Mild weekend weather brings relief to firefighters after home lost in Grampians bushfire
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Victorian temperatures to rise from Monday, with fire warnings also in place in NSW and Western Australia. Milder conditions across the weekend will bring temporary relief to firefighters who continue to battle an out-of-control bushfire in Victoria’s Grampians.
But the forecast rain is not expected to extinguish the fires and hot weather is expected to ramp up again from Monday. One home has been lost and seven sheds and other structures destroyed amid the bushfire in the Grampians national park, which is expected to burn for weeks to come.
The blaze, which has grown to at least 74,000 hectares and spans a perimeter of more than 640km, remained at a high danger level on Saturday as westerly winds swept the state ahead of a cold front. Sarah Scully, a senior meteorologist from the Bureau of Meteorology, said the front would ensure temperatures remained “relatively mild” on Saturday, with some showers and temperatures ranging from 23C to 28C.
Temperatures were due to start increasing again on Monday but forecasters were not expecting the fire danger ratings to reach extreme, either this weekend or into the next, Scully said. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email. All emergency warnings had been downgraded by Saturday morning to watch and act alerts in and around the Grampians national park, but the area from Long Gully Road to College Road remained unsafe.
