Firefighters will be unable to attend or conduct planned burns on private property until Victoria returns to stage two coronavirus restrictions, Stock & Land can reveal.

Fuel reduction burns on crown land will continue for the time being under the direction of Forest Fire Management Victoria, while primary producers will be able to carry out their own burn-offs as normal.

A CFA document viewed by Stock & Land reveals the decision to temporarily suspend planned burning operations was due to "higher level" COVID-19 restrictions.

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However, a spokeswoman for the CFA said the decision was also due to substantial rainfall earlier in the year which led to the authority ceasing a majority of its planned burning program due to the wet landscape.

"CFA considers planned burns an important component in risk mitigation," the spokeswoman said.

"[The CFA] currently assess each private property planned burn for its benefits in terms of protecting the community and for the potential risk of participating brigade members contracting COVID-19.

"CFA will continue to balance the need to prioritise emergency responses and protect our critical workforce from COVID-19."

She said some CFA regions had scaled back or postponed planned burns with the need to prioritise emergency responses and to protect the CFA's critical workforce from COVID-19.

University of Melbourne Associate Professor Trent Penman, who specialises in bushfire behaviour and management, said much of Victoria was in a "better position" to deal with the risk of bushfires this summer due to an increase in moisture levels and less drought-like conditions.

"The key driver for the extent of fires last season was the drought and the dryness of these fuels," Assoc Prof Penman said.

"It meant these fires were able to burn across the landscape and there was very few barriers to stop or slow the speed of these fires

"Higher moisture levels, depending on how high they are, will reduce the occurrence of fires and if fires do occur the moisture in the environment will give suppression crews much greater advantage in suppressing those fires."

Since the start of the year, the CFA has conducted 107 planned burns on private properties and reserves such as roads and rail corridors, council reserves and water authority land, with three of those since July 1.

Assoc Prof Penman said planned burns on private land had a limited effect on mitigating the extent of bushfires.

"There's evidence to suggest that planned burns assisted suppression firefighting crews or reduced the impact of fires on communities but the full analysis hasn't been completed in relation to the bushfire season," Assoc Prof Penman said.

"[Fuel reduction burns] play a role but it's really dealing with fires in extreme weather scenarios and we know in these cases that weather is absolutely dominant and the role of fuel is quite small.

"We need to look across the range of opportunities with other fuel management techniques as well as community perpetration for fire and the understanding that we're not going to be able to stop all fires from occurring in the landscape."

Forest Fire Management Victoria chief fire officer Chris Hardman said planned burns on crown land would go ahead as planned for the foreseeable future.

"Following current public health advice our planned burning program can continue for now," he said.

"If that advice changes, any necessary adjustments will be made, in consultation with CFA, EPA and DHHS."

Mr Hardman said late autumn and winter provided suitable conditions across parts of western and northern Victoria to carry out planned burning.