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We've made it to mid December, and already we're starting to see some warmer weather
move in. This week will see very hot weather actually. It will be 41 42 41 for 3 days in
a row in Mildura. And will reach into the 40s in the southern parts of the state. So
Melbourne will get close to 40 if not 40. That's interesting because obviously when
you look at fires you look at heat it's about dry conditions so we won't have rain and it's
about wind. This week though the winds will be moderate, we haven't got excessive winds
which means the fire danger ratings will be very high or severe in most parts of the state
on Thursday and Friday. We still should be conscious though about fires. Obviously once
we get hot particularly north of the great divide where the fuels are very very dry we
can still have fires move around. And it won't need a lot of wind to see a fire run through
the landscape.
Also I think it's worthwhile mentioning it's about our health and our fatigue with heat,
once we get into these hot weeks the overnight temperatures stay very hot, and again Thursday
night will see temperatures in the mid-20s that will see a very hot night. If you think
about your own personal fatigue and if you do have the unfortunate experience to have
a fire in the area it puts a lot of challenges on you as an individual and the family so
it's important that you need to look after yourself in a fatigue sense from heat but
also be very conscious of fire this week. We'll see now that this changes dramatically
what Victoria looks like. Once we get this hot weather moved in for a number of days
almost heatwave like conditions we'll see the fuels dry out dramatically quickly now.
Which means we will be moving into now what I suggest is a very serious January and February
period for fire. So I think this is the turning point of the season. We've had rain we've
had warm weather and now we're going to get very hot weather and that will be the turning
point to dry out the fuels across Victoria and see the fire restrictions coming in across
those southern municipalities over the next weeks or so and then we will see January and
February being the most critical part of what will be a significant fire season. Now we
also need to make sure about where we are, school is finishing which means many people
will start moving away from home or start thinking about what they'll do over those
holidays or the Christmas New Year period. So if you are travelling make sure you get
the information around the fire danger ratings for where you're going and what you'll need
to do so don't just rely on being at home think about where you're going and think about
what it means to you and your family about fire danger and about heat.
The other important thing this week is that we've released an app, the new FireReady app,
which is available now to download on phones and replaces the old FireReady app, and the
second thing that is really important is a new website. And the new website is an all
hazards website, so it's got not only fire information but other emergencies and it also
extends to be the 72 hours before the event so the fire danger ratings and other information,
we'll have incident warnings there and also extends into the relief and recovery which
is the 72 hours after the event, if one does occur. So certainly do have a look at that
website, it's emergency.vic.gov.au it's called VicEmergency. It's the new website the website
that will ultimately replace the current CFA, SES, MFB and DEPI websites for their incidents
information and have one place to go for all the emergency information that people in Victoria
will need. So I certainly encourage people to go and have a look at that and also download
the new FireReady app.