Eastern Victorian farmers on flood alert with active fires nearby

Bushfire locations include Duffy Road, Briagolong, Knotts Siding Road, Rawson, Loch Sport, Seacombe, and 10 kilometres south-west of Harrietville.

Each of the bushfires remain active and not yet under control.

North-west of Briagolong, VicEmergency issued a major flood warning yesterday for the Macalister River, and moderate warnings for the Goulburn River upstream of Lake Eildon and Acheron River, with up to 120 millimetres of rain in some areas.

The Fringe Merino stud principal John Freeman, Briagalong, said his farm hadn't directly been impacted by the Briagolong fire, but it moved into the back area of his partner Denise's property.

"We were there [on Tuesday] at about 2pm, it looked to be covered up, I spoke to a few farmers and it came out in Stockdale area mainly and got into the pines," he said.

"It's always in the back of your mind once it gets dry in early October, but we've seen it worse than it is at the moment, it was getting extremely dry."

Mr Freeman said his immediate focus was to move stock ahead of heavy rain, and he had received 90 millimetres of rain by 6am on Tuesday.

"There's a small creek that runs through the farm so I have to mob off the edges of that and into a bit of ground otherwise they'll get stuck on one side," he said.

"It's still raining steadily and I'd say the fire will be out within a day or so, the ground will be that wet it won't be able to run."

He said he likely wouldn't flood, but hoped the rain would help boost his crop.

"You never know, if it keeps raining like this all day it's going to build up pretty high, I walked across the creek to get the electric fencing and it was up about two foot at the deepest," he said.

"The crops that I had in for hay were shrivelling up, with the hot winds we've been getting, this might survive them but they'll only cut half the amount of hay they should be if they cut any at all.

"We've been extremely dry in spring, hopefully we get a bit of feed out of this, it's all positive at the moment."

Residents in Rawson, Loch Sport, Seacombe, Cobbannah, Culloden, Fernbank, Glenaladale, Iguana Creek, Lindenow South, Moornapa, Munro, Stockdale, Walpa, Woodglen and surrounding areas should stay informed, with logs and trees still burning.

East Gippsland Livestock Exchange has opened its gates for farmers to leave their livestock for safe respite from the fires and flood watch zones.

Country Fire Authority chief officer Jason Heffernan said since Saturday, there had been 220 bushfires and grassfires across Victoria.

"That frontal system is bringing absolute welcomed rain to our fire grounds," he said.

"It will bring to an end what has been three days of very-challenging fire conditions in the state of Victoria."

Mr Heffernan said there were more than 700 volunteer and career firefighters across the CFA, Forest Fire Management and Fire Rescue Victoria who helped protect East Gippsland communities.

"I believe it is through the actions of the communities, we haven't seen any serious injuries, we haven't seen any significant loss," he said.

"For that, the community of East Gippsland, who are no stranger to fires, is to be absolutely commended."

The bushfire south of the Rawson township spanned 182 hectares, the Briagolong bushfire area was 17,500 hectares and Loch Sport was 2730 hectares.

Mr Heffernan said the Briagolong fire started at 5.13am on Monday and remained under investigation, but they understood many of the fires across Victoria were re-ignitions of private burns.

"There is no maliciousness in this, these are people who are preparing their properties for the summer season," he said.

"Unless you're out there checking it everyday - which I strongly recommend - we did see some of those private burns ignite as a result of the heat and the winds."

He said unattended cam fires also contributed to bushfires in Victoria.

One home, and several outbuildings and sheds, were destroyed by the fires.

Mr Heffernan said there had been significant grass growth and they expected the north-western parts of Victoria to reach its traditional bushfire season.

He said the bushfire zones would take "a couple of weeks" to clear.

"Through my career I'm used to seeing the traditional summer," he said.

"Now we are seeing changes in climate, we are seeing fire seasons start earlier and go a lot longer, but I would point out it is spring, and spring in Victoria can be very erratic."

Mr Heffernan said he believed the state would return to a traditional hot and dry summer, and urged people to prepare their properties.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Christie Johnston said the active weather would continue for the next two days, but there would be settled conditions into the weekend.

VicSES operations chief officer Tim Wiebusch said the floods could cause localised road closures, rural inundation and isolation of small communities between 12 and 24 hours.

"The focus now... is around flash flooding, and if you are confronted by flash flood waters, our best advice is to turn around and find another way," he said.

Farmers should move livestock and machinery to higher ground, and check for closures on local roads and bridges.

No fire danger period restrictions have been announced yet for most of the state, except for the East Gippsland and Wellington shires, which start on October 9.

Residents should monitor emergency warnings on VicEmergency, road closures on the VicRoads website, and prepare evacuation and fire safety plans.

People can stay informed through the VicEmergency app or its hotline on 1800 226 226, Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #vicfires, listen to an emergency broadcaster or community radio, or visit the VicEmergency website on https://www.emergency.vic.gov.au/respond.