UPDATE: SPOT fires are jumping ahead of two major bushfires in the High Country and Gippsland this afternoon.

State Control Centre spokesman Graeme Baxter told Weekly Times Now at 3.15pm more machinery was being moved into the Licola area after the Aberfeldy fire in Gippsland crossed the Macalister River.

This afternoon a Watch and Act message for the Aberfeldy Donnelly blaze which is described as out of control and about 75,000ha in size.

Mr Baxter said the fire was spotting about 5km ahead of the main front.

The fire, which is travelling in an easterly direction, is forecast to impact Glenfalloch and Wollangarra in coming hours.

He also said there was a large plume of smoke and the possibility that ash could drift large distances.

"Ash may drift in a south easterly distance from the fire and that can make people feel uncertain," Mr Baxter said.

Across the region temperatures are in the low 30s with wind speeds of about 20km/h which was not as harsh as initially forecast.

In the High Country fire crews are battling spot fires on the ground and from the air.

The Harrietville fire is about 10,000ha in size.

A Watch and Act message this afternoon states the area of the Great Alpine Road, Dargo High Plains Road, including Hotham Heights, Dinner Plain, the Wongungarra River north of Dargo is unsafe to enter and people should leave immediately.

The Great Alpine Rd is closed between Harrietville and Dinner Plain while Dargo High Plains Rd is closed between Dargo and Great Alpine Rd.

Community meetings will be held this afternoon from 4pm at the Blue Duck Inn, Anglers Rest and tomorrow at noon at the Swifts Creek Fire Station.

A total fire ban has been declared in six Victorian districts.

Northern Country, North East, North Central, Central, West and South Gippsland, and East Gippsland.

The Department of Health has warned Harrietville residents to boil their drinking water as firefighting operations have pushed sediment into the river, contaminating the town's supply.