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Source: Reuters -
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Emergency services are pleading with residents in the Wimmera and Western regions of Victoria to prepare for extreme bushfire danger on Wednesday.
But the message may be falling on deaf ears in some cases.
The fire danger expected in the Wimmera and Western districts will be extreme - the second highest warning rating behind code red. Northerly winds, temperatures above 40 degrees celsius and low humidity is forecast, with a southwesterly wind change late in the day.
The bushfire danger rating will be severe and very high for much of the rest of the state, with Wednesday forecast to be the hottest day in Melbourne since Black Saturday.
The message from the Country Fire Authority (CFA) is if residents in the Wimmera and Western districts plan to leave, they should get away on Tuesday night or early Wednesday.
Some residents say local people don't think it's necessary to leave their properties until a catastrophic, or code red, day is declared.
Others plan to remain in their area but head to the beach.
CFA chief Russell Rees urged people not to be complacent following a period of relatively mild weather.
"Please, we are pleading with the community, do not ignore the fact that it is only extreme," he told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday.
"Only extreme is still a bad fire day."
Union Club Hotel head chef Paul Mackie, who has lived in Colac in the western districts for 40 years, says residents won't consider evacuating until issued with a code red warning.
"The talk is that catastrophic rating is the only time where people feel like they would leave," he said.
"I live in the centre of town ... and quite honestly there is no risk at all, regardless of the rating, in town."
Mackie said he, and most people he knew in the area, did not have a fire plan.
Horsham mayor Bernard Gross said he believed Wimmera residents would stay put on Wednesday.
"In the broad acre cultivation country, areas are flat, grass fires are different to timber fires in hilly country, and no, I believe that people will be safe if they all know the cleared areas, especially on their farming properties, that they can retreat to if there is a problem," he said.
Gross said it was unclear where people would go if there was a mass evacuation from the town.
"I don't think government has even got their heads right around this," he said.
"Granted, in the very heavily timbered country it's a different story. But in the flat, open plain country, I believe that most people are safe in their own surrounding."
Lorne Community Association president Peter Spring said most residents were planning to remain in town on Wednesday but park their car at the beach.
"Being on the beach, not only is there less inconvenience, but there's probably less risk than travelling through the Otways or on the Great Ocean Road at a time when a fire might break out," he said.
Spring said he and his wife's plan for extreme and catastrophic days was to park one car packed with valuables at the foreshore and travel to that car if needed.
He said some residents had heeded authorities' calls to clean up debris but others had ignored the advice.
A total fire ban has been issued for the whole state except the eastern district.
