AN urgent fire warning for Mansfield residents has been downgraded and the Yea-Murrindindi fire is no longer threatening properties.
But residents in the Yea and Murrindindi areas have been warned to stay alert, and high temperatures and dry northerly winds are expected in Victoria on Wednesday next week, leaving fire crews with a race against time to stop 21 fires still out of control from causing further carnage.
CFA operations manager David Harrisson said authorities were already planning for the coming weeks.
"We are a long way from over. This will run for many weeks ahead and we are turning our focus to the next five to seven days with the warmer weather," he said.
"We need everyone to stay vigilant and in particular prevent any more fires."
Last night, an urgent warning for residents in the Mansfield area threatened by a grass fire was downgraded.
But officials remained fearful that the Bunyip Ridge fire, which has destroyed 25,000ha of bush, could still join with a series of fires nearby that have blackened 8,600ha near Healesville and Toolangi, and then with the Yea-Murrindindi blaze burning just 18km from the Bunyip blaze.
If the fires joined, firefighters would face a monster 270,000ha blaze with a perimeter stretching hundreds of kilometres from Broadford, Taggerty, Flowerdale, Longwarry and Marysville, threatening dozens of towns and Melbourne's reservoirs on a scale never seen in Victoria.
"We're working to put together a backburn across the top of the Bunyip State Park that runs in a line roughly from Gembrook, below Powelltown and around to Neerim Junction," Mr Love said.
"We'll build a control line, a backburn, to secure that northern edge so that it doesn't move into the water catchments and similarly with the fires around Healesville - the Yea-Murrindindi Complex and the Maroondah-Yarra fires in that area.
We are going to construct some control lines so we can prevent the spread of this fire from heading south and joining the Bunyip fire.
"We'll work on that while conditions are in our favour but we have to work hard to get those in place before the weather changes next week"
The Yea-Murrindindi fire, part of the massive Kinglake Complex blaze, remains active in the Black Range, near Alexandra.
Residents of Yarck, Caveat, Cathkin, and along several roads near Yea, are on alert while people in Alexandra, Thornton, Rubicon, Snobs Creek and Eildon have been urged to remain vigilant but are under no immediate threat.
Controlled burns will take place overnight.
The DSE, Country Fire Authority, Tasmanian firefighters and other agencies are battling to protect towns, assets and water catchments from the Maroondah-Yarra Complex and Bunyip Ridge fires.
Healesville, Chum Creek, Badger Creek, Steels Creek, Dixons Creek, Yarra Glen, Toolangi and Castella were on alert.
Fires are burning near the Upper Yarra Reservoir catchment.
Residents of Warburton, Reefton, Wesburn, Millgrove, Yarra Junction, Gladysdale, Powelltown, Launching Place, Don Valley, Hoddles Creek, Woori Yallock and Yellingbo were warned to expect increased smoke from the Bunyip Ridge fires and controlled burns nearby.
Mr Love said conditions had eased in Victoria's northeast, where the Beechworth fire has scorched 29,000ha.
"The Beechworth fire has been reasonably quiet and they (fire crews) are working hard to get a track (a control line) around that, too," he said.
Fires are burning unchecked in inaccessible country at Dargo, in the high country, and in the Wilsons Promontory National park.
But the intensity of the Wilsons Promontory fire, and the Churchill-Jeeralang blaze that has so far killed 21 people, had been dampened by showers that fell in the area late Wednesday.
"There's been about 12mm of rain on the Churchill fire. In some conditions a little bit of rain is more of a problem than not but it's probably helpful because of the condition the fire is in at the moment in the area," Mr Love said.
AAP
