Members of the Ross Creek, Smythesdale and Scarsdale communities have banded together in "frightening" conditions, as a large grass fire prompted evacuation warnings for the areas on Tuesday afternoon.
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Crews were called out to Staffordshire Reef Road near Jubilee Road in Newtown about 3.30pm on Tuesday along with air support, after the blaze sparked on private land.
It came as Ballarat reached a top of 35.1 degrees at 12.30pm, with some wind gusts reaching 80kmh in the middle of the afternoon.
An Emergency Warning and Watch and Act Warning was then issued for areas including Newtown, Scarsdale and Staffordshire Reef, before Ross Creek, Smythesdale and Italian Gully were added to further warnings as fire reached the Ross Creek State Forest.
While residents evacuated, a relief centre was set up at the Haddon Recreation Center.
Smythesdale residents Steve and Mary were at the centre on Tuesday night, having a cup of coffee with their two cats and dog Annie.
They decided to leave after they could see the fire "straight through the bushes" near their house.
"My next door neighbour, he didn't know, I had to go and tell him there was a fire here," Steve said.
It was the first major fire the couple experienced.
"I was at work, I got a few alerts and texts," Mary said. "I said, 'there's nothing at home I need' ".
The pair were just one of many residents who evacuated the town.
Woady Yaloak Equestrian Centre secretary Nadine Gass, who lives on Sebastopol-Smythesdale Road, said many people brought their horses to the centre for safety.
"We open the grounds for people to use during days of total fire ban or bad fire days," she said.
There were "20-odd horses" that stayed overnight, as well as people in campers and caravans.
About 40 horses, and many owners also spent the night at the Ballarat Pony Club grounds in Victoria Park which is also opened up for evacuations when fires break out in the region.
Ms Gass said she was not initially aware of the evacuation warnings.
"A friend rang me and said, 'you know you're being evacuated?'" she said.
Living at her property for 30 years, Ms Gass said it was the first time she has been evacuated.
Ms Gass said she was proud of her community who had come together to offer assistance to others and was also grateful for the CFA volunteers and other firefighters who had been fighting the blaze, like the Smythesdale CFA, which had crews working overnight and into Wednesday morning.
"We're so grateful for people coming in to help," she said adding local Facebook pages were "running red hot" with people offering assistance.
Almost three kilometres along the Glenelg Highway, Scarsdale General Store owner Belinda Koenig also evacuated along with many others.
"I had to evacuate - it (the fire) was massive," Ms Koenig said.
"If that wind had have changed direction, we wouldn't have stood a chance."
She said many people in the town didn't get much sleep, and neither did others in Smythesdale and Ross Creek.
"Everyone was watching it (the fire)," Ms Koenig said.
"I went to my son's place, others I know went to a motel.
"By 7.30pm, if you were looking out the back you were pretty much looking at it (the fire)."
She spoke to new people to town to make sure they were okay, and said the town always looks after each other in times like this.
"We do try to look after each other. We are so good in this town."
It was business as usual on Wednesday in the general store, which also serves as a post office, while The Courier visited Ms Koenig.
As customers entered and spoke to her, the fire was the main discussion point.
Ms Koenig said it was the first time in 17 years working there she had been evacuated.
Ross Creek residents and General Store owners Anna Paxton and Ben Martin also had a near-sleepless night, the blaze lit up the night sky.
Like Smythesdale, residents were seen helping others in getting animals to safety.
Ms Paxton said she was grateful for the community helping each other out and also thanked the Ballarat community for offering floats to help take horses to safety.
"I only got about two hours (sleep), on and off," Ms Paxton said.
"There were CFA trucks coming from places I've never heard of."
Ms Paxton also praised the CFA and local volunteers for their tireless work, which likely saved houses.
"The CFA guys and girls were incredible," she said.
"They just made sure people were safe."
The pair said they had also heard reports of flames jumping from the tops of trees.
The warnings were eventually downgraded to Advice messages in the early hours of Wednesday morning, however the blaze was still not under control.
Firefighting efforts continued into Wednesday, with aerial waterbombers continuing to dump water on the fireground.
On Wednesday morning, CFA Incident Controller Stephen Walls said the fire had burnt just under 500 hectares, and cooler and less windy conditions helped in the fight, but efforts would likely continue into Thursday.
"I have to say it's not moving very quickly," Mr Walls said.
"The community might see some increased smoke on occasions from the fire but there would be no cause for concern if they do."
As of Wednesday morning, Mr Walls said there was no significant property damage.
A formal investigation into the cause was due to be conducted on Wednesday.
"I'd just like to thank the firefighters who worked (on Tuesday) under trying conditions and into (Tuesday night)," Mr Walls said.
"There were a lot of people from Forest Fire Management Victoria and the CFA who clocked on (Tuesday morning) and didn't clock off until (Wednesday morning)."
