As Victoria braced for the potential of catastrophic fire conditions on Friday January 9, 2026, much of the attention of media and community was understandably on the fires that were already threatening towns, farms and other human assets, especially the big fires around Walwa and Longwood.

Meanwhile, multiple fires were starting due to lightning in the high country. Some, such as near Mt Howitt and on the Bogong High Plains, were contained fairly quickly. However, one has gone on to burn a significant section of the high country. The Dargo – Wonnangatta Complex (also marked as the Mt Darling – Cynthia Range fire) is not yet under control. A Complex is named where there are multiple fires in close proximity, which can then be managed by a single incident team.

It seems that the fire started on monday night (5 January) at the top end of Wonnangatta Valley and was caused by lightning (multiple fires in the high country had started at similar times). According to reports posted on social media, Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) crews went in to check it before 8am the following morning and started working on it straight away, with both aircraft and ground crews.

However, the fire took off rapidly, and according to reports was spotting well ahead of the main fire front once it got going. According to people in Dargo, a pyrocumulonimbus cloud was observable rising over the mountains to the north.

The fire footprint, with hostpots. 12/1/26. Image: bushfire.io

Firefighting operations

[scroll down for the latest updates on the fire]

Obviously Friday January 9 was a terrible day for Victoria. The major Longwood and Walwa blazes grew and multiple new and destructive fires developed in other places (such as at Harcourt in Central Victoria). In these circumstances, available resourcing would have been limited. FFMV reported that as the fire grew, they were allocating air, ground and rappel crews.

By the end of the weekend it had grown to around 41,000 hectares in size.

As conditions eased over the weekend, crews were able to contain a smaller spot fire east of Castleburn, which had already burned more than 600 hectares. is a priority for air, ground and rappel crews.

On Monday January 12, it was reported that

Firefighters are today working on creating and consolidating containment lines to protect Dargo, as well as fighting the southern end of the Dargo fire complex around Castleburn.

Incident controller Brett Mitchell, based in the Heyfield Incident Control Centre, said that

170 personnel working on the fire, with around 10 aircraft and over 40 pieces of heavy plant and equipment. Maps show a small number of aircraft mostly working on the southern edge of the fire.

VicEmergency Gippsland reports that:

Some of the heavy plant is being used to continue to construct control lines to protect private property around Dargo, Waterford and Castleburn Creek. Hazard tree assessment and treatment is occurring along the Wonnangatta Road area to support safe access. Crews are also continuing blacking out works and operations to protect critical infrastructure like communication towers.

Aircraft are also constructing control lines using retardant and targeting remaining hot spots. Daily and nightly linescans of the whole fire ground are happening which provide regular, high resolution mapping updates.

UPDATE: 12/1/26

There is a seperate fire to the north east of the main fire, heading towards Mt Selwyn (and potentially the Upper Buckland valley). This was started by lightning at the same time as the Wonnangatta fire and is now included as part of the overall Dargo – Wonnangatta Complex. There are crews and machinery working on this fire.

Update 14/1/26

From VicEmergency:

