30 Geelong volunteer firefighters are en-route to Maffra in the state’s east, where they will join their local comrades in the fight to save towns under direct threat from bushfires.
Nine separate blazes are currently burning in the Gippsland region, with residents of Loch Sport, Seacombe and Briagalong North told it is too late to leave and to seek shelter immediately.
Stockdale, Iguana Creek and Glenadale are also under Emergency Warnings and locals are being advised to evacuate.
V/Line has cancelled services in the region and will not be offering replacement buses, due to the fires’ proximity to the Princes Highway.
The Geelong contingent, officially named Strike Team 0711, comprises five tankers and a command vehicle as well as 30 personel drawn from brigades across the region.
Pagers started going off at 4.40am, asking available volunteers to be ready to depart Geelong by 6am.
The convoy is expected to arrive in Maffra at approximately 9.30am and will be immediately deployed to the fire front.
Highton CFA captain Ali Jordan, who is also Deputy Group Officer for Geelong, was among those who received an early-morning call to help assemble the strike team.
“We’re very ready, we’ve done all of our training but … it’s pretty frightening to think that it’s starting this early already,” Ms Jordan told Geelong Broadcasters.
“I hope it’s not a sign of things to come, but it could be.”
In addition to the Emergency Warnings, Watch and Act alerts are in place at Paradise Beach, Golden Beach, Stratford, Bengworden, Hillside and Marysville, north of Healesville.
Fires are also burning at Walhalla, Erica, Suggan Buggan and Rawson in the south east, and at Murray-Sunset in the far north-western corner of the state.
