Emergency crews are still surveying damage left by the 1908-hectare fire, which was sparked by a lightning strike about 6.40pm Friday.

The communities of Dadswells Bridge, Ledcourt and Roses Gap endured a tense night as flames edged closer, with locals and tourists evacuating to Horsham or Stawell.

Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) fuel management officer Lee Gleeson served as divisional commander for the blaze and said wind changes hampered crews’ efforts.

“Usually you’ll have a fire that will run for a couple of hours under a north-westerly (wind), then you’ll get a south-westerly change and they’ll be the only changes you’ll get in a six-to-eight-hour period,” he said.

“In this instance, they had three (wind changes) in two, three hours. It was hectic. You hang on to your hat. All you can do is just go back to your training and try to get a structure in place and a communications plan in place.”

Grampians Edge Caravan Park owner Dave Henshaw remained at his property to extinguish embers thrown up by the fast-moving fire.

“I evacuated everybody out of the park. I just stayed here and I had my truck all ready to go,” he said.

“I had all my cabins full. The guests went to Horsham and stayed in hotels and caravan parks.”

About 200 firefighters from across the south-west rushed to the area to help, working with support from three water-bombing aircraft, 45 tankers and five bulldozers.

Early on Saturday morning the bushfire spread from national park to farmland, destroying several small sheds and killing two sheep and two goats.

“We were really fortunate there was no dwellings lost.

There was probably a dozen of those under threat,” Mr Gleeson said.

“For a 1900-hectare fire that ran like it did, to have those minimal losses was a great effort. All up, it was a pretty good save by everyone involved.”

Volunteers yesterday scanned charred ground for injured wildlife as fire control experts ensured a containment zone was secure.

DSE incident controller Geoff Evans said a 17-kilometre fire line helped bring the blaze under control about 8am on Saturday morning.

“About three quarters of the (burnt) land is national park and one quarter is private property,” he said.