'It's my home': Victorians evacuate as fires intensify
Catastrophic fire danger warnings are in place across parts of Victoria's north and west today, with two significant fires already burning out of control and soaring temperatures forecast on Friday.
Christine Pulis is among those who have already evacuated.
She lives at Longwood, a small town in central Victoria about 50 kilometres south of Shepparton, close to where a bushfire was already burning out of control on Thursday.
As Ms Pulis and her former partner made final preparations at the house on Thursday afternoon, smoke from the fire was already filling the skyline over the back of her fence.
"Part of me doesn't want to go because it's my home," she told ABC.
On Thursday afternoon, smoke from the Longwood fire filled the sky above Christine Pulis's property. (ABC News)
But on Friday, the fire danger here at Longwood and across other parts of Victoria's north and west is predicted to be catastrophic.
A catastrophic fire danger rating is, as Country Fire Authority chief officer Jason Heffernan put it yesterday, "as bad as it gets".
It is the first time the catastrophic danger rating has been used since 2019. That was ahead of the Black Summer bushfires.
Fires that run in these conditions are "unsuppressible", warned Fire Forest Management Victoria's chief fire officer, Chris Hardman, on Thursday.
Longwood is forecast to reach 44 degrees Celsius on Friday.
Here, and in many other parts of the state, the sweltering temperatures will be complicated by possible damaging winds and dry lightning strikes, and a fire already out of control.
With that forecast, staying at home was a risk Ms Pulis was not willing to take.
"I know that myself and the dogs are more important than possessions," she said.
Christine Pulis breeds golden retrievers and has lived in Longwood for around 15 years. (ABC News: Sacha Payne)
She had already spent a hot and mostly sleepless night watching, waiting and readying herself to make the decision, packing some belongings and dogs into the car to leave on Thursday.
But she still did not know what would happen next.
"That's the scary part of fire," she said.
"It is so unpredictable."
Multiple fires already burning in Victoria
The latest warnings are available here — and they are constantly changing — so emergency authorities are asking Victorians to check frequently.