Three new Victorian bushfires burning

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services says 11 firefighting crews and waterbombing aircraft are trying to bring the blaze under control.

Up to 27 crews have been sent to the Denham Road blaze, which was reported just before 7am.

Gil Marshall from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning said crews had been working hard to keep it from spreading to the nearby forest.

“It’s a very live scene there at the moment”, he said.

Fire warnings have been issued across five states today as firefighters continue to work to contain destructive fires in Victoria where the unseasonable blazes are doing their worst.

The fire broke out in the bush at about 3pm (local time) and quickly burned through several hectares of scrub on a private property.

AT least one home has been destroyed and families left devastated as an early preview to bushfire season causes damage across the country.

A “catastrophic” level indicates that fires are uncontrollable, unpredictable and fast-moving.

The fire, near Anglesea on the surf coast, started on Monday afternoon as temperatures in Victoria soared into the mid 30s. Severe fire conditions will hit the south-west, central and Mallee districts, affecting metropolitan Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Warrnambool, Hamilton, Mildura and Swan Hill. “This wind is actually drying Victoria, and it will significantly set the scene for what is the summer ahead of us, and it’s very early”, he told reporters on Monday.

He said conditions were similar to 1997, when bushfires burned through 400 hectares of the Dandenong Ranges and Mornington Peninsula.