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Victoria’s bushfire protocols are operating at peak performance, in part due to the recommendations of Susan Pascoe and others in the Black Saturday Royal Commission.

How the lessons learnt from Black Saturday are saving lives

Though January’s bushfires scorched nearly as much land as Black Saturday, just one person was killed. Experts and survivors attribute this to several improvements, but warn we must always remain vigilant.

  • Angus Delaney

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wo hot air balloons travel through the smoky haze blanketing the city skyline ahead of a forecast temperature of 45 degrees in Melbourne today. 

Victoria heatwave as it happened: State swelters under worst conditions since Black Saturday; fire threatens Great Ocean Road

Stay up to date with Victoria’s heatwave and bushfire threats on Tuesday, January 27.

  • Cassandra Morgan and Isabel McMillan
Linton Hahnel tends to his sheeps’ water on the family farm near Ouyen, Victoria.

Melbourne forecast to crack 45 degrees in worst heatwave since Black Saturday

Melbourne is forecast to swelter through a maximum 45 degrees on Tuesday, but a cool change at night will send temperatures plummeting.

  • Cassandra Morgan and Alexander Darling
Smoke from the Carlisle River bushfire.

Great Ocean Road towns under threat; Victoria braces for record heat

Residents have been told to get out of the Otways danger zone, before a day of extreme heat that has triggered a statewide total fire ban.

  • Alexander Darling and Cassandra Morgan
Premier Jacinta Allan spent much of last week defending the state government’s funding of the CFA.

One in five key CFA roles left unfilled as further deficits revealed

In the wake of Victoria’s bushfires, the premier has continued to defend the state’s funding to the Country Fire Authority.

  • Rachel Eddie and Kieran Rooney
UFU secretary Peter Marshall

Allan announces review into bushfire season

Victoria’s emergency management watchdog has been tasked to review last week’s bushfires just hours after calls for a parliamentary inquiry.

  • Kieran Rooney and Rachel Eddie
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Trees burn in the Longwood bushfire

Allan facing bush revolt, One Nation challengers as farmers and fireys fume

One Nation recruit Barnaby Joyce is to meet with angry farmers and volunteer firefighters in the aftermath of Victoria’s bushfires.

  • Chip Le Grand, Rachel Eddie, Angus Delaney and Kieran Rooney

The angry moment that could define Jacinta Allan’s response to the fire disaster

If we think of voter grievance as fuel on the forest floor, there is a point in any long-term government where the build-up reaches combustive levels.

  • Chip Le Grand
The road at the edge of Longwood on Sunday.

‘That’s hazardous, without a shadow of a doubt’: Long grass beside the Hume Freeway before Longwood fire

Taller, dry grass was seen on the verge along the Hume near Longwood. Fire authorities said the conditions were so catastrophic it was unlikely to make any difference.

  • Rachel Eddie and Kieran Rooney
Western Eagles senior coach Dan Casey at his drought-stricken ground.

The parched part of Victoria where even football fields are ground down by drought

The impact of the drought is now spreading beyond farms and leaving its mark on community sport.

  • Benjamin Preiss