YACKANDANDAH residents are playing a nervous waiting game as the large Beechworth blaze in Victoria's North East threatens their town.

Local newsagency owner James Lacey says they are at the mercy of the weather and they're just hoping they don't get southerly winds that push the fire towards them.

He said it was a waiting game.

Mr Lacey said some residents had already started packing up and sending children to the safety of relatives' homes without waiting for fire embers.

The schools are closed and many roads are too.

Glenda Elliott who runs the nearby Kangaloola Wildlife Shelter said as soon as she saw an ember she would pack the scores of native animals she cares for onto her ute and take them down a mine shaft - as she did in the 2003 bushfires.

She estimated the fire to be just five kilometres away.

AAP