Fires are burning across the country with flash flooding also predicted for Victoria's Gippsland region as wild weather fans three blazes still out of control.
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One home has been destroyed as crews continue to battle 220 bush and grass fires ignited in area on Sunday.
Three of those are yet to be contained, the biggest 5000 hectares in difficult terrain north of Maffra in the Briagolong, Culloden, Moornapa and Stockdale regions.
Country Fire Authority Chief Officer Jason Heffernan said the next 24 hours would be challenging with wild winds associated with a cold front set to make conditions more difficult.
He said the cause of the fires was being investigated, but many were burn-offs reignited by the conditions.
Heavy rain predicted for later in the week should provide much-needed relief, but would only put a pause on the fire risk in the Gippsland area after a very warm and dry start to the season.
"The nature of spring is that it can go from two extremes," Mr Heffernan said.
"At the moment we've got a fire situation affecting families in East Gippsland, and then not 24 hours later an emergency rain event affecting those same communities."
Briagolong resident Bob Saunders and his wife escaped the blaze on Sunday just before their mudbrick home was destroyed by fire.
"If you've got to evacuate just get out because I think if I'd slept in half an hour, 40 minutes (longer) I don't think I'd be here now," Mr Saunders told 7 News.
Senior Meteorologist Christine Johnson said a cold front would bring damaging wind gusts to fire-affected areas in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
A different low-pressure system would dump heavy rainfall and spark flash flooding from Wednesday.
Victoria State Emergency Service chief officer operations Tim Wiebusch said Bairnsdale to the NSW border would be the hardest hit by heavy rains, with moderate flooding expected for the Mitchell, Tambo, Snowy and Genoa rivers.
Authorities issued warnings in South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania amid concerns strong winds could worsen fire conditions.
A total fire ban was in place in SA for the northeast pastoral, west coast, and eastern Eyre Peninsula along with extreme fire danger warnings.
The NSW Rural Fire Service issued a total fire ban for the southwest region bordering Victoria.
More than 100 fires were burning across NSW with 13 yet to be controlled.
RFS Commissioner Rob Rogers was worried this bushfire season would be the worst since 2019/20.
"We know there is community anxiety so we've got to balance between not scaring people but making people take it seriously so they do some simple things to make sure they look after themselves and their family," he told 2GB.
"Clearly, fire season is here."
A fire was also burning on Flinders Island in Bass Strait, with an emergency warning issued for Mount Tanner and Leeka.
In WA, total fire bans were in force for the Goldfields Midlands region.
Australian Associated Press
