The bushfire threat in Victoria has eased, with no emergency warnings in place for the first time in almost a week, as the state and federal governments commit an initial $10m to help clean up more than 500 structures destroyed by the fires.
The State Control Centre (SCC) on Tuesday morning confirmed that while there were 12 major bushfires active across Victoria, many of which are expected to burn for days or weeks, there were no emergency warnings in place for the first time since Thursday.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, said it was pleasing news to wake up to and demonstrated the “huge amount of work that the emergency services have done since the fires started late last week”.
Victoria’s emergency management commissioner, Tim Wiebusch, said as of 11am on Tuesday, there were 20 watch and act warnings and 20 advice warnings in place.
“The conditions have eased for today and for perhaps the next couple of days, but we are likely to see those conditions change as we head into next week,” he added, urging communities to remain alert.
Wiebusch said authorities were expecting conditions to turn “more severe” about 23 or 24 January.
“But that situation is being assessed with the Bureau of Meteorology on a daily basis, and will obviously come back to the community once we know when the risk will increase again,” he said.
The SCC estimates that 404,000 hectares of land have been burned in the devastating blazes, with Wiebusch confirming more than 500 structures had been damaged or destroyed – up from 350 on Monday.
This included at least 90 homes and 243 outbuildings destroyed or destroyed in the Longwood blaze, which burned through parts of central Victoria including Euroa, Yarck and surrounds, and also laid waste to power poles, infrastructure, livestock, cropping land and vineyards.
Wiebusch said the Longwood fire had torn through more than 144,000ha within a perimeter of about 400km.
It also claimed the life of Maxwell Hobson, a cattle farmer who operated Aintree Farm Herefords in Terip Terip, near Euroa, with his wife, Julie.
In a 2024 interview, Hobson said he had worked as a mechanical engineer and project manager for 50 years, spending time in in South America and Australia, and had found cattle farming at the age of 68.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said his thoughts were with Hobson’s family and friends. “That community will be grieving today,” he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
“I say to those people in Victoria, but also those in the flood-affected areas of north Queensland, this is not over. Please stay safe, listen to the authorities.”
Ravenswood and Harcourt have lost 51 homes and three businesses, and critical infrastructure has been damaged, including the Bendigo rail line. The Streatham toll has been updated to 15 homes and 39 outbuildings.
Wiebusch said in some “good news”, the number of homes that have been destroyed due to the Grass Flat blaze in Natimuk had been reduced from 30 to 17. He said 18 outbuildings and 40 power poles had also been affected in the township, which is about 25km west of the regional city of Horsham.
He said Yarroweyah, on the New South Wales border, has lost 12 structures, while Mount Mercer, Wonnangatta and Kennedys Creek in the Otways have each lost one.
The Walwa blaze, also on the border, has torn through four structures, 28km of fencing, 584ha of farmland and a pine plantation of about 10,000ha.
Wiebusch said these figures would continue to grow as assessors were able to access more areas.
More than 70 aircraft were available on Tuesday to battle the blazes from above, including the national large air tanker, Black Hawk helicopters and two air cranes.
Authorities have also turned their focus to cleaning up, reopening roads and preparing for the rest of the fire season.
Allan announced that the federal and state governments had allocated $10m to a bushfire clean-up program but stressed it was an “initial allocation” of funds.
“Consistent with previous bushfire experience”, she said, a statewide contractor would be brought in for the clean-up work, with a focus on helping uninsured households who had lost their primary place of residence.
The Victorian government will also allocate $5m to waive fees at local landfills and has set up an emergency recovery hotline: 1800 560 760.
The premier said she understood reopening roads was a priority for farmers trying to save their livestock.
On Monday the Victorian Farmers Federation told the ABC more than 15,000 livestock had died – and the number was expected to grow. Some animals that have survived have been injured so badly they will need to be euthanised. Others are starving as their food supplies have been burned.
Wiebusch said there was significant work being done to open more than 100 roads totalling 155km that remained closed on Tuesday morning, and many were still “unsafe to be travelled”.
Allan said only locals should travel to fire affected communities.
“There is a lot of work to be done in terms of continue to get roads reopened safely, and you’ll be advised when it’s safe to get back into these areas,” she said.
