FOREST Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) will commence its autumn planned burning program in the coming days if weather and forest conditions are deemed appropriate.

Planned burning, they say, is one of the key tools their firefighters use to reduce the size, intensity, and impact of bushfires.

Reducing fuels such as grass, leaves, bark, shrubs and small fallen branches means fires are less intense, slower to spread and safer for firefighters to control.

This comes after the arrival of cooler autumnal weather, just weeks after more than 10,000 hectares of bushland burned in fires near Licola, Dargo and Boho.

Over the coming days burns will be ignited at Bonegilla, Buckland, Marysville, Woods Point and Flowerdale.

Autumn is generally the best time of the year to undertake planned burns as the weather is more stable and fire behaviour is manageable and predictable.

This year more than 100 planned burns across an area of 46,300 hectares are prepared and ready for ignition in north east Victoria.

Priority burns are planned in state forest, parks and reserves around Marysville, Toolangi, Kinglake, Glenburn, Woods Point, Tatong, Howqua, Bright, Beechworth, Yackandandah, Mitta Mitta, Koetong and Tallangatta Valley.

FFMV will work with a range of agencies to assess weather and forest conditions, such as humidity, temperature, wind speed and fuel moistures, and will only carry out burns when the conditions are suitable, and it is safe to do so.

To find out when and where planned burns are happening near you visit www.vic.gov.au/plannedburns.