The owners were not home when the fire broke out, but raised the alarm when they returned to the Korongah Road property and noticed smoke coming out of the ceiling about 2.45pm.

By the time fire crews arrived the weatherboard house was well alight. “The house had a good deal of flame coming up the side and into the roof,” incident controller Leigh Dwyer said.

“It got into the roof space and has completely run through the roof space and it’s pretty much a total loss.”

Operations officer Grant Kidd said while the fire damage was contained to one wall and the entire roof, smoke, heat and water damage meant that the whole house would probably have to be demolished. He said the damage bill would be about $400,000.

“It started in the Coonara and it looks like it’s leapt from the Coonara to the wall and then in to the roof cavity,” he said.

He said the fire was a timely reminder for home owners that coming into winter they need to make sure their Coonara heaters and fireplaces were well maintained and cleaned.

Mr Dwyer said it took almost two hours to bring the fire under control because firefighters has trouble accessing the tin roof.

He said they had to get water from the Moyne River because of the trouble they had accessing water at the rural property, but it did not delay the firefighting efforts of crews from Port Fairy, Toolong, Kirkstall, Willatook, Orford, Yambuk, Koroit and Warrnambool.