Responding to the challenge that a changing climate brings is “a priority” for the emergency management sector, emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp said.

In the central region of Victoria rainfall has kept ground moisture relatively high, but this could quickly change in dry and warm conditions.

Read more: Temperatures set to rise as climate change hits central Victoria

Bendigo is facing an average temperature rise of up to 3.3 degrees by 2070 under a high emissions scenario.

Under a low emissions scenario 1.2 degrees is the forecast warming by 2070.

Temperatures are likely to increased between 0.6 to 1.3 degrees in the 12 years.

Temperatures have already increased by 1.2-1.4 degrees in the southern part of the Loddon-Mallee since 1950.

Mr Crisp said projections show a high likelihood that Victoria will experience more severe, intense, and frequent weather events, including major fires, floods, storms and multi-day heatwaves.

There has already been an increase in extreme fire weather and a longer fire season across large parts of Australia since the 1970s according to Emergency Management Victoria.

Read more: Early start to fire danger period as CFA warns of zero tolerance

Mr Crisp said the sector was planning at a national, regional and incident level to cater for increased frequency and intensity of emergencies.

“The changing climate has an impact on emergency services that we need to plan for,” Mr Crisp said.

“We are managing natural hazards all year round with fire seasons starting earlier and finishing later and extreme weather events occurring at times of the year that we haven't necessarily seen before.”

Mitigating both risk and the effects of emergency is a priority for the sector, Mr Crisp said.

He said the Victorian emergency management sector would continue to work with the Bureau of Meteorology, the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre to understand how climate change would affect seasonal conditions, and what it means for preparedness, response, relief and recovery.

In Victoria the total economic cost of bushfires is projected to risk from an average of $172 million per year in 2014, to $378 million by 2050.

Read more: Don’t be complacent, human nature making fire preparedness tricky

Bendigo, Loddon and Campaspe council areas’ fire danger period began on Monday morning, three weeks earlier than normal.

The Country Fire Authority have warned that the season may be more active than normal, due to warm, dry conditions.

CFA District 22 operations manager Tony Own said that grass and bush are dry across the area after a winter of low rainfall, and that forecasts were showing the trend was likely to continue in the next three months.

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