Firefighters are facing three out-of-control fires in eastern Victoria, with two – near Moe and Grantville – threatening homes before being demoted.
A watch-and-clock alert remains in place Friday night for the Moe and Grantville fires, which have reached 1km of menacing houses.
Meanwhile, emergency services are "throwing everything" into a fire that threatens the Thomson Dam to prevent contamination of Melbourne's drinking water.
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Vic Emergency issued alerts to residents living near Grantville, 115 miles southeast of Melbourne.
The fire started around 11.30. More than 15 CFA trucks and six fire-fighting planes fought the fire, which was still going on overnight.
The forest fire – which began at the Grantville Nature Reserve – is traveling north toward Adams Estate and Bass Highway.
The fire spread over parts of Bass Highway on Friday night, closing the main road in both directions between Grantville-Glen Alvie Rd and Dalyston-Glen Forbes Rd.
Emergency services were in place directing traffic. VicRoads asked drivers to allow extra travel time.
An emergency warning was issued for Adams Estate, Almurta, Glen Forbes and Grantville.
This was later demoted to a clock and act as a wake up call at 9:30 p.m.
Firefighters were unable to stop the fire because of inaccessible forest.
A meeting will be held on Saturday at the Grantville transaction center, starting at 10am.
A second fire is burning out of control in Tanjil South, near Moe.
An emergency alert was issued for the area, 136 km east of Melbourne.
This was revised to a clock and performed at 8:30 p.m. after the fire crews were able to slow down the spread of the fire.
The fire started at Moondarra State Park shortly before 1 pm and was traveling parallel to the transmission lines, reported Vic Emergency website.
The fire came close to threatening homes along the Moe-Walhalla road, authorities warned.
At its height, there were 19 fire trucks and two bombing planes trying to bring it under control.
A CFA spokeswoman said the cause of both fires was still under investigation.
THOMSON DAM BLAZE THREATENS WATER SUPPLY
Emergency services are "throwing everything" in a fire that threatens the Thomson Dam to prevent contamination of Melbourne's drinking water.
About 300 firefighters and more than a dozen aircraft are fighting the blaze on the banks of the West Gippsland dam, fearing that high temperatures at the weekend could worsen conditions.
Water Minister Lisa Neville said Melbourne's drinking water is currently "absolutely safe" – but if the dam is affected, contingencies will be taken.
"We're throwing everything we can into this fire to make it as controlled as possible," she said.
Emergency services are trying to protect one of Melbourne's most important water depots from being contaminated by a forest fire. The flame Thomson Catchment is not yet under control as Victoria prepares for another weekend of serious fire risk. @EmilyCAngwin # 7News pic.twitter.com/JmMb3wCY0s
– 7 News in Melbourne (@ 7NewsMelbourne) February 1, 2019
Neville said, "The bigger the burn, the greater the likelihood of you having run-off problems, and therefore water quality.
"Once it is safe to do so, Melbourne Water will put in place measures like bales of hay and booms to prevent as much runoff as possible."
The excavators have created containment lines to limit the spread of the 4770ha fire near the dam, but detection can spread the impact.
Neville warned that if long-term damage were caused to water quality at the Thomson Dam, the largest reservoir in Melbourne Water, then large-scale water desalination plant orders and water restrictions would be required from Step 3 – which limit the irrigation of the garden. alternating days and washing the car to a bucket – would be considered.
Emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp said more than a dozen aircraft and up to 300 firefighters were working on the fire.
A nearby fire at Walhalla was also a concern.
"Sunday is a great day for us, we will see temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius in some areas," said Crisp.
"We are doing our utmost to keep this fire private. Mother nature is the incident controller.
Emergency warnings against forest fires are in place, while emergency services face two fights. Courtesy Nine News
Shrubs out of control in East Victoria
Melbourne Water is transferring water to the Upper Yarra Reservoir to protect supplies, fearing that if the fire is not controlled soon, the dam may be out of service for months.
If that was the case, Ms. Neville said that a 150-gigaliter water order would likely cost $ 130 million.
"If we ask for a total of 150 GLs of water, it pretty much replaces what Melbourne uses from Thomson every year," she said. "We have good support in place – that is why we have the desal, for these situations, as well as our water supply situation."
Melbourne's water stocks have fallen to under 60%, which means that the government will probably place an order of at least 50GL anyway.
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