URGENT fire threat messages have been issued for several towns in the Dandenong Ranges.
The CFA said residents at Kallista, Ferny Creek, Sherbrooke, Tecoma and Belgrave could find their properties attacked by wind-borne embers.
The blaze started at Belgrave and is being battled by two water-bombing helicopters.
The five-hectare fire is burning north through the park from a point neat Terrys Avenue and Sandells Road at Tecoma, a Country Fire Authority spokesman said.
Meanwhile, firefighters are building two containment lines between the blaze burning out of control near Alexandra, with the fallback line at Lake Eildon about 20km east.
Fire crews from the Department of Sustainability and Environment and the Country Fire Authority are allowing the fire, part of the Kilmore-Murrindindi Complex, burn up to the containment lines.
The blaze has a 30km front and will reach its first major containment line about 10km from Lake Eildon.
If it manages to jump that, a second containment line is being bulldozed near Lake Eildon.
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By late Sunday afternoon the fire had burnt down to Blue Ridge Rd in the Rubicon Valley, about 10km from Alexandra.
Much of the area is shrouded in smoke.
The northeastern Victorian town is not under threat as the fire is heading slowly east with virtually no wind to fan flare-ups.
Although the fire jumped a containment line behind the Buxton Trout Farm on Sunday afternoon, it was quickly brought under control.
If the blaze continue past Eildon, it will reach terrain that was burned in the 2006-07 alpine fires, which is expected to slow it down even further.
Milder weather, with temperatures around 30 degrees accompanied by relatively high humidity, has eased the fire activity.
The football ground at Alexandra has been transformed into a tent city to house almost 560 firefighters working in shifts.
