“Never seen in 40 years”: Gellibrand town surrounded by a giant “wall of fire,” residents flee in the night

The bushfire approaches a property at Gellibrand in the early hours of Sunday morning. (Supplied: Glenn Knight)

Firefighters are continuing to battle a bushfire that spread rapidly towards properties in Victoria’s Otways this weekend.

The Carlisle River fire spread to within a kilometre of the town of Gellibrand on Sunday morning after gusty winds and heat on Saturday afternoon.

An Emergency Warning for the town was downgraded to a Watch and Act around 1:50pm on Sunday as conditions eased in the firefighters’ favour, but the blaze was yet to be declared as under control.

Residents who evacuated the fire zone are being told it is not yet safe to return.

Country Fire Authority chief officer Jason Heffernan said the fire nearly doubled in size yesterday, burning through private property.

“The fire conditions yesterday were very severe so I wouldn’t be surprised to hear things about sheds and outbuildings being impacted, but currently there are no reported homes being affected,” he said.

“Spotfires did occur in and around the Gellibrand community and firefighters were engaged in active property protection.”

Victorian Forest Fire Management chief fire officer Chris Hardman said rapid impact assessment teams were trying to move through the area to confirm whether there had been any property losses.

“We’re less likely to see that fire sweep through Gellibrand today, but we can’t be certain and we may have already had some losses,” he said.

More than a dozen other other nearby communities are also under a Watch and Act.

The fire started on January 10 and had been under control until it jumped containment lines on Saturday afternoon.

Colac Otway Shire Mayor Jason Schram said a lot of people had left their homes and were sheltering at an emergency relief centre in Colac, or with family or friends.

“There were certainly houses that were under immediate threat,” he said.

“Those that are in the areas of [the emergency take shelter warning] should certainly heed those warnings. We’re not out of the woods.”

He said the town of Gellibrand included a long main road with a riverside pub, local businesses and houses surrounded by farms and thick bushland.

He said there were a lot of visitors in town for the long weekend.

The fire is burning across the road from Lisa Agnew’s blueberry farm.

“We see the occasional tree go up, but mostly it’s just smoke at the moment,” she told ABC Radio Melbourne just before 11am on Sunday.

She was up all night protecting her property after spending Saturday afternoon building fire breaks with bulldozers.

“A lot of [burning embers] sat on our nets and from what we can tell this morning, we don’t think they’ve put holes in it, and then we were just sort of stamping out the other ones that were landing on the ground.”

She said there was another fire burning behind her property.

She said the temperatures were cooler today and the winds were more favourable.

Christine and Bjorn Holm evacuated to a relief centre in Colac.

They have lived in Gellibrand for more than 40 years and Mr Holm said it was the closest a fire has come to their property.

“We’ve been evacuated a couple of times before but this time it’s looked a little bit more scary,” he said.

Ms Holm said they tried not to panic when they received the VicEmergency app warning to leave and then saw the smoke plumes near town.

“It’s a good job we did leave because there was a fire right there,” she said.

“We just hope we’ve got a house and chooks to go back to, but who knows.”

She expressed concern about the welfare of the Otways koala population, rolling up the sleeve of her cardigan to reveal a tattoo of a koala on her arm.

“That’s the worst of it, all the wildlife,” Mr Holm added.

Rob Murphy was sheltering at the Gellibrand River Hotel with his three dogs.

He said he was staying to help the publican feed firefighters and check the property for burning embers, but would leave if it became too risky.

He moved to the area two years ago.

“Where we lived in the past, I guess it was grass fires, so this is my first time having some experience in a bushfire,” Mr Murphy said.

“I’m a bit of a realist. This is what our future will be like in this environment that we live in today.”

Extreme heat continues in Victoria’s north ahead of possible new temperature records

While much of Victoria sweltered through temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s on Saturday, cooler weather has arrived for southern areas including Melbourne, which will likely see a maximum in the mid-20s today.

But the heat will persist in the northern parts of the state, with temperatures in many areas including Shepparton and Mildura expected to approach mid-40 degrees Celsius, and towns like Bendigo and Echuca predicted to hit the high 30s.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s hazard preparedness and response manager Diana Eadie said parts of the state could be experiencing their longest duration heatwave since 2009.

“Tuesday in particular is the next big day of concern,” she said.

“We’re also forecasting potentially record breaking temperatures, particularly in western parts of the state.”

Ms Eadie said Mildura, Hopetoun and Walpeup were forecast to reach 48C, while Horsham was expecting 47C and Hamilton 46C.

Melbourne was forecast to reach 43C.

“The cool change will impact the south-west of the state late in the afternoon on Tuesday. For Melbourne, that change won’t arrive until closer to 10pm.”

Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch said parts of the state will have experienced seven consecutive days of temperatures above 40C.

“We need the Victorian community to take heed of the warnings, look after yourself, look after your family, those that are vulnerable and check in on your neighbours,” he said.

“This is a very serious set of weather conditions.”

The fire threatening Gellibrand and Carlisle River is among six major fires burning across the state, located near Longwood in central Victoria, Walwa in the north-east of the state, and in Mallacoota and the Wonnangatta Valley in the east.

Mr Hardman said Watch and Act Warnings were still in place for communities surrounding the Walwa and Wonnangatta Valley fires, which were still not yet under control.

“[The Walwa] fire has got incredibly high temperatures and an unstable atmosphere so that fire is likely to move further to the south, moving out of that Hume region into Gippsland,” Mr Hardman said.

“That’s not necessarily going to threaten communities in the days ahead, but that fire could significantly increase in size and continue to challenge firefighters for many weeks to come.”

Mr Hardman said Victorians still faced a long bushfire season.

“It’s really important for the community to understand that if you’re in the north of the state, it’s hot and it’s dry and it’s really challenging conditions.

“On the coastal fringes in the southern areas where most people live, it’s feeling much milder but don’t be mistaken or lulled into a sense of security — these fires can continue to grow and challenge us.”

A total fire ban has been issued for the Northern Country, North Central, North East and East Gippsland districts for today.

There is a high fire risk for most of the state, except for the North East district, which has an extreme rating.

Ambulance Victoria (AV) revealed paramedics responded to 11 cases of children locked in cars as the heat rose across the state yesterday.

AV director of emergency management Dale Armstrong said eight were in the Melbourne area and the others were in Barwon South West, Hume and Loddon Mallee.

He described the incidents as “particularly confronting” for crews given the community warnings about the heatwave.

“One call-out to a child locked in a car on a day like yesterday is too many,” he said.

“Eleven is just not on.

“We know that accidents can happen and often this is not intentional, but it is still potentially fatal.

“We encourage parents and carers to make sure keys are kept with them and to be alert while loading family members in and out of vehicles.”

Air quality plummets across southern Victoria

The Otways fire has caused the air quality across southern parts of the state to deteriorate.

Thick smoke hangs across the Otways, Geelong, Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island.

People in those areas are warned the smoke may irritate their eyes and aggravate existing heart and lung conditions, causing coughing and wheezing.

They are being urged to limit time spent outdoors in the smoky conditions.

People over the age of 65, children under 14 and pregnant women are also being told to reduce heavy physical activity.

Ms Eadie said the air over Melbourne and Geelong would begin to clear during the afternoon, but southerly winds would push the smoke over populated areas north of the Otways, particularly Ballarat.

For more information on the latest fire warnings for Victoria, visit the VicEmergency website.