Firefighters quickly brought a pre-dawn grass fire near Burrumbeet under control this morning.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
According to police, a driver of a b-double truck had pulled over on the Western Highway.
When the driver started to drive off, the heat of the engine caused the grass underneath it to catch fire about 5.40am.
Country Fire Authority brigades from Beaufort, Brewster, Burrumbeet and Langi Kal Kal quickly rushed to the scene.
The firefighters brought the fire, which burned about 10 by 10 metres of grass, under control in 20 minutes.
The cabin and the truck itself, which was transporting refrigerated goods, was damaged as a result of the blaze.
The truck driver was not injured.
It is going to be a very hot weekend, with the temperature to peak at 33 degrees on Saturday, 37 degrees on Sunday and 40 degrees on Monday.
After months of wet weather leading to increased grass growth, the recent warmer weather has dried it out. With the hot weather, it means there is an increased fire risk this weekend.
Read more: Grass fire risk on scorcher of a weekend
The risk led Assistant Chief Fire Officer (acting) for District 15, Chris Bigham, to urge people to take care this weekend as grass fires can spread extremely quickly.
If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.