IN THE FIRE ZONE

FIREFIGHTERS continue to hold the line on the uncontained Gell River bushfire, but warn the situation could change quickly with fire weather set to worsen from today.

The warning comes as the first on-the-ground pictures emerge showing charred landscapes within the Tasmanian wilderness — however the heroic efforts of firefighters have so far contained damage to vegetation that can recover.

The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting heatwave conditions for inland Tasmania over the next few days.

Temperatures could reach the mid to high 30s in the Upper Derwent Valley and central Tasmania today and tomorrow, with temperatures in the low 30s expected until Friday.

A cooler change is expected late Friday into Saturday.

The fire, which has burnt about 20,000ha, continues to burn about 20km northwest of Maydena.

As of last night an advice alert remained in place for Maydena, Tyenna, Mount Field and National Park.

Residents are being encouraged to review their bushfire plans and identify their nearest safer place.

Parks and Wildlife Service deputy incident controller Shane Breen said the incident management team was ready for uncontrolled fire outbreaks.

“We are confident contingencies that have already been put in place south of the fire to protect important assets are sufficient, should they be required. This involved setting up sprinklers around several huts of historical significance and deploying crews to protect critical communications infrastructure on Tim Shea,” Mr Breen said.

“Firefighters continue to identify and extinguish hot spots near the fire edge, however it only takes one ember to land in unburnt vegetation and start a new fire and that is a real possibility with elevated fire weather.”

Up to 100 personnel from Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania Fire Service, Sustainable Timber Tasmania and private contractors along with six rotary wing aircraft are working on the fire.

Air operations are being staged from an air base near Bushy Park as well as Strathgordon and 12 remote area firefighters from NSW Rural Fire Service are working on the northeast edge of the fire.

In some areas, firefighters are walking four hours return to fight hot spots in rugged terrain.

University of Tasmania fire ecologist David Bowman said while images of the damage looked shocking, the burnt areas appeared to be mainly buttongrass and eucalypts.

“They are well adapted to being burnt and have the capacity to regenerate… My message is to reassure people it’s not as bad as it looks,” he said.

Professor Bowman said parts of Tasmania could become more vulnerable to fire if prolonged periods of hot weather continued into February.