CobdenHealth chief executive officer Leonie Rooney said the patients were rushed in the facility’s community bus to South West Healhcare’s Camperdown hospital, escorted by an Ambulance Victoria vehicle and fire truck.

“Our staff then had to stay there until the road to Cobden was reopened,” she said.

“The patients are back now and still being monitored but are no longer high risk.

“For now our concerns are maintaining staff numbers but it’s fair to say the community has been fantastic, the staff, the volunteers.

“It’s as good as it could be in this situation.”

Ms Rooney said she was “extremely grateful” to both her own staff and Warrnambool Base Hospital employees for their support during the weekend.

While fires in the area continued to burn at midday on Monday, Ms Rooney said many of her 100 staff members were still unable to get to work due to closed roads between Cobden and Warrnambool.

“We are still down in numbers,” she said. “Some of our staff are still fighting fires on their own properties and some just can’t get through on the roads.”

Ms Rooney said the 60-bed aged-care facility and urgent care centre had been offered amazing support both in-house and externally.

“We are all pulling together,” she said.  “Some of our staff have now been working over 24 hours.

“South West Healthcare also needs to be thanked.

“They’ve been offering admin support, giving our staff access to shared systems to keep us running efficiently.”