MASS evacuations of people in fire prone areas would cause massive problems for police and emergency services, according to Victoria's Emergency Services Commissioner.

Bruce Esplin, speaking at a Rural Press Club Breakfast today, said California’s policy of evacuating people might not be successful in Victoria.

``I don’t think we could do compulsory evacuations here,’’ Mr Esplin said.

Evacuations are one idea that has been raised in the wake of the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria.

Mr Esplin said California had different infrastructure and legislation to Victoria that made mass evacuations a possibility.

``California is looking at our ``stay and defend’’ policy, thought they might be looking at it a bit more discretely now,’’ Mr Esplin said.

He said forced evacuations would be met with reluctance from some members of the community with one person telling the Bushfire Royal Commission police would ``need a bigger gun’’ to evacuate them.

``Evacuations would mean a massive change in resources and would divert resources away from the fire,’’ Mr Esplin said.

``People need to have a sensible plan.’’

He said evacuations in areas such as the Dandenong Ranges would prove difficult as there was only one road in and one road out.