Fire crews brace for potential horror
After firefighters battle through the night to contain blazes across Victoria, total fire ban is issued for the state amid fears contained fires could reignite in another day of extreme heat. Nine News.
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Melbourne is expected bake through another day of extreme heat, with a temperature of 42 degrees expected to hit the city about 3pm and if a cool change arrives, it will be amid a storm.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart said overnight temperatures hovered at the mid 30s across Melbourne, with the overnight low of 28.6 degrees arriving at 6am.
Early data from the weather bureau shows that Essendon Airport was the hottest overnight, with a sleep-disruptive 28.8 degrees.
Novel ways to beat the heat... a quick fountain dip at the Australian Open. Photo: Joe Armao
Commuters should prepare for a rapid increase in temperature as they head in to work on Tuesday, Mr Stewart said.
"We're looking at temperatures rising very quickly, which are expected to peak at low to mid 40s across the state," he said.
Showers and storms are also likely to hit southern parts of the state in the afternoon and evening, but a lasting cool change is not expected.
"You might get a slightly cooler breeze if you happen to get a thunderstorm over you this evening, but there will be no lasting cool change," Mr Stewart said.
Across the state, overnight temperatures varied between 20 and 28 degrees, providing little to no relief from the scorching heat of the day.
In Ballarat, the mercury dipped to 22.8 degrees at 5.20am. In Bendigo, temperatures sat even lower at 21.4 , while Warrnambool and Mount Hotham Airport recorded the coldest overnight temperatures of 19.6 and 14.8, respectively.
The night was the second hottest on record, second only a sweaty 30.6 degrees – recorded in February 1902 and on January 12, 2010.
Children locked in cars
Paramedics responded to eight cases of children locked in cars on Tuesday as the mercury surged through to 42 degrees.
On Monday one of the state’s top ambulance officers Paul Holman described leaving children in a locked car akin to holding ‘‘a gun to their head’’, yet still paramedics were called to treat children locked in cars in the heat.
Ambulance officers also responded to 83 cases of heat exposure on Tuesday, up from 11 on Monday.
Train services disrupted
Train faults on the Belgrave, Pakenham, Cranbourne and Craigieburn saw a several services cancelled. Some of the faults are believed to be airconditioning related.
The South Morang line had delays of up to 20 minutes on Tuesday due to a signalling fault at Clifton Hill.
Metro Trains has no pre-planned heat-related train cancellations but says it cannot predict what the temperatures would do to services this week.
Metro Trains spokeswoman Larisa Tait said trains would travel 10 km/h below the 80 km/h limit on Tuesday as a safety precaution in the heat.
The train operator has asked passengers to tweet to it if they are in a carriage with faulty airconditioning so it can be repaired.
Trains on Monday night were suspended from North Melbourne to Coburg on the Upfield line for more than an hour as it experienced power supply problems.
It was unknown whether the power issues were related to a power outage in Brunswick overnight. The problems were rectified at 8.10pm, Ms Tait said.
Firefighters kept busy
Dry lightening storms during the night have also been a concern for firefighters, with at least 256 fires igniting between 5pm on Monday and midnight on Tuesday.
Most of the fires started in the Mallee and Central regions, but none were a threat to the community early on Tuesday morning, a Country Fire Authority spokeswoman said.
Another fire at Yaapeet, 35 kilometres north-west of Hopetoun in the Wimmera, is not yet under control, but has been classified as a small fire by the CFA.
Crews spent the night monitoring fires, with a blaze at Kangaroo Ground, about 26 kilometres north-east of the city, near Eltham, still the most worrying.
The fire, which started about 4pm on Monday, was out of control for 90 minutes before CFA downgraded its warning to "watch and act" just after 5.30pm.
Firefighters believe the blaze, which moved towards major roads, was started by a bonfire. Although it is under control, crews are still on alert, a CFA spokesman said early on Tuesday.
As aircraft and ground crews roll out during the morning, they will "continue to find new fires" across the state, the spokesman said.
A grassfire burning near Little River, 51 kilometres south-west of Melbourne, was brought under control early on Tuesday. Police are investigating the cause of the fire, which started near the site of another fire that was deliberately lit exactly one year earlier.
Police say it is too early to link Tuesday's fire to last year's firebug, but arson chemists will investigate determine whether there were any similarities in how the blaze was ignited.
The grassfire spread rapidly from Edgars Road south towards Bulban Road and the Little River township but was brought under control just after 1.30pm.
With Deborah Gough
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