Victoria faces weeks of potentially dangerous bushfire conditions including another heatwave this week, the state's fire chief says.
Parts of the state's north will be above 40C for a week while elsewhere, including Melbourne, will be in the mid to high 30s for much of the week.
Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said the state was dried out and even on days where the fire danger ratings were listed as very high, rather than severe or extreme, the potential for fires was significant.
"Now we're seeing fires run on days of very high fire danger rating and that means we've got conditions that are dry, hot and don't need wind to push fires along," Mr Lapsley said in a video update on Tuesday.
Mr Lapsley said Victoria was now in the critical part of the fire season and emergency services had to manage issues such as fatigue after the bushfire emergency earlier in January.
"The hot weather's here to stay, the overnight temperatures will stay up and we've got this ongoing I think now for a number of weeks."
Fourteen fires are listed as going including in the Grampians, Gippsland and in the Mallee region.
The Grampians fire, which was sparked by lightning on January 15, has burnt more than 55,100 hectares and destroyed more than 135 structures including 32 homes.
While Melbourne will enjoy a brief reprieve from the heat on Wednesday, it will remain hot in the state's north.
"Even when the change comes through Melbourne and it cools down it's going to stay hot up north for the rest of the week," a State Control Centre spokeswoman said.
"It's really dry up there with high fuel loads."
A total fire ban is in place for all of Victoria on Tuesday.
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