Update 9.56pm
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The Little Desert fire has been contained.
Update, 7.46pm
An advice has been issued for Big Desert, Telopea Downs, Waggon Flat, Netherby, Yanac, Murrayville, Cowangie and Corina.
- There are two bushfires in the Big Desert Wilderness Area / Big Desert State Forest that are not yet under control.
- The bushfires are travelling in a north easterly direction towards the Nhill-Murrayville Road.
- Fires in Mallee Heath can create a lot of smoke.
There is currently no threat to communities, but you should continue to stay informed and monitor conditions.
Update, 7.30pm
A bushfire in the Little Desert area, 8km south of Dimboola, has been reported as not yet under control, with two vehicles attending.
Update, 6.48pm
An updated advice message has been issued for Brimpaen, Cherrypool.
- There is a bushfire at Henty Hwy, Cherrypool that is contained. There is still active fire within the containment lines.
- The Henty Highway is closed between the Brimpaen Laharum Road, Brimpaen to the East West Road, Mooralla.
- The Highway will remain closed until 10am Wednesday 1st January 2020.
Update, 4.45pm:
DELWP's Wimmera forest fire district manager expects a large bushfire in the West Wimmera to be under control by 8pm on Tuesday.
Glenn Rudolph said the fire in Yallakar State Park was the largest of several fires started by lightning strikes on Monday night that firefighters had to deal with.
"We have about 60 firefighters including CFA dealing with the fire, and four water bombing aircraft working out of Edenhope airbase," he said.
"The fire has burnt through 240 hectares to the edge of the forest and is impacting some private property. No buildings have been lost.
Mr Rudolph said forest fire crews had also brought three fires in the Grampians, also stated by lightning strikes, under control in the past 24 hours.
"We will continue to patrol all these fires over the next few days," he said.
Update, 3:48pm:
Country Fire Authority say the bushfire at Henty Highway at Cherrypool is now under control.
The road remains closed and VicRoads has advised motorists to use the alternate route of Natimuk-Hamilton Road through Balmoral.
The CFA issued an Advice message to Brimpaen and Cherrypool residents which said the fire was not currently a threat to them but that people should make plans in case the situation changes.
CFA District 17 public information officer Jenny McGennisekn said it was a "great team effort" from a number of CFA volunteers across the district to contain the fire.
"It's burnt around 150 hectares, mainly on grassland," she said. "The fire burned pretty quickly."
Mrs McGennisken said 100 firefighters, 28 CFA trucks and one strike team from the region attended the fire, which was along Henty Highway from Old Adelaide Road travelling south towards Cherrypool.
Mrs McGennisken said firefighting efforts included volunteers from Cavendish, Douglas, Minyip and Lubeck.
"Given the number of call outs all firefighters have had over the past week or so they were right on the ball," she said.
Mrs McGennisken said the Henty Highway would remain closed from the Jallumba Mockinya Road intersection to the East West Road, Mooralla south of Cherrypool until CFA considered the area safe.
"There's been a number of trees impacted by the fire," she said. "Once the trees have been inspected and deemed safe, because we certainly don't want them coming down on the highway, then it will be open."
"(Crews are) working as well as they can to try to get it open, especially with New Years Eve but with the fire impacting both sides of the highway for a period there is a number of hazardous trees."
Mrs McGennisken said crews from the CFA and Forest Fire Management would be working into the night to monitor and patrol the fireground. Smoke would be visible to nearby roads and communities.
"They will continue to patrol it for several days with warm weather expected over the weekend," she said. "We don't want to take any chances with the wind picking up anything.
"They'll just keep an eye on it, at least for the next 24 hours."
Mrs McGennisken said given the high temperatures and dry conditions over the coming days the CFA would remain alert to the state of fires across Victoria.
Update 2.56pm:
Vic Roads has issued an alert the Henty Highway is closed in both directions through Cherrypool, between East West Road and Brimpean-Laharum Road, due to fire activity.
Emergency services have road blocks in place and people needing to travel through the area are advised to use Natimuk-Hamilton Road through Balmoral.
Update 2.09pm:
An out of control bushfire on the Henty Highway has changed direction.
Twenty-five vehicles and a helicopter are tackling the Cherrypool fire, which is now burning in a north-easterly direction towards Glenisla.
The CFA has asked Brimpaen and Glenisla residents to:
- Monitor warnings so you can act quickly if the situation changes.
- Keep the roads clear so emergency services can respond.
A state control centre spokesman said it had burned thorugh 200 hecatres, and that treees on either side of the highway were alight.
Update 1.30pm:
District 16 Country Fire Authority crews are still working to ensure fires started by weather events overnight are safe.
Duty officer Ian Morley said a fire in Mininera begun as a result of a tree falling across a powerline.
"We've got the local brigade and excavator working down there and making that area safe," he said.
"Of the 100 or so strikes that went across the district there were several fires or incidents within the Grampians National Park which are quickly being controlled and are very small.
"There is nothing there of any concern at the moment; there was one small fire in the Langi Logan area this morning, probably as a result of the lightening strikes.
"We've got a grader and some brigade members down there blacking it out."
Update 12.30pm: Eight CFA tankers have been called to a paddock off the Henty Highway at Cherrypool, where a column of smoke has been spotted in a paddock.
A state control centre spokesman said the fire was small in size and that there was no information on whether it was affecting passage on the highway.
The CFA has issued an advice warning over the fire, saying it is burning in a south-westerly direction towards Glenisla. It urges Brimpaen and Cherrypool residents to keep abreast of the situation in case conditions change.
The mercury peaked at 43.5 degrees in Horsham at 2.37pm on Monday, before a cool change saw temperatures plummet by more than 20 degrees and 1.2 milimetres of rain fall on the city in 12 minutes.
In Stawell, gusts of wind reached 70 kilometres an hour.
12pm: CAREER and volunteer firefighters have been working across the West Wimmera area on Tuesday morning.
Forest Fire Management Victoria has put out advice to for Connewirricoo, Edenhope, Harrow, Kadnook and Wombelano residents, as a bushfire in the Yallakar State Forest continues to burn out of control.
A state control centre spokeswoman said four vehicles were fighting the grass and scrub fire, which started during Monday night's severe thunderstorms after a lightning strike.
"There is currently no threat to you, but you should plan for what you will do if the situation change," the alert reads.
Three vehicles have also brought a 0.1 hectare fire 15 kilometres east south east of Goroke under control, and are working to control a small grass and scrub fire at Minimay.
Country Fire Authority District 17 commander Alfred Mason said the district had sent personnel to Gippsland in Victoria's east, where eight bushfires are burning at an emergency level.
"They are there on a seven-day deployment and will be involved in management and the planning process (for fighting the fires)," he said.
"Another team of Grampians and District 17 members will leave on Monday January 6.."
The fire danger rating in the Wimmera today is High.
Regional duty officer Gavin Kelly said in the past 24 hours, Wimmera State Emergency Service volunteers have received 30 call outs.
"They were predominantly tree down incidents and traffic hazards," he said.
"A roof came off a shed in Stawell on a residents' property."
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