Lilydale has opened a relief centre seeing evacuees make use of the space as they wait to learn the fates of their properties and townships.
Cars, some towing trailers of items, vans, people and their animals were continuing to flow into the Lilydale High School stadium car park at 6.40pm on Friday 9 January.
The centre is providing basic relief with tea and coffee facilities, beds, a kids area and animal housing.
Support services from Yarra Ranges Council, The Salvation Army emergency relief team and Animal Aid were onsite to direct and help.
For people with larger camper vans, trailers or caravans, the Lilydale Recreation Reserve was open and able to accommodate the vehicles.
As of 5.15pm, more townships including Marysville and Narbethong were told to leave immediately.
A warning at 5.42pm instructed residents in Castella, all of Kinglake, Pheasant Creek and Toolangi to prepare to leave and to leave as soon as you are ready, as roads will become busy as people leave.
At around 5.30pm a fleet of CFA tankers, led by a forward command vehicle, was headed up Maroondah Highway towards Healesville and likely further.
A wind change is expected around 8pm tonight (Friday 9 January). This will cause the fire to change direction to the north east, heading back towards Strathbogie. Conditions will become very dangerous and unpredictable, according to VicEmergency.
Wind conditions were picking up, seeing debris on roads around Lilydale, Wandin and Seville, and some lightning strikes spotted heading towards Lilydale along the Warburton Highway.
In the Dandenong Ranges, resident weather authority Stuart Coombes advised that people who left earlier on Friday should remain off the mountain until later on Saturday, with the risk of falling trees, lightning and winds gusts of 90km/h expected during the southwest cool change.
Temperatures did drop rapidly from about 5.15pm onwards, getting down to about 29 degrees in Healesville and 25 degrees in Monbulk after the scorching 41 degrees or more recorded throughout the day.
A Total Fire Ban (TFB) has been declared for the whole state of Victoria tomorrow, Saturday 10 January 2026.
Tomorrow’s conditions will be cooler than today, but still warm with strong winds across the state particularly in the north.
A Total Fire Ban means no fire can be lit in the open air or allowed to remain alight from 12.01am to 11.59pm on the day of the Total Fire Ban.
