Community
8 January, 2026
UPDATE: No trains running, transfer stations close and Charlton services revealed
FREE TO READ: A few updates from Buloke Shire, V/Line, Ambulance Vic and more. Here's what will be open and not throughout the day on Friday, January 9 in St Arnaud and Charlton on what has been declared a catastrophic fire danger day and state-wide total fire ban. Please comment below any others we may have missed and we will update the story.
AS TEMPERATURES sore today, St Arnaud, Charlton and surrounds are gearing for an even worse day on Friday, January 9.
The day has been declared a catastrophic fire danger day for the Wimmera region, which includes St Arnaud, and a state-wide total fire ban.
Conditions in the region will sit at:
St Arnaud: 43 degrees and windy with gusts potentially reaching 70km/h
Charlton: 44 degrees and windy
Businesses and services are in the process of deciding whether they will be open, closed or changing their hours to help beat the heat.
See a list below of what we know so far:
St Arnaud
From Northern Grampians Shire Council:
OPEN
St Arnaud Library: 10am - 6pm (extended hours)
St Arnaud Outdoor Pool: 12 - 8pm (free entry)
St Arnaud Community Resource Centre: 9am - 2pm
St Arnaud Senior Citizens Centre: 8am - 12pm
St Arnaud Visitor Information Centre: 10am - 4pm
Queen Mary Gardens: shaded and pet-friendly option
CLOSED
St Arnaud Customer Support Centre, but can be reached by phone on 03 5358 8700
St Arnaud Transfer Station
St Arnaud Sporting Club bistro
Schools
CLOSED
St Patrick's Primary School has said their school grounds are CLOSED to everyone, including community members and families
St Arnaud Primary School grounds and buildings are CLOSED to everyone
St Arnaud Secondary College grounds and buildings are CLOSED to everyone
Businesses
OPEN
St Arnaud Newsagency, but CLOSING at 2pm
Russ Studio Jewellers: 9.30am - 12pm
CLOSED
McCallum Disability Services
Ramjac
Charlton
From Buloke Shire Council:
CLOSED
Maternal child health services
Swimming pool
Library services
Landfill and transfer station
Immunisation services - to be rescheduled
OPEN
All other council services will be limited or restricted
Businesses
CLOSED
Steele's Butchers Charlton
Caffinated Chaos Coffee Van
Stay safe in the heat
Extreme heat does more than cause sunburn. It can worsen existing health conditions and, in severe cases, lead to life-threatening illnesses such as heatstroke.
Drink water regularly on very hot days, even before you feel thirsty, especially if you’re outdoors or being active.
Look out for signs of dehydration, including thirst, lightheadedness, dry mouth, tiredness, dark, strong-smelling urine, or passing less urine than usual.
If your doctor normally advises you to limit fluids, ask them how much you should drink during hot weather.
Use air conditioning or a fan, wear light and loose-fitting clothing, keep your skin wet (for example, with a spray bottle or damp sponge), and take cool showers or foot baths.
Close blinds or curtains to block heat from entering your home and if you need to head out, spend time in cool places such as air-conditioned buildings.
Check the weather forecast and Bureau of Meteorology heatwave warnings regularly.
If the hottest part of the day is coming, avoid outdoor work or exercise and reschedule strenuous activities to a cooler time.
People most at risk include those over 65, pregnant women, babies and young children, people with acute or chronic health problems, people who are socially isolated, and people with limited ways to keep cool (such as without air conditioning or living in buildings that heat up easily).
For more information on preparing for and coping with extreme heat, see the Better Health Channel's extreme heat page
Electricity distributor Powercor is strongly urging customers to plan ahead for tomorrow’s extreme weather, with forecasts of high winds and dry lightning that could damage electricity assets and cause localised power outages.
Powercor has activated its emergency response plan, with extra crews, control room operators, dispatchers, customer service specialists and technical experts ready to respond.
Powercor Network Emergency Manager Steve Rigoni said the forecast represents some of the most dangerous conditions seen in recent years, making it critical for Victorians to include power outages in their emergency planning.
“Tomorrow’s conditions are among the most severe we’ve faced in a long time. We’re asking everyone to act now – charge devices, prepare backup plans and make sure you’re ready,” Steve said.
“Our priority is community safety. We’ll be operating our network on highly sensitive settings to reduce the risk of starting fires. This means power may be affected if faults occur.
“If an outage happens, crews may need to carry out safety checks and line patrols before restoring power, so restoration can take longer than usual.”
Victorians can prepare by:
Charging phones and other devices.
Keeping a battery-powered radio for real-time updates.
Having a backup plan for life support equipment or caring for babies, elderly, disabled people or pets.
Signing up for SMS notifications about power supplies: https://www.powercor.com.au/notify
Steve said bushfires could damage electricity infrastructure and affect electricity supply to properties, impacting equipment such as electric water pumps.
