian Red Cross also issued a heat warning and is urging people to be sun smart.
The service's state manager of emergency services, Angela Sutherland, said people should drink water, stay indoors, take cool showers and make sure they have sufficient air circulation inside.
“Extreme hot weather can cause serious health problems,” she said.
“Most people don't know that more Australians have died as a result of heatwaves than because of floods, bushfires or cyclones.”
Visit www.cfa.vic.gov.au for the latest fire updates.
