The fire, which is believed to have been an accident, was quickly extinguished by Snake Valley fire fighting crews, leaving a half-hectare of burnt grass.

Police units were also called to the scene at Carngham-Linton Road and Ballarat-Carngham Road to help direct traffic through smoke as a result of the fire.

By 3.15pm the fire was declared safe.

A nearby resident told The Courier while there was not a lot of wind, the fire could have potentially been worse with so much long grass in the area.

“You think it’s going to be okay. But it goes to show, you don’t know what will happen,” she said.

“If it had of been windy and someone threw a cigarette (into the long grass) it could have gone anywhere.” 

As of Monday, fire restrictions will be enforced in the Ballarat region.

A CFA spokeswoman on Saturday said 114 burn-offs were logged in the Ballarat region, with a total of 827 logged in the state of Victoria.

With fire restrictions beginning on Monday, she urged residents to remember to adhere to permit conditions and to log the burn with CFA Burn-off Notifications to avoid CFA members being sent to registered burn-offs when they are not needed.

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