More than a dozen firefighting vehicles attend fire at Mailors Flat

Acting Sergeant Uwe Stolzenberg, of the Warrnambool police highway patrol unit, said about 25 metres of scrub was being burnt off at a vegetation property in Mailors Flat when northerly winds of up to 50 km/h caused it to reignite and escape.

He said there were conflicting reports from the property owner and neighbour about when the burn-off started.

"The owner said it was about three weeks ago but the neighbours seem to think the burn-off started last week," he said.

"It has reignited in today's wild winds, with embers sparking and catching onto cypress trees."

Acting Sergeant Stolzenberg said thick black smoke could be seen billowing from the property.

He said the out-of-control fire crossed Mailors Flat-Koroit Road into an adjacent property.

Emergency services were called about 11.30am to reports of a smoke sighting.

"Firefighters reported seeing the smoke from the Koroit fire station," Acting Sergeant Stolzenberg said.

He said the fire was contained but not yet under control.

He said an excavator was being brought in to remove a number of trees that were knocked down to avoid the fire from spreading further.

Acting Sergeant Stolzenberg said there was no structure damage reported but a family in a neighbouring property had been asked to evacuate for safety reasons.

Mailors Flat-Koroit Road remains closed to traffic in both directions.

"We expect those traffic diversions to remain for a number of hours," Acting Sergeant Stolzenberg said.

A Country Fire Authority spokeswoman said there were 15 firefighting trucks in attendance, as well as a bulk water carrier and three field command vehicles.

Attending brigades include Woolsthorpe, Winslow and Yarpturk, Grassmere, Koroit, Warrnambool and Purnim.

Meanwhile, four CFA trucks were called to an unrelated, out-of-control burn-off at Kennedy's Creek on Sunday about 1.20pm.

The small fire was labelled under control at 3.40pm.

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