So far this morning there’s not been much rain over the Dargo-Wonnangatta fire complex.
Our ground firefighters and heavy machinery are out there working and will be supported by aircraft when conditions are clear.
Spot fires are still occurring outside the main fire area – keeping crews busy.
Dozers and other heavy machinery have been making solid progress on getting important control lines in in conjunction with ground crew. A focus of this work has been on the Collins Flat fire to the east of the main fire grounds.
Update 15/1/26
All crews were pulled out and machinery stood down due to the weather conditions. Aircraft were unable to be used to to the weather. Rainfall across sections of the fire was varied.
The fire continues to be active across the western and northern edge. There was spotting outside the current footprint of the fire west of Mt Selwyn Track (this is not expected to spread significantly due to the weather conditions).
Fire footprint, JAN 15.
Update friday 16/1/26
We saw varied rainfall, thunderstorms and hail over parts of the Dargo fire complex overnight and through the early morning.
On the southern edge of the fire near Marathon Road we saw around 30mm of rain and the section around Talbotville received 17mm. Contractors and ground crews will take advantage of the cooler conditions to reset after a very busy seven days. Crews will be back on the fire ground as soon as conditions allow to continue important work.
Work continues in the North where less rainfall was recorded. Crews and machinery continue to work on containment lines and will commence back burning as conditions allow south of Penny Track. Aircraft will be collecting intelligence today across the fire ground and will also run a scan for hot spots.
It is important to note that despite this rainfall there is still plenty of work to do on the fire.
The area in red shows the sections that will be burnt out on 16 and 17 January.
Update sunday 18/1/26
In a worrying development there is a fire Razor-Viking Wilderness, to the west of the main fire.
Emergency VIC reports that:
‘Aircraft are active in the area as direct attack using water bombers on a fire in the Razor-Viking Wilderness, to the west of the main fire. Rappel firefighting crews may deploy to this fire later today’.
18/1/26. The new fire on the west side of the main complex.
On the main complex, work continues:
In the southern end of the fire, crews are completing track assessments, monitoring weather conditions and conducting fuel moisture readings. Impact assessments are also happening across the fire ground. Aircraft will be in the area today assessing the fire activity.
In the northern end, there is a lot of crew activity on the fire ground. Crews continue to focus on back burning operations along East Buffalo Road and Penny Track as conditions allow. This has had good success so far.
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Update 23/1/26 (as we move into a heatwave period)
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Intel from both aircraft and crews on ground has found that hotspots are still active across the fire Wonnangatta-Dargo fire complex footprint.
The hotspots along the fire perimeter are being treated as a high priority given the risk of them flaring up and causing fire spread or jumping containment lines.
Today, in the southern part of the fire we’re working on hot spots just off Traill’s Track and at Black Snake Creek, by ground firefighters and aircraft.
More hotspots are around the Talbotville area between Tea Tree Range and the fire edge, with aircraft actively attacking it.
There’s been less activity today around the Upper Dargo Road area with good progress already made there.
Temperatures have already started to rise, and our regular fuel moisture checks show things are quickly drying out again in the bush. There’s predictions it will get hotter into the weekend, particularly on Sunday through to early next week.
Similar to the rest of this week, we’ve been strengthening the network of control lines, fallback lines and other tracks, as well as conducting hazardous tree assessments and removal.
This is in readiness to make them as safe and accessible as possible for crews’ quick access and egress from fire activity and to provide a safe platform for any burning activity.
Over on the remote Razor-Viking fire in the Alpine National Park/Wabonga area to the N-NW of the main Wonnangatta-Dargo complex, we’ve choppered in almost 60 arduous firefighters today who are targeting areas identified from the aircraft team above.
Update 26/1/26
Ahead of the extreme heatwave expected on tuesday 27 January, the current incident controller of the fire (Stuart Beales) says that they are worried about extreme temperatures. There are currently  around 100 firefighters working to maintain control lines and black out hot spots within the complex, plus about 8 aircraft plus ‘almost 100’ pieces of equipment creating control lines.
The national park remains closed.
Update. 31/1/26.
The fire is now in its 4th week.
The risk to communities has eased. However, as noted by FFMV, ‘the threat is not over’.
There are around 100 firefighters on the complex, including a taskforce from Canada.
They are identifying and treating hot spots andflare ups within the complex.
There are around 433km of fire edge, still working to contain it before the temperature increases this week.
There are about 70 pieces of machinery operating to strenbgthen containment lines, and 8 aircraft.
The road to Dargo is now open.

Ecological impacts

With fire operations still underway, it is too early to know what the ecological impacts will be. The main fire, which runs in a north to south axis, covers a lot of drier foothill forests, which are likely to recover well from fire. Thankfully the wind conditions have not pushed the fire towards higher ranges to the west, where fire damaged snow gum forests would be badly impacted by another blaze.

On the northern edge, the fire has crossed the Great Dividing Range and so will have burnt through both the alpine ash and snow gum country of the Barry Mountains. The intensity of this burn is not yet known.

Alpine Ash faces the prospect of widespread ecological collapse in the Victorian mountains because of the frequency of fires in recent decade. While the forest is regrowing from fire it is very vulnerable because a new blaze will likely kill off the forest if it is less than 20 years in age. The good news is that reports from controllers indicate that there is not a lot of young Alpine Ash in the Dargo fire footprint.

A worrying aspect of the fire is shown in the map below. It shows quite intense fire hotspots on the western edge of the fire (12/1/26). The pale tabletop area in the photo (below and to the right of Mt Howitt) is the Howitt Plains. This area contains significant stands of older snow gum forests and must be protected from fire. FFMV were criticised for being a bit slow to get onto a fire on the Howitt Plains in December 2024. Sections of the Howitt Plains have been badly impacted by previous fires in the 2000s and the area is in recovery. It is essential that wildfire is kept out.

Fire detail, 12/1/26. Image: bushfire.io

It is disappointing to see that the control strategy only mentions township protection, protection of critical infrastructure and safe access to impacted private property in its priorities. How can a major fire on public land, including the Alpine national park, not include protection of ecological assets (eg fire sensitive vegetation communities or animal species) as a priority?

The fire management priorities do not include protection of ecological assets.

What next?

The BOM forecast suggests that the area could potentially receive around 20 millimetres of rain on Wednesday14 January, a little bit more on Thursday and considerable rain on Saturday. So the approach of the incident manager will be to try to contain the fire within its current footprint and keep it away from local towns until then.

The eastern edge of the fire is complex, with multiple areas of fire activity. If conditions shift and the south westerly wind picks up, it could push towards very significant areas including the Dargo High Plains and Wongungarra Valley.

Closures

A Watch and Act warning remains in place for nearby communities, with residents warned to monitor conditions. (12/1/26).

The following Parks/Areas are closed to the public (current at 12 JAN):

  • Blue Pool on Freestone Creek Road is Closed
  • The Alpine National Park north of Briagolong, East of Arbuckle Junction and Mount Howitt, west of Dargo including the Wonnangatta, and south of Abbeyard, west of the Great Alpine Rd to Lake Cobbler is Closed.
  • The Mitchell River National Park is Closed

The Dargo High Plains road is currently closed (12/1/26).

BELOW: current closures (17/1/26).

For further information check the following:

https://www.facebook.com/VicEmergencyGippsland

https://www.facebook.com/FFMVic

https://emergency.vic.gov.au/