A combination of hot and windy weather has led firefighters in Victoria to battle three fresh bushfires on Tuesday morning. One of those bushfires has spread to neighbouring recreational park and fire crews are doing their best to protect the Western Port Bluescope Steel plant in Tyabb, southeast of Melbourne. A total of 30 fire trucks were required at the scene. As of press time, the fire near the steel plant was under control and posed no threat to local community.

Tyabb is one of the towns included in the warning released by the weather bureau along with Braeside, Anglesea. The weather bureau warned that winds around 50-60 km/h with damaging peak gust of 90-100km/h are expected, with gusts likely to 115km/h in alpine areas.

Temperatures are expected to go as high to mid 30C on Tuesday with Melbourne expected to head for a top of 35C. A shift to strong cold gust in the afternoon is anticipated. Fire weather warnings have been issued in five states: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart and Canberra as temperatures are set to go beyond 30C.

Winds are not presumed to be as severe in NSW and ACT although temperature will skyrocket once again. The Weather Bureau has reminded civilians to be vigilant, though there are no specific fire bans in the areas.

A Rural Fire Service spokesperson said that there are 24 grass and scrub fires across NSW, 10 of which remain uncontained. However, he added that none of these are close to homes or key infrastructure, but cautioned that fires will start and spread quickly, so communities will need to be prepared.

Queensland is also on high alert. On Monday, three significant fires broke out at Wivenhoe Pocket, west of Brisbane, North Gregory, southwest of Bundaberg; and Bluewater, northwest of Townsville. Fire crews continue to monitor the blazes on Tuesday, while confirming that there were a total of 60 blazes across the state over the weekend. One of these damaged a home in Cape Cleveland near Townsville.

However, a cool change is expected to hit NSW and ACT later this week. This drop in temperature should come from the cold winds moving through Victoria and Tanzania.

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