![A Total Fire Ban has been declared for the Central, South West, Wimmera, Mallee, Northern Country and North Central areas of Victoria on Thursday, February 22, 2024. Picture supplied by Vic Emergency A Total Fire Ban has been declared for the Central, South West, Wimmera, Mallee, Northern Country and North Central areas of Victoria on Thursday, February 22, 2024. Picture supplied by Vic Emergency](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ben.fraser/06bc632f-c383-4f62-a9cb-d776160346b1.jpg/r0_0_1176_902_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Another Total Fire Ban has been declared for much of Victoria on Thursday, February 22, including the Wimmera region, as authorities prepare for another day of "extreme" fire conditions.
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The Total Fire Ban has been declared for the Central, South West, North Central, Northern Country, Wimmera and Mallee regions.
The news comes just a just week after the devastating February 13 bushfires in the Grampians National Park.
The declaration means no fires can be lit in the open air between 12.01am and 11.59pm on Thursday, February 22.
"We are looking at the fire dangers being extreme in the Wimmera, South-West and the central district and high in all other districts except East Gippsland which is moderate," Senior meteorologist Christie Johnston said
"Once the cool change comes through Thursday afternoon and evening we will see the fire dangers a little bit more suppressed on Friday ... that's mostly driven by the winds because the temperatures will be significantly cooler on Friday.
"At this stage, the cool change is expected to move into south-western Victoria during the early afternoon and then move slowly across the south and the west ... it's expected through Melbourne somewhere between 6pm and 8pm.
"We could see some storm activity near and ahead of this change. It's not expected to be as widespread or severe as what we saw last Tuesday, but we could see some thunderstorms.
"Any thunderstorms that do develop are not expected to produce a lot of rainfall ... but they could still produce some gusty winds."
More information on Total Fire Bans and the fire danger period can be found at cfa.vic.gov.au.