“If our assets are damaged by a bushfire, it may take days or longer for our crews to be able to safely access these sites and complete repairs to electrical infrastructure. Please make sure power outages are part of your emergency planning,” Steve said.
Powercor has cancelled all planned work in catastrophic fire danger areas and will modify or cancel most other planned work to ensure power is restored by midday.
For more advice on preparing for outages, visit:
https://www.powercor.com.au/power-outages-and-emergencies/
Advice on how to prepare
Be Safe
Have a back-up plan if you rely on life support equipment or need electrical items for babies, the disabled, elderly or pets.
Plan to keep food safe: set your fridge to 5°C or below. An unopened fridge keeps food for about four hours.
Have plenty of drinking water if your supply relies on power.
Pre-cool your home or just the rooms you are using to a comfortable temperature.
Be Smart
Sign up for SMS notifications and choose your preferences: https://www.powercor.com.au/notify
Download the VicEmergency app and keep emergency numbers handy.
Know how to connect computers/tablets to your mobile hotspot.
Back up computer files.
Know how to open electric garage doors and gates manually.
Be Ready
Charge mobile phones, laptops and portable batteries.
If using a generator, ensure it’s fuelled, operational and you know how to use it safely.
Have a battery-powered radio for real-time news updates.
Keep battery-powered lamps or torches handy.
Know where a relief centre may be available within your community.
Ambulance Victoria announces red escalation ahead of catastriphic fire day
Ambulance Victoria has declared a Red Escalation across Victoria from 7am on Friday 9 January 2026, in response to the catastrophic fire danger declaration for the South West, Wimmera, North Central and North Country regions and in consultation with our emergency service partners.
For their safety, paramedics and first responders are being relocated from branches within declared regions of catastrophic fire danger risk and where those branches have been identified as high-risk due to their proximity to bushland and limited road access.
Crews will only be redeployed into these zones in the case of serious or life-threatening illness and only after a thorough risk assessment to consider the safety of our people.
Victorians are asked to follow the direction on VicEmergency and relocate now for their own safety and the safety of emergency services personnel.
We remind the community to please access alternative care services including:
The Victorian Virtual Emergency Department online 24/7 via www.vved.org.au
NURSE-ON-CALL by calling 1300 60 60 24, 24 hours a day, seven days a week
In other areas of the state, the community can also seek non-urgent medical support via:
Local Urgent Care Clinics, or
visiting their GP or local pharmacist.
A Red Escalation is the highest level of Ambulance Victoria’s response framework and is declared when an incident is, or has the potential to, cause severe impact to normal operations. It enables Ambulance Victoria to activate its Emergency Response Plan and take additional actions beyond normal business operations to maintain community and paramedic safety and patient care.
No V/Line and coach services on Maryborough line tomorrow
Due to catastrophic fire danger ratings forecast for the North Central, Northern Country, South West and Wimmera districts on Friday, 9 January, all V/Line train and coach services scheduled to operate through those fire districts will be cancelled.
No V/Line train, scheduled coach or replacement coach services will operate in a fire district while a Catastrophic fire danger rating is in place for that district.
All train services scheduled for the Albury, Ararat, Bendigo, Echuca, Maryborough, Seymour, Shepparton, Swan Hill and Warrnambool train lines will be cancelled, with no coach replacement services.
All coach services that pass through the North Central, North Country and South West fire districts will not operate for the entire journey including parts of the route not in the affected areas.
Scheduled coach services that operate completely in other fire districts not declared catastrophic will continue to operate. This includes services connecting to stations on closed train lines, however there will not be a connecting train or replacement coach service available to continue your journey.
Other scheduled coach services may also be cancelled or terminated short due to operational requirements.
All coach services for the Wimmera region that are scheduled to arrive and depart from Ararat and Ballarat stations, along with the Adelaide to Bendigo coach services are also cancelled.
These cancellations have been made based on the Australian Fire Danger Rating System advice for catastrophic fire danger ratings.
If a catastrophic fire danger rating is declared in other regions of Victoria, services that are scheduled to pass through those areas will also be cancelled. V/Line will communicate any service changes.
Passengers are advised to check the V/Line website for the latest travel information. Service changes will also be communicated via the V/Line app, social media and announcements.
Freight services operated on the V/Line network will be suspended and not run through these districts on Friday, 9 January.
Due to the forecast hot temperatures across the rest of Victoria on Friday, 9 January, extreme heat timetables will be in place for the Ballarat and Geelong lines.
Coaches are replacing trains between Southern Cross and East Pakenham on the Traralgon and Bairnsdale lines until the last services on Sunday, 11 January due to maintenance works on the metropolitan network.
Trains will continue to operate between Bairnsdale, Traralgon and East Pakenham but will run at slower than normal speeds, with service changes possible including longer journey times and cancellations. Some services may be replaced with coaches.
The latest information and extreme heat timetables are available at vline.com.au
Transport Victoria provides real-time traffic conditions and the latest public transport information at transport.vic.gov.au