The owner of the Hazelwood power station and coal mine has been committed to stand trial over the 2014 mine fire which blanketed parts of south-east Victoria in thick smoke and forced the evacuation of vulnerable residents.

Hazelwood Power Corporation (HPC) yesterday pleaded not guilty after an eight-day committal hearing in Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court to 10 Victorian WorkCover Authority (VWA) charges relating to the blaze in Morwell, east of Melbourne.

The fire, which started on February 9, 2014, burned inside the mine for 45 days and shrouded Morwell and surrounding towns in acrid smoke and ash.

HPC is accused of breaching the Occupational Health and Safety Act, including five charges for failing to provide a safe workplace, and five charges for failing to ensure the public was not exposed to risks.

VWA has accused the operator of exposing workers and the community to smoke, carbon monoxide and fine particles; failing to have a reticulated fire water pipe system on the mine's northern wall; failing to slash vegetation; and failing to begin wetting down the northern batters on a day of extreme fire danger.

The matter has been referred to the Victorian County Court for trial, where a directions hearing has been set for next month in Melbourne.

Latrobe Valley residents calling for trial to be heard locally

A lobby group representing people impacted by the mine fire was disappointed the next phase of the case would happen in Melbourne.

Voices of the Valley president Wendy Farmer said the trial should be accessible to the people whose lives were disrupted by the blaze.

"From a community point of view I'm disappointed that it will happen in Melbourne," Mrs Farmer said.

"When it was decided that the committal hearing would be heard in Morwell it was because it was of community interest.

"It would have been good to keep the whole case down in the Latrobe Valley if that was possible.

"The whole two weeks of [the committal] hearing, there has been community members present, of course travelling to Melbourne is going to take that opportunity of attending the sessions away from these people."