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MELBOURNE - A cool change moving slowly across Victoria could worsen bushfires raging in the state's east.
Temperatures around in the Australian state hovered near 30 celsius overnight, with the temperature tipped to reach the mid-to-high 30s, with gusty north winds and extremely low humidity ahead of a cool change expected to reach Melbourne this morning and the Gippsland region by mid-afternoon.
A total fire ban has been declared across Victoria today for the second consecutive day.
More than 300 firefighters worked through the night to reinforce containment lines around a fire burning near Tambo Crossing, 30 km north of Bruthen, in East Gippsland to try and stop the fire advancing south and east.
Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and Country Fire Authority (CFA) crews spent yesterday backburning in the south and west edges of private property in Tambo Crossing to extend the control line.
But DSE spokesman Pat Groenhaut said there was no rain with the change and erratic winds.
"There will some be some fairly unpredictable fire behaviour, so we are bracing ourselves for that a bit," he said.
- AAP
