Victoria fires: 25 homes confirmed destroyed in Grampians communities

Residents in the Victorian town of Pomonal are reeling after bushfires destroyed 24 homes in their community and another was lost nearby Dadswells Bridge since Tuesday.

Emergency Management Victoria confirmed on Thursday morning that 25 homes had been destroyed in bushfires in and around the Grampians national park, in the state’s west.

The Bellfield bushfire, which has burnt through 2,736 hectares near Pomonal, was still burning, with an advice-level warning in place on Thursday, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) said.

“It’s still active within the lines that have been established,” the CFA’s district 17 acting assistant chief fire officer, Mark Gunning, told ABC Wimmera.

“It’s a big fire, there’s still hectic fire within the perimeters and people still need to be vigilant and watch for alerts and changing conditions.”

At a community meeting in Pomonal on Wednesday night, dozens of residents who evacuated the small rural township waited to find out whether their homes were destroyed.

Walking up to emergency services personnel one at a time and showing their drivers licences, residents were privately told whether their house had survived the blaze.

The Northern Grampians shire council’s mayor, Rob Haswell, was at the meeting and said there were a “lot of broken hearts” but also an overwhelming sense of community spirit and being there for one another.

Haswell outlined the “harrowing” situation on the ground at Pomonal, which is a condensed area of about 400 people living on two- and three-acre blocks. The town has become a “toxic site”, he said, with aeroplanes flying over homes and dumping fire retardant, while powerlines and trees were down across the community.

“You can’t just go back there because it’s not safe,” he said on Thursday.

“You can’t drink the water out of the tap [or] that’s come off the roof if it rains or in your tank.

“I know it must be terribly harrowing for the people who want to go back to their houses, they feel they’ve been torn away from them – especially the ones that actually know that their houses have survived.”

There was an active warning for bushfire smoke in the air on Thursday and emergency services have warned of potential toxic gases.

Gunning said some buildings in the area are made of asbestos.

Colin Macaffer, a Pomonal resident and the owner of Barney’s Bar and Bistro, told ABC News Breakfast some homes across the tight-knit community have “just caved in”, while others have been spared.

“My wife and I [have] been fortunate enough to only have a slight scarring of blackness on the garden and the lawn outside,” he said.

“We’re a tight-knit community, always have been, and this will make us a lot stronger.”

Macaffer was one of 40 people at the Stawell relief centre who put their arms around each other and vowed to stick together during the recovery ahead.

“The thing with Pomonal is we’ll just rebuild,” he said. “We’re in a beautiful, beautiful area. We’re already starting to look ahead to the future, to help our neighbours, and just form that even stronger bond that we’ve got.”

His family bistro survived the bushfires and has been acting as a hub for the community, as well as first responders and emergency agencies.

Pomonal accommodation provider Pauline Walsh told ABC Wimmera her family home and six of their cabins were burnt.

“The family home is gone, the roof is gone – it’s completely caved in,” she said.

About 50 people have been staying overnight at the relief centre operated by Northern Grampians shire council.

Haswell said the region had a “chronic” accommodation shortage and re-housing those who have lost their homes is going to be a “real challenge”.