Region 15 operations officer Gavin Hope said the CFA chief executive had this week approved the fire ban extension until May 13 for Ballarat, Golden Plains, Moorabool and Hepburn.

It had been scheduled to be lifted on May 1.

It is the first time in several years that the fire restriction period has been extended past the beginning of May.

Mr Hope could not rule out further extensions to the restriction period if the warm weather and dry conditions continue, which could see the fire bans in place almost until winter.

"It's still been warm, we're getting winds come through so burn-offs can easily get out of control," Mr Hope said.

He said the underlying dryness of grass and scrub, well-below average rainfall, warmer than average temperatures and strong winds combined to increase the fire risk well in to next month.

So far during April there has been just 6mm of rain, compared to an average of 51.3mm, with only a slight chance of less than a millimetre of rain before the end of the month.

And April's average maximum temperature is 21.3C, 3.5C above the long-term average for the month.

The extreme fire risk has been apparent around Ballarat with a campfire sparking a large blaze through the pine plantation at Mount Clear last week, and a large grass and scrub fire that destroyed one house and damaged several others at Bunkers Hill last month.

But Mr Hope said the danger was not just on the outskirts of town. "When we attend house fires in town now we often see the whole yard catch fire. We've had quite a few where the front lawn, garden and trees have also burned because of the underlying dryness."

The extension means no burning off is allowed by private residents and all illegal burn offs will be reported to police during the fire restriction period.

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