Tasmanian emergency bushfire warning issued for Dolphin Sands, fires at Glenlusk and Levendale downgraded

A shack has burnt down in a bushfire in Dolphin Sands on Tasmania's east coast, where residents are currently being warned to seek shelter.

The uncontrolled bushfire is travelling towards Dolphin Sands Road and is putting lives and homes at risk, with thick smoke and showers of embers expected.

Rhian Peltzer and her family live in Evandale in the state's north, so they were not at their Dolphin Sands property during the fire. But they spend most weekends and all school holidays there.

Ms Peltzer said she received messages from the Dolphin Sands community telling her about the fire, and she and her husband then witnessed their shack go up in flames via their security cameras.

"My understanding is there was a builder next door and he saw that the roof of our shack was smouldering, so he rushed over there and he was trying to put the fire out," she said.

"He tried to get access to our water tanks that feed the house, but the fire had actually melted the pump.

Ms Peltzer said they had spent years building the home, having recently finished furnishing it.

"We really put our heart and soul into that place and really made it home, and it's just absolutely devastating to see it up in smoke," she said.

The Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) said it was aware of damage to properties in the Dolphin Sands area, but the extent of the assets impacted would not be known until Friday morning.

Glamorgan-Spring Bay council said it had opened an evacuation centre at the Swansea Town Hall for anyone who needed a place to go.

"The community, being as strong as it is, we've actually already had people turn up with donations of food," acting council CEO Dick Shaw said.

After challenging winds, aircraft eventually deployed

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds for large parts of the state, which is not expected to fall below the warning threshold until later this evening, sometime between 8-11pm.

"However for several hours overnight and into the early hours of tomorrow morning, we're expecting gusts to remain in the 50 to 80 kilometres per hour range — which in Tasmania with our topography can be quite complex at times," senior meteorologist Luke Johnston said.

Damaging gusts up to 100kph have been recorded around Hobart on Thursday.

The winds have made it difficult for firefighters to respond with helicopters, TFS regional fire commander Simon Pilkington said.

Mr Pilkington said 77 crews were deployed to the fires, with many still working into the night.

"We've had a rapidly evolving day today with fire weather exceeding what was predicted," he said Thursday afternoon.

"We're hoping the winds will abate towards the evening … however the high level winds will stay erratic," he said.

Mr Pilkington said there had been 18 fires across the state on Thursday, with 12 ongoing.

Fires at Glenlusk and Levendale downgraded

Emergency warnings at Glenlusk, north-west of Hobart, and Levendale, in the state's south-east, were downgraded to watch and act on Thursday afternoon.

Before that, the TFS had said the uncontrolled fire at Glenlusk — which started in vegetation on Molesworth Road — could impact the area at any moment, and was expected to put lives and homes at risk.

"We have crews undertaking asset protection in the area, but at this stage we haven't had any homes directly impacted or lost [near Glenlusk]."

Mr Pilkington said the fire would be difficult to control until later in the evening.

"It is expected that this incident will peak and then retract in a pretty short period as the weather abates later today," he said.

"Conditions may change quickly so please remain vigilant."

There are currently 24 fire crews still at the scene.

A fire at Levendale, north-east of Hobart, has also been downgraded from emergency to watch-and-act level.

Earlier, the TFS said the uncontrolled fire was travelling towards New Country Marsh Road in Levendale and was expected to put lives at risk.

Rhyndaston, Colebrook and Abels Bay fires downgraded

Bushfire watch and act alerts had been issued for three separate blazes in Rhyndaston and Colebrook in the southern midlands and Abels Bay in the Huon Valley.

The warnings have since been downgraded to advice and there is no longer any immediate threat to communities there.

Mr Pilkington said communities should start to take action during a "watch and act" alert, not wait until it reached emergency level.