Firefighters continue to battle more than 20 out-of-control bushfires in Victoria as crews arrive from New Zealand, Queensland and NSW to help.
Bushfires across the state have burnt more than 140,000 hectares since mid-January with 22 not yet under control.
The majority of those are in East Gippsland, including four significant fires in the region's far east, a State Control Centre spokeswoman said.
About 120 firefighters from Queensland, NSW and New Zealand are arriving to help with firefighting and operational support.
Taskforces and incident management teams will be sent to current fire locations in East Gippsland around Orbost and Bairnsdale, as well as to areas such as Gisborne, Bendigo, Geelong and Seymour.
Two taskforces from New Zealand, totalling 44 personnel, arrive in Melbourne on Thursday.
Many centres in northern Victoria face a stretch of days above 40C into next week with the entire state facing those temperatures on Sunday.
Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley says the state faces a month of forecast extreme fire danger.
He said the state has already experienced prolonged hot weather and heightened fire danger, which has dried out grasslands and forests, and February is traditionally the peak period for summer fire risk.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said there's no rain forecast to help put any fires out and no significantly cooler period coming up.
"At least for the next week there's no real change and there's no hint at the end of next week for a change in the weather pattern either.
"We've had this heat around Victoria for a number of weeks now and there's sort of no end in sight."
Sections of fire are still active in the Grampians and Mallee but containment lines have been built around those, the spokeswoman said.
Monday will be the next critical day in watching the conditions with a possible wind change, she said.
Share
