“Catastrophic” bushfire conditions have forced the evacuations of a number of Great Ocean Road caravan parks, while V/Line has cancelled train services on nine regional lines.
The Kennett River and Wye River camping grounds are among a long list of holiday spots being evacuated.
Great Ocean Road Parks announced the closures and evacuations on social media on Thursday afternoon.
Numerous campgrounds including Skenes Creek Foreshore Caravan Park, Kennett River Family Holiday Park and the Wye River Beachfront Campground will all be closed.
All national parks and foreshores in the area will also be closed including the Great Otway National Park, the Twelve Apostles, Kennett River and Wye River Foreshores.
People are warned not to travel into forest environments and stay up-to-date on all emergency information.
Parks and forests will be closed in the Wimmera, North Central, Northern Country and South West districts on Friday due to the forecasted Catastrophic Fire Danger.
Conditions will be too dangerous to visit or stay in parks and forests.
DEECA Barwon South West advised people in the area to leave early.
“Individuals may not be notified and you may not see closure signs or physical barriers. Leave early,” they said in a post on social media.
A total fire ban has been declared for the state of Victoria.
The Lorne and Anglesea Visitor Information Centres will also be closed.
More to come.
EARLIER
Forecast catastrophic fire conditions have triggered V/Line to take an extraordinary step cancelling most services across the state.
Warrnambool, Albury, Ararat, Bendigo, Echuca, Maryborough, Seymour, Shepparton and Swan Hill lines will not run on Friday, with no coach replacement services available.
The Geelong and Ballarat lines are the only two regional lines to remain open, but will operate on an extreme heat timetable.
Trains are expected to run at slower than normal speeds, with service changes possible including longer journey times and cancellations.
Some services in Geelong and Ballarat may be replaced with coaches.
Passengers are advised to plan ahead as delays and service changes may occur if temperatures exceed 36 degrees.
On Friday, the mercury is set to hit 40 degrees in Geelong and 41 in Melbourne.
Coach services that pass through the North Central, North Country and South West fire districts will not operate for the entire journey including parts of the route not in the affected areas.
Other scheduled coach services may also be cancelled or terminated early due to operational requirements.
All coach services for the Wimmera region that are scheduled to arrive and depart from Ararat and Ballarat stations, along with the Adelaide to Bendigo coach services are also cancelled. The Department of Transport said these cancellations have been made based on the Australian Fire Danger Rating System advice for catastrophic fire danger ratings.
If a catastrophic fire danger rating is declared in other regions of Victoria, services that are scheduled to pass through those areas will also be cancelled.
Passengers are advised to check the V/Line website for the latest travel information.