An aerial view of the fire's ravenous path in the Gippsland town of Boolarra. Photo: Ken Irwin 

by Marc Moncrief Victorians should cancel whatever plans they may have had for tomorrow and take whatever steps necessary to prepare for what Premier John Brumby is calling the "worst day in the history of the state". With temperatures set to soar to the mid-40s throughout Victoria, Mr Brumby said the conditions were worse than those that preceded the devastating bushfires of Ash Wednesday or Black Friday. "It’s just as bad a day as you can imagine and on top of that the state is just tinder-dry. People need to exercise real common sense tomorrow," he said. "If you don’t need to go out, don’t go out, it’s a seriously bad day. If you don’t need to travel, don’t travel. Don’t go on the roads. If you don’t need to use the public transport system, don’t use it. If you can stay at home, stay at home. If you’ve got relatives who are elderly, if you’ve got friends, if you’ve got neighbours, please call on them. Ring them … it’s going to be a terrible day for anyone who is ill or who is old. Mr Brumby said he expected Melbourne to reach 43 or 44 degrees with similar temperatures throughout the state, reaching as high as 46 in Mildura. He said if anything, the expectation was for the day to be even hotter rather than cooler. He recalled scenes last week of wooden power poles self-igniting. "I can’t stress this enough, I know that the chief fire officer has been out and he said it will be as bad as you can get and he’s not exaggerating," Mr Brumby said.

‘Worst day in history’: Brumby warns of fire danger See also: Heatwave puts morgue under pressure