The Central Plateau fire that originated west of Little Pine Lagoon and Lake Fergus on Tuesday continued to spread east on Saturday, causing a risk of ember attacks in Miena and surrounding areas.

Ten people chose to stay in the town on Saturday after emergency services door knocked the area.

Crews held the fire line, but were bracing for challenging conditions and strong winds. Further dangerous fire conditions were expected on Thursday.

Tasmania Fire Service district officer Brett Fazackerly said similar to the Gell River fire, the Central Plateau fire would only be extinguished with heavy rain – but there was none on the horizon.

The location of lightning strikes earlier this week that caused about 60 bushfires across Tasmania, including the Central Plateau fire:

“At this stage the crews are holding the line and hopefully, if the conditions stay as they are, with air support which has been very effective in suppressing the fire until we can get our ground crews in, we will be able to hold it at the line,” he said.

“This is a very large fire now, it could almost be considered three or four fires due to the distance between different heads of the fire.

“We have a significant fire around the back end, around Lake Fergus... it has taken a run last night across the Marlborough Highway, and that’s why that road is now closed.

“That’s the area that’s giving some problems for Miena township.”

Crews have reported “significant fire activity” right up until 10pm throughout this week.

The alpine vegetation – including kerosene plants – and the remote location have also hampered fire fighting efforts. The topography of the area also causes winds to swing around 90 degrees rapidly.

About 75 firefighters remained on the scene on Saturday, including 18 appliances from Hobart.

Remote area firefighters will also arrive from New Zealand early in the week, along with incident management personnel.

Mr Fazackerly said other parts of Tasmania could also be at risk from fire caused by dry lightning strikes.

“The dry lightning can strike a dead tree, that might start to smoulder and it could be some days before those embers start to fall out and start a fire, or the smoke becomes visible to us,” he said.

“We are still constantly running spotter run with fixed wing aircraft and helicopters to try and ascertain if there are any more of these lightning strikes that may have started fires that we are unaware of.”