Forest Fire Management Victoria will start its extensive planned burning program across the region next month.

Wimmera district manager Glenn Rudolph said the program would initially focus on reducing bushfire fuel in the Little Desert National Park.

He said the program would then move to the Grampians National Park area from Halls Gap to Dunkeld and around Ararat and Stawell.

He said the program was similar to what they had done the past two to three years.

“It looks at more long-term fuel management,” he said.

“It still really dry out there at the moment, so before we are burning, we will consider the weather and seasonal conditions.

“We work closely with the Bureau of Meteorology to assess weather conditions and will only do burns when conditions are suitable.”

Mr Rudolph said the program would run from April to May.

“People can go onto the fire ready app or the Forest Fire Management website to see where the burns area,” he said.

“We aim to reduce the impact of smoke on communities and continue to invest in new technologies and systems to help us better understand the dispersion of smoke.

“We understand that smoke from planned burns might cause concern for some people, but it’s important that our crews take every opportunity while conditions are right to reduce bushfire risk.”

Country Fire Authority district 16 operations manager Bernie Fradd said the fire danger period was still in force in the region.

“It’s not the end of the fire danger period, so if you haven’t got a permit to burn and you don’t follow conditions stringently, you’re still not allowed to light a fire in the open,” he said.

Northern Grampians Senior Sergeant Brad Bennett said people need to apply through their council for a permit prior to any burning off.

“We’ll be watching that very closely,” he said.

“Apart form the criminal consequences, there is also the risk of property damage and danger to life so we will investigate any burning outside of permits.

“We’ll be working closely with the CFA and any callouts and concerns they have will be investigated.”