'It's too late to leave': Residents warned as bushfire rages in East Gippsland
An out of control bushfire burning 10 kilometres north of Timbarra in East Gippsland is threatening homes and lives.
An emergency warning has been issued for Timbarra Settlement, Gillingal, Butchers Ridge, Gelantipy, Gillingal, Murrindal and W-Tree, urging residents to act immediately to survive.
The bushfire is travelling south-east towards the Timbarra Settlement and Gillingal, and is also travelling east towards W-Tree and Butchers Ridge.
Spot fires have been burning up to five kilometres ahead of the main fire front.
"This fire is threatening homes and lives," the warning reads.
"The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately. It is too late to leave."
Dozens of surrounding suburbs have been issued community information messages for smoke.
A relief centre has been set up at the Buchan Recreation Reserve on Orbost Road.
Steve Harper, who owns the Buchan General Store and Post Office, said dozens of residents in the path of the fire had flooded the relief centre.
"They started getting evacuated yesterday and now a lot of the roads have been closed," he said.
"The fire is burning about 16 kilometres away from us ... there are some little hamlets in between us and Timbarra so the people living in all those small towns have been evacuated too as they are in the direct line of the fire.
"A lot of them come into the store so I know them quite well and I am just hoping everybody is safe."
The cool change is not expected to reach East Gippsland until 11pm.
"Conditions may change, and get worse very quickly," the alert reads.
CFA incident controller John Crane said there were roughly 56 properties in the Timbarra and Gillingal area.
"We are talking about 32 properties, eight dwellings in Timbarra and 16 in Gillingal," he said.
"One fire is impacting on four areas of the community in different ways... What happened is the fire has gotten over the control line, and created spot fires which have built up their own level of intensity and created their own spot fires.
"In a typical growing bushfire environment, there are spot fires ahead of spot fires, growing together and moving rapidly through the alpine environment."
"The temperature is increasing, the winds are increasing as has been predicted... Now the wind change is not due until 11pm tonight. That community is facing a long day with quite challenging fire conditions."
He urged locals to observe the messages and advice from trusted sources such as ABC radio and the VicEmergency app, and to enact their bushfire survival plan.
A total fire ban has been declared for Friday, with hot, dry and gusty winds leading to a "very high to extreme" fire danger rating across the state.
There are a number of other bushfires burning across Victoria, which are all classified as under control at the moment.