The killer trees of Gippsland are not hard to find.

They are dotted along hundreds of kilometres of roads, their scorched trunks marked in spray paint with a big yellow "K".

Key points: Army crews face a massive task assessing 8,600 kilometres of fire-affected Victorian roads

Army crews face a massive task assessing 8,600 kilometres of fire-affected Victorian roads The priority is re-opening 150 kilometres of the Princes Highway from Orbost to Mallacoota

The priority is re-opening 150 kilometres of the Princes Highway from Orbost to Mallacoota Victoria's state of disaster was lifted at midnight on Saturday night

"Killer trees" are exactly what their name suggests; tall timber, so badly damaged in the fires that they could fall onto the road at any time.

"There'd probably be about two, three tons of weight coming down on you. It's not going to end well," Jules Vickers told the ABC.

He is a Lance Corporal in the Army Reserve, and a highly skilled arborist.

It is his job to work out how to safely bring these trees down.

"K" stands for killer. ( ABC News: Ben Knight )

Jules Vickers is a skilled arborist assessing bushfire-damaged trees near Mallacoota. ( ABC News: Ben Knight )

Some trees look badly damaged, but the danger is often hidden.

"The root system can come away at the back where it's all burnt through," he said.

"That's what brings the danger."

Sometimes, the only way to bring them down safely is to throw a rope around them, hook them up to the Army's massive armoured Bushmaster vehicles and pull them away from houses or power lines as they fall.

The scale of this task is difficult to comprehend.

The Victorian Government estimates there are 8,600 kilometres of fire-affected roads that will need to be assessed for clearance across the firegrounds — from the Princes Highway to the dirt tracks of Victoria's Alpine region.

"It's a very large job. Every road in the area affected by the fires needs to be cleared," said Major Josh Farnsworth, officer in command with the 22nd Engineering Regiment.

Major Josh Farnsworth takes a short break in the back of an Army Bushmaster. ( ABC News: Ben Knight )

The priority is reopening 150 kilometres of the Princes Highway from Orbost to Mallacoota.

But every road here is somebody's lifeline.

Like Lynddon Poore, who lives at the end of the road the Army Reserve has been clearing this weekend — and brought the crew a batch of homemade muffins for afternoon tea.

"I just can't believe what's happening here with these people. I really can't," he said.

"We expected there'd be some work, but not this. This is terrific."

Lynddon Poore is full of praise for the work of the crews helping the community. ( ABC News: Ben Knight )

Even though the fires have passed, the work is extremely dangerous.

The fires burned through here more than a week ago — but blackened stumps are still smoking.

A crew can cover about 30 kilometres of road a day. ( ABC News: Ben Knight )

They glow with embers when the wind picks up, threatening to burst into flame again.

This crew is clearing around 30 kilometres of road each day.

There are other Army crews working in other parts of the state, as well as teams from the Country Fire Authority (CFA), VicRoads, and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.

But with thousands of kilometres of road left to clear — and weeks of the fire season left to run — this task may only get bigger.

Major Farnsworth said it is work that has to be done.

"If there are dangerous trees along those roads, we need to clear them so the community can get through safely.

"There is a long way still to go, but we're here to do it."