Last week, a car caught fire after overheating while being driven around a paddock, with the fire spreading to scrub next to a pine plantation.

It's the latest in a series of car fires, some suspicious, which threatened the heavily forested area.

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The situation is not helped when people also dump rubbish, including mattresses, among the trees.

Sally Pope's home is nearby, and she said she is sick of worrying about her family.

"We've been here 20 years, it's gradually getting worse," she said.

"The car burning thing has literally skyrocketed in the last two years.

"The majority of the people in our court have families, and animals as well - I had a couple of close calls in the past, it's a bit of a worry."

She noted there was a primary school nearby, and hoped there would be more patrols.

Ms Pope's neighbours, Hancock Victoria Plantations, are also frustrated by the repeated fires.

The company's corporate fire manager Ruth Ryan said they were "incredibly sick of them".

"They endanger the whole community," she said.

"Whenever we get alerted to one, we call the police in to investigate, and we also, over the summer months, do patrols through the plantation areas to potentially pick up these sorts of things."

The company has invested in hidden cameras through the plantation, and dashcams on each of its vehicles.

The cost of removing the cars and rubbish was extensive as well - while the responsibility for removal depends on a number of factors, it's always expensive, with the City of Ballarat, HVP, and occasionally the owners of the cars involved.

Car wrecks and other rubbish added to the risks for firefighters.

"Cars can hinder access, vehicles can come around the corner and run into them, it can be quite dangerous depending on where they're left," Ms Ryan said.

CFA duty officer Paul Ditchburn said there was always a risk the fire could spread, especially in drier months.

"It's a frustration because it takes resources away from potentially life-threatening incidents that occur at the same time and there's an increase to the workload for firefighters and a risk to their own safety," he said.

"There's a number of things that can go wrong, fuel tanks, bonnets, boots, suspension components, tyres are pressurised in a fire, scrap metal, glass, and there's always a concern there'll be a person in the car that's on fire, it's always treated as an emergency."

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