VICTORIA has been left scorched after separate blazes swept across the state, destroying properties overnight.
A large grassfire that caused havoc on Melbourne's northern fringes could further threaten the Wollert and Epping areas this morning, the CFA warned.
Authorities expected a wind change between 4am and 6am today to send the fire north.
This grassfire, which is being controlled, is about 2400ha in size.
The CFA urged drivers to watch out for animals on the road.
It comes as firefighters battle to save homes from a large slow-moving bushfire at Mirranatwa in the Victoria Valley in western Victoria.
The bushfire is more than 6000ha in size and is out of control.Firefighters from the Country Fire Authority, the Department of Environment and Sustainability and Parks Victoria are concentrating their efforts on protecting homes.
Buildings destroyed in Melbourne's north
Residents impacted by the grass fire that closed the Hume Freeway at Epping were allowed to return to their homes last night.
One home in the Epping North area was destroyed but none in housing estates, incident controller John Deering said.
CFA and DSE work to contain a blaze burning out of control in the Grampians and surrounding farmland. Picture: Jason Edwards
Another home was damaged, with several outbuildings and sheds lost.
An advice warning remains in place for the Epping and Campbellfield area.
Crews were remaining on scene all night.
The fire has been burning on both sides of the busy Hume Freeway around Epping and Campbellfield.
Victoria's Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said firefighters hoped to contain the Donnybrook-Kalkallo fire soon.
"The forward spread of that fire has been significant but has now slowed,'' Mr Lapsley said.
The fire closed the Hume Fwy and created traffic gridlock on nearby major roads. Smoke was also affecting the area.
"Roads are gridlocked out in that area,'' Mr Lapsley said as commuters travelled home from work yesterday. "People are either trying to get out or get home.''
Crews remained on scene all night.
Epping North residents started to flee their homes earlier in the afternoon, seeking refuge in shopping centres and community hubs, as a fast-moving grass fire closed in.
CFA and DSE work to contain a blaze burning out of control in the Grampians and surrounding farmland. Picture: Jason Edwards
Cara Horner evacuated her home in Aurora Estate’s Early Bird Way about 3.10pm, taking shelter at Epping Plaza with her baby.
"I didn’t know where else to go,’’ Ms Horner said.
"The plumes of smoke were terrible; we could see the helicopter and emergency vehicles and the roads were pretty clogged up.
"I’ve received a number of phone calls and test messages from friends; some of them have left, some people are packing their bags and waiting to hear from the CFA.
"There are a lot of worried people around.
The fast-moving grass fire at Donnybrook. Picture: Kylie Else
"Even though we’re on the fringe, I don’t think we see ourselves as at risk of fire and I don’t think many people even have a fire plan.’’
Northern Health acting chief executive Robynne Cooke said 10 dialysis patients and a number of IT and support service staff located in peripheral buildings were affected, but she dismissed earlier reports the hospital was evacuated.
About 40 children at the child care centre neighbouring the hospital were forced to leave and sheltered in the main building of the hospital.
"We brought all those people into the hospital," Ms Cooke said.
"Our engineers worked with the air conditioning system because there was a lot of smoke.
"The smoke was quite evident from our windows and we could see that it was not that far away; at the junction of Hume Freeway and Cooper St.
"We worked with a Code Brown in place, staff responded appropriately and everyone was calm."
Ms Cooke said staff and patients were now able to leave the hospital.
She said staff were preparing for an expected influx of patients presenting with respiratory problems caused by smoke inhalation.
The fire alert was the second the hospital has received in the past three weeks.
A number of hospital patients were relocated to wards within the hospital on January 22, when Emergency services attended a suspicious grass fire behind the hospital.
Ms Cooke said she was confident her staff would be able to handle any future emergency situations.
Earlier, Channel 9 reporter Jo Hall tweeted a picture of a home that was destroyed in the blaze at Donnybrook.
The smoke haze covered Melbourne city but no flights were affected out of Melbourne Airport.
Keep up to date with CFA fire events at its website.
Warning came too late: resident
Epping resident Cara Horner said she had already decided to evacuate long before the CFA text message to "seek shelter’’ at 3.48pm.
"The biggest thing in all of this is how slow the CFA has been in telling our community about the danger,’’ Ms Horner said.
"I called my daughter’s child care centre and they hadn’t heard from the CFA. When I spoke to them, they were pretty shocked that they hadn’t heard from anybody.
"I was very worried about my daughter and went to pick her up as soon as I heard something was happening.
"I’m lucky because I work from home – I feel for parents who work in the city and can’t get there quickly.’’
Contractor hurt while building lines
Meanwhile, a 51-year-old contractor suffered serious injuries while building containment lines in Victoria’s west yesterday.
WorkSafe is investigating after the male contractor - who was deployed to the Glenlogie fire about 45km east of Ararat to assist with building containment lines - received severe injuries to his leg after an accident involving machinery at 10.28am.
The worker was airlifted to the Alfred Hospital in a serious condition.
STAY SAFE
The Herald Sun has joined with fire authorities to keep Victorians informed. Check out the Bushfire Ready page for the latest advice, warnings and videos from the CFA. This page is updated with the latest warnings from across the state. Save it to your bookmarks. You can access it from our homepage (click on Bushfire Ready) from any computer. This service is not available on smart phones.
Check live weather information - including fire warnings - on your computer AND smart phone at our Weather page. Just add m.heraldsun.com.au to your smart phone bookmarks and follow the View weather forecast link.
The CFA has a live fire map. Check it out here and add to your bookmarks.
Reports and alerts will also be posted to our Facebook page and from our official Twitter account.
- with AAP
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