Firies respond quickly to rubbish pile blaze during total fire ban

Warrnambool Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) commander Greg Kinross said a crew attended the Cleanaway facility at Koroit Street at 1.14pm on Thursday, February 22 - a day of total fire ban.

Concerns had been raised about the burning rubbish pile threatening a nearby excavator.

But Mr Kinross said the incident was brought under control in about 10 minutes.

"Crews dealt with the incident rapidly and there was nothing of concern," he said.

The cause of the fire is not known but is not being treated as suspicious.

Another total fire ban was declared for much of Victoria on Thursday, including the south-west region, as authorities prepared for another day of "extreme" fire conditions.

A number of incident control centres were set-up across the state in preparation.

Mr Kinross, who spoke to The Standard from one of the centres, said there had been no serious incidents in the south-west region but there was a bushfire near Mount Cole, west of Ballarat.

An emergency warning was issued for the area shortly before 1pm.