Catastrophic combination of conditions

The catastrophic rating, also known as code red, has been declared for northern Victoria, which includes Bendigo, Shepparton, Echuca and surrounding districts. The north-east region of the state - which includes much of the heavily forested Great Dividing Range and the townships of Wangaratta, Wodonga and Bright - has also been declared a code red zone.

The heart of the state, including Seymour and Daylesford, has been given an extreme fire danger rating, as has the Mallee in the state's north-west.

Despite temperatures soaring above 40 degrees across the state, including 44 at Warrnambool, the CFA was confronted by no major blazes. All up, the CFA responded to about 120 incidents, many of them grass or scrub fires, but all were small.

Outlining the danger faced today, Victoria's emergency services' bosses yesterday urged people to take responsibility for their own safety, seek bushfire information updates from multiple sources and to get out of the bush and into the relative safety of townships instead.

Victoria's Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland said emergency services were prepared for the extreme fire conditions and pleaded with the community to also be prepared.

''It's really important that people understand whilst we're doing everything we can to keep them safe, they can't assume that we will be there to rescue them in the event that it all goes wrong. They have to think about their own safety and they have to act,'' he said.

''If you're in those areas [code red or extreme zones] and you're in a high-risk environment, your safest option is to leave. It is simply not to be there. And if you're going to leave, if you're going to relocate, go early.''

Mr Overland said there would be a stronger police presence in the high-risk areas today, and he urged people to report suspicious activity to crimestoppers, the CFA or the local police. ''We obviously have more resources now than ever focused on this whole issue,'' he said.

CFA chief officer Russell Rees expressed concern that some people still had a wait-and-see approach to bushfires. ''Good early decision-making is absolutely essential in this environment. And we are concerned that people still have in their head this [attitude of] 'I can sit around and wait and when it gets bad I will go','' he said.

''Being on the road is the worst place to be during a fire … the worst scenario is people sitting there, waiting for the smoke and flames and then getting on the road and driving,'' he said.

Mr Rees stressed that code red was not a blanket recommendation urging all residents of a district to leave that district.

With north and north-eastern Victoria set to swelter today under code red conditions:

■ All national parks, state parks and state forests in the north and north-east will be closed.

■ Total fire bans have been declared for all of Victoria except for one fire district, the South Western Victoria region.

■ Premier John Brumby said Victoria was better prepared than ever for the fire threat.

■ Hundreds of campers in popular camping grounds in national parks along the Murray River and the Alpine region have been warned of the ''catastrophic'' fire conditions coming today.

■ A country race meeting to be held in Benalla today was transferred to Kilmore because of the extreme weather forecast.

''In every single respect - in terms of facilities, funding, emergency warnings, aerial appliances, communications - we are much, much, much better placed this year than we have been at any time in the past,'' Mr Brumby said.

The DSE's chief fire officer, Ewan Waller, urged people to get out of the bush before the catastrophic fire weather hit.

''The bush is not a safe place on a day like today and what will be coming as well tomorrow. People should be making arrangements now to move out of the bush,'' he said.

''It is about the personal welfare. They can go into the towns, go to the local museum, theatre, lunch and make themselves safe,'' he said.