Winslow firefighters put lives on the line to save Pomonal log cabin

Brigade captain Mat Deans and members Sue Rondeau, Daniel Deans, Colin McKane and Ben Johns prepared a strike team and received a call to head to the town to help with asset protection at 2pm on Tuesday, February 13.

However, that plan was put into disarray as they approached Pomonal.

About four kilometres out of the town, the strike team was hit with a wall of flames on the road in front of them and in the tops of the trees either side of the road.

"We had to cut some fences and start attacking the fire straight away," Mr Deans said.

After two hours, the team was able to continue on into the town.

Mr Deans said the team was sent to Water Hole Road to protect homes in the line of the fire.

He said a number of properties had already burnt to the ground before the team arrived.

Mr Deans said the team sprung into action when they saw the fire approaching a log cabin.

He said the fire got within metres of razing the home.

"We thought we would have no hope but we were able to save it," he said.

Mr Deans, who has been involved in fighting fires on Black Saturday and the 2019-20 fires in Victoria and NSW, said the task was "scary at times".

He said he was extremely proud of the efforts of his team.

"There were two hours with some pretty intensive heat," Mr Deans said.

"The heat was like nothing I have ever experienced before and the visibility at some stages was very low."

Mr Deans said the team had to be very strategic in the way it fought the fire to save the home.

"I'll admit at times it was pretty scary," he said.

"We didn't have a lot of water and we had to be very strategic."

Mr Deans said the team had to conserve the water as much as they could as the fire was blocking their exit.

He also had a moment when fighting the fire when he thought about family members who had died during the Pomonal fires in 2006.

"We lost family members in that fire - dad's cousins," Mr Deans said.

"There was a moment I stopped and thought about them and I knew I had to make sure that didn't happen to anyone else."

Mr Deans said the five brigade members arrived home in the south-west about 2.30am in the morning.

"We were very tired but we were proud we were able to save the log cabin," he said.

Mr Deans said it was an honour to be able to help protect community members.

"I've seen first hand the damage these fires can do," he said.

"I'm happy to do anything I can do to make it easier for the community involved."

Mr Deans said he was extremely grateful to his fellow brigade members.

He put their success down to "good team work, good communication, training and a little bit of luck and perseverance."

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan revealed the number of homes lost in the Pomonal bushfire had risen to 44.

The devastation was caused by two bushfires that have burned over 7000ha in and around the Grampians National Park since a dry lightning storm hit the region on Tuesday, February 13.

The revised figure follows reports from Thursday, February 15, of 24 homes lost in Pomonal and one in Dadswells Bridge.

"Pomonal is a little community so that is a significant proportion, perhaps as much as half of the town that has experienced loss," Ms Allan told ABC Radio Melbourne on Friday.

"There is going to be a lot of rebuilding there."

At least three businesses and 23 outbuildings have also been razed in the town.