The environmental health inspector nearly shut down the Lions Club kitchen as volunteers were feeding about 300 people who evacuated to Wangaratta Showgrounds during the bushfires.
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Wangaratta mayor Dean Rees spoke at a community meeting on Friday evening, where Inspector-General for Emergency Management Tony Pearce was asking for feedback on what worked and did not work during the response.
Cr Rees said the Lions Club had a "fantastic" kitchen going for the evacuees who were staying in cars and caravans at the site.
"The health inspector then comes in and tries to shut us down ... because the kitchen is not 100 per cent compliant to handle 300 meals," he said.
"These are unusual circumstances, so to come in and upset the population and the good people of the Lions Club .. is not a good thing.
"There needs to be some leniency with this environmental health to say to say 'listen, it's only for five days'."
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People came to Wangaratta from the Alpine areas and other parts of the North East for refuge during the fires.
"But because the tap didn't flow the right way or the hand santiser wasn't on the bench, then we're going to shut the whole operation down," Cr Rees said.
"They are extreme circumstances, people are stressed enough coming in with their animals, then to have environmental health coming and saying 'guys, this ain't right, this isn't going to come up to code'."
The council had to call in management to override the decision and the Lions Club was allowed to continue.
After about 70 people were in Corryong at Thursday's meeting, a smaller group of about 18 met the Inspector-General in Wangaratta.
One resident who evacuated from an area out of town praised the council's response, but said it she found it hard to get official information.
"The internet is appalling and if we're relying on getting reception of any sort to get that information from ABC or our SMS messages, something needs to be done," she said.
"The blackspot program that was supposed to be repaired, fixed, improved on is still not up to scratch and it's going to put people's lives at risk."
The farm owned by Wangaratta councillor Harry Bussell at Carboor may have been the next property burnt when the fire spread to the town in January.
He told Friday's meeting that roadside vegetation was a problem and more water sources were needed, as the tanks in the region were all positioned on top of hills where the fire was already headed.
"It was dry as chips and the one thing we need most of all is water," he said.
