Minister for Emergency Services Jaclyn Symes visited the Heathcote fire station on Tuesday to see one of the new automatic weather stations at work.

The new portable and remote automated weather stations cost more than $680,000 to buy and maintain, and the government says the units will improve Victoria's weather observations to allow firefighters to generate more accurate predictions of where a fire might spread, and use more precise local data for community warnings.

"The new automatic weather stations provide on the ground data that will be vital in making timely decisions as an emergency is unfolding," Ms Symes said.

"It's crucial that our firefighters and emergency services have the right equipment to predict emergencies and quickly warn communities.

"These new automatic weather stations will allow them access to real time weather conditions on the ground - valuable intel for all country communities."

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There are seven portable automated weather stations, which will be used on location to help firefighters understand fire behaviour on the ground during an incident, or measuring the weather conditions at a specific site in the lead up to and during a planned burn.

These standalone units can be set up in only 15 minutes and record temperature, wind speed and direction, relative humidity, rain and solar radiation as well as fuel and soil moisture content in the surrounding area, transmitting this data to CFA and the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) for analysis.

These remote automatic weather stations are transmitting their data via 4G or satellite iridium technology, which will appear on the BOM website.

There are three static remote automated weather stations permanently situated at Ballan, East Trentham and Glenburn, where there are no permanent weather stations to provide high quality, localised fire weather observations.

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