Victoria Fires: Premier Daniel Andrews declares unprecedented 'State of Disaster'

Victorian premiere Daniel Andrews has declared a 'State of Disaster' across Victoria.

Sighting the increasing fire risk in the coming days, Mr Andrews revealed the declaration is the first time these powers, under the provision of the Emergency Management Act, have been used in the state.

"The coming hot days, very challenging next few days ahead," he said from the Vic Emergency headquarters.

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The State of Disaster lasts for the next seven days and covers six local government areas and alpine resorts.

This includes: East Gippsland Shire, Mansfield Shire, Wellington Shire, Wangaratta Rural Shire, Towong Shire, Alpine Shire, Mt Buller, Mt Hotham and Mt Sterling alpine resorts.

"We don't want to see more communities isolated and trapped, cut off from the rest of their region, cut off from power, communications, water - all of those basics," the premier said.

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"We don't want to see more and more communities, if you like, 'locked in' by fire, fire activity that will occur tomorrow and Saturday and may even continue into Sunday."

"The key message and point of this declaration is to send hopefully a very clear message to all of those fire-affected communities and those who are potentially impacted by fire that will be out of control on the weekend - if you can leave, you must leave. If you don't we simply cannot guarantee your safety."

More than 50 fires were raging across the state on Thursday, with the worst burning predominantly in East Gippsland and the alpine region.

Residents of those areas have been told they should leave on Friday, before strong winds and temperatures above 40C forecast for some areas on Saturday.

"We have a small window of opportunity," Assistant Emergency Services Commissioner Deb Abbott told reporters on Thursday.

"It's a window of opportunity for those people to leave now and we want them to leave now.

"These fires have already caused significant damage. They have caused significant loss and our community needs to act now."

Though Saturday will bring the most bushfire risk, authorities have declared a total fire ban on Friday across East Gippsland and the Wimmera, North East and South West regions.

Temperatures are expected to peak in the high 20s and winds will be light, but that does not rule out more fire danger.

"There can be significant fire activity even when conditions are fairly light in terms of winds," Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Tom Delamotte told AAP.

So far the fires have burnt 784,000 hectares in Victoria.

- With AAP