Managers of Hepburn Health in Daylesford, Trentham and Creswick, and John Curtain Aged Care in Creswick, say they will only evacuate residents if they are under "direct" threat from a fire in the area.

The reason, they say, is moving their frail and elderly patients every time a code red day was declared was too dangerous.

Under the new code red fire rating system, the decision of whether to evacuate aged care facilities is the responsibility of individual health service providers.

Hepburn Health Acting CEO Peter Barton said the the code red rating system had placed aged care providers in a difficult situation.

On code red days, the government is urging people to leave their homes.

But Mr Barton said moving the frail and elderly on each occasion a code red day was declared would pose its own dangers.

"We wouldn't find it appropriate to evacuate just because it's code red," Mr Barton said.

"It could be quite disruptive and disturbing for the patients.

"It's a difficult situation."

Mr Barton said Hepburn Health would evacuate its campuses only if there was a real danger.

A real danger would include situations where a fire was in the immediate vicinity.

John Curtain Aged Care CEO Jenni Sewell also believed immediate evacuation was not the right course of action.

"We've got 65 residents, some capable of sitting in a passenger seat and knowing who they are through to people who are nursed in a bed with dementia who don't know that much," she said.

"We've decided to stay in place unless we are in direct threat.

"We would evacuate if a fire was 30 to 50 kilometres away with the wind blowing in our direction."

She said the staff were "absolutely prepared" for an urgent getaway.

Every resident had an evacuation pack that included their name and photo, toiletries and essentials for two to three days.

They had decided to stay put after consultation with families, the Country Fire Authority and health departments.