Leonie Rooney, chief executive officer of Cobden Health, said the facility had been advised to find alternative accommodation for its residents due to the peat fires burning in the area.

“We were advised on Saturday the weather conditions are expected to change during the week and it was a good time to start relocating our residents,” Ms Rooney said.

On Saturday afternoon, staff began looking for temporary beds for their 55 residents.

“We started on Saturday afternoon and late Saturday night we had places for our 55 residents to go,” Ms Rooney said.

“We took 14 residents on Saturday – a busload went to Hamilton and a few went to St John of God Hospital in Warrnambool.”

The other residents were taken to various other locations on Sunday including Geelong, Winchelsea, Anglesea, Lorne and Torquay.

“We’ve been working closely with the Department of Health and Human Services,” Ms Rooney said.

“It’s been huge, but our staff have been fantastic.”

Ms Rooney said it was not known when it would be safe for the residents to return home.

“It’s potentially a long-term thing and we have to look at how we manage that,” she said.

Relief centres have been established at Terang and Cobden and residents are encouraged to check in with health authorities over the smoke from peat fires, which are expected to burn for weeks.