About 80 people attended a community meeting in Tallangatta on Thursday, as CFA commander Brett Myers explained the Upper Murray fire had spread to 220,000 hectares, with a 558-kilometre perimeter.

"The township of Walwa is an island effectively, from a service perspective. Where the current fire is, there's almost a ring around the township," he said.

"They have no power, they're very removed from reality."

He said the CFA was doing its best to help the isolated residents.

The forecast for the rest of the week was not good, with Friday's temperature tipped to reach 42 degrees, with 13 per cent humidity, wind gusts up to 60km/h and possible thunderstorms.

Mr Myers said any decision to stay and protect homes on Friday's severe fire danger day should not be taken lightly, with people and resources on hand to fight off the fire.

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"My recommendation is that if you don't have to be at home, don't be there, particularly on a day like tomorrow," he said.

"I'm expecting the winds will be at their maximum speed overnight, so that's something to be aware of."

Murray Valley Highway from Bullioh to Corryong will be closed from 8pm Thursday until further notice, as the the fire danger was expected to peak at midnight.

Residents at the Tallangatta meeting questioned Mr Myers on why the CFA's water-bombing aircraft had not helped with the fire.

He said they could not fly on Saturday's big day of fire activity because of smoke in the air.

"The reality is, we're not the only fire in Victoria. There is a fleet of aircraft that is available to Victoria, a lot of those are being deployed into Gippsland where the fires have been prioritised," he said.

"If communities are under threat, that will obviously increase our priority."

Firefighters were focusing their efforts on the western side of the fire, because of possible threats to the Mitta and Tallangatta valleys.

Mr Myers said the fire was deeper into the forest to the south and was only 25 kilometres away from joining up with the Gippsland fires.

"Yes we had rain the other day, but the effects of that rain have already gone ... It was probably more a hindrance than a benefit because we had to pull firefighters off the fire line because tracks were just becoming too slippery and inaccessible," he said.

"There's a lot of work there at the moment to try and secure that edge of the fire.

"I'm sure you're all aware that we're dealing with a natural beast here that isn't liking being tamed.

"Even though we're doing all of this work, unfortunately all it takes is a small bit of bark or burning ember to jump over that middle earth line and continue to spread the fire."

Mr Myers also addressed a community meeting in Granya on Thursday afternoon, saying there was a chance the fire could enter Mount Lawson State Park and it if did, the CFA probably would not have the resources to get it under control unless property was under threat and the CFA declared the region a higher priority.

"We're not out of the woods and the hard thing with this is that there's actually no light at the end of the tunnel," he said.

None of the region's fire towers are manned because of a lack of visibility from the smoke.

Tallangatta police Sergeant Mick Savage said 390 rooms had been made available at the Latchford army barracks for those who needed to evacuate.

He urged people to get their information from the official Vic Emergency website or mobile app, not from social media.

Police had heard the rumours of looting, but had not actually received any reports of items being stolen.

"One of the major dramas we're having at the moment is rumour and innuendo and a lot of that is coming from Facebook. Please don't just take what you read on there as gospel," Sergeant Savage said.