The State Control Centre has confirmed 24 houses were lost at Pomonal and one at Dadswells Bridge in the Grampians National Park, although damage assessments are continuing.

Grampians Tourism chief executive Marc Sleeman, who was forced to flee his Pomonal property on Tuesday afternoon, estimated the losses equated to about 40 per cent of all homes in his small town.

“When you start counting how many homes are in that small Pomonal pocket, not considering the outer regions, it’s a pretty big impact,” Mr Sleeman told AAP in Stawell on Thursday.

“It was just that change of wind that swept around and took hold.”

The community member and father of three only learned on Wednesday that his home was still standing after firefighters and the Country Fire Authority volunteers defended it.

“It’s bittersweet when I know lots of friends and family have lost homes and lost businesses,” Mr Sleeman said.

“There was lots of hugs, as you saw last night at that community meeting, and quite a lot of tears.

“To have 27 to 30 homes destroyed in one fire in a small community like Pomonal is just a shocking thing to happen.”

Watch and act warnings have been downgraded to advice messages for both the fires to the national park’s east and north, paving the way for Pomonal and Dadswells Bridge residents to soon return to home to survey the damage for themselves.

“Hopefully we get notification that we go in and just assess what we’ve lost,” said Mr Sleeman.

“I know we’ve lost a few sheds and boats and things like that, but small things in comparison to what other people have lost.”

Marc Sleeman poses for a photo at the Big Hill Lookout at Stawell
Mr Sleeman is among Pomonal residents waiting to be told when they can return home to assess damage. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)
Mr Sleeman urged tourists not to cancel their travel plans to other parts of the region which remain open.

“For a lot of the businesses in Pomonal, they’re going to need the support more than ever now,” he said.

“It’s a very a community-minded town and I know that when we do get back in there it’s going to be all hands on deck getting people back on their feet.”

Emergency relief payments of $640 per adult and $320 per child with a maximum of $2240 for a family are  available for affected residents.

People will be able to apply for the payments over the phone or in person at emergency relief centres in Ararat and Stawell.

Almost all fires sparked in Victoria on Tuesday are believed to have been started by lightning strikes as severe storms lashed the state.

Another bushfire sprang up at the Warby-Ovens National Park near the Victorian Alps in the state’s northeast on Wednesday, with authorities issuing a watch-and-act alert before later downgrading the warning.

The threat from an uncontrolled bushfire at Newtown near Ballarat has also eased after residents were told to evacuate.