Victoria faces another dangerous summer bushfire season

Victoria faces another dangerous summer bushfire season, with western and central Victoria looming as the highest risk areas in the state.

The majority of western Victoria - including the Wombat Forest, Brisbane Ranges and the eastern part of the Otways - faces an above normal bushfire threat for the rest of 2016, according to a new report.

The rural-urban fringe on Melbourne's west and north, as well as Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula also face an above normal bushfire risk.

And bushfire experts have warned that west and south Gippsland and parts of the state's central highlands "could see rapidly escalating fire behaviour later in summer", as bushfire fuel dries out.

The warnings are contained in the latest "Southern Australia Seasonal Bushfire Outlook 2016", released by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Co-operative Research Centre.

Read Darren Gray’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Western Victoria faces above normal bushfire risk.”