A swift and rapidly growing bushfire burning for almost a month is threatening two Gippsland hamlets after jumping containment lines this afternoon.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
Residents have been told to enact their survival plans as the fire bears down on Cann River and Lower Tonghi.
An emergency warning has been posted on CFA and DSE websites of a "fast-moving bushfire" about 7 kilometres from Lower Tonghi and 14 kilometres from Cann River. The fire is expected to hit the townships between 5.30pm and 7.30pm.
The bushfire has grown rapidly from 5 hectares to about 30 hectares, the CFA says, and is "out of control" and heading rapidly north-east. Five aircraft and 19 crews, including eight tankers were fighting the blaze.
The new blaze is an outbreak from a larger fire that started at Cann River about a month ago.
A CFA spokeswoman said the original fire had been burning in dense, inaccessible forest.
‘‘A lot of the time, the safest option for everyone is to let it burn itself out,’’ she said.
Fire crews had been monitoring the blaze when it jumped containment lines this afternoon.
Eight CFA strike teams and six aircraft had been dispatched to the fire, the spokeswoman said. DSE crews were assisting.
The fire is in the vicinity of campsites but the spokeswoman said there had so far been no forced evacuations.
Cann River is a small town on the Princes Highway, almost 450 kilometres east of Melbourne. The highway has been closed between Orbost and Cann River.
"This is only about 5ha at the moment but with the weather conditions we’ve got, it’s fast moving, it’s the sort of country that burns very, very quickly and with the (wind) change heading towards it, that can be unpredictable fire behaviour that we have to deal with."
Mr Ord said people should avoid the Cann River area and those already in the district "should be getting ready for a fire to potentially come their way".
"Hopefully in the next few hours we can get some kind of containment lines around it," he said.
"It will be difficult. We know there’s a pre-frontal weather system going through and then following that’s a cold front and that’s when the winds get really strong and the fire becomes unpredictable."
State Control Centre spokesman Craig Brownlie said people in the Cann River and Lower Tonghi areas should enact their fire plans, and tourists should avoid the area.
"Leave now only if the path is clear and you don’t have a bushfire survival plan," he said.
"Tourists in the area are asked to keep clear of these townships as well. The fire is expected to impact the Princes Highway about 5 o’clock this evening."
