Vic bushfire plan saved lives and homes

Wye River's successful community fire plan means locals will be planning new houses, not funerals.

Local firefighters saved two thirds of the Great Ocean Road town on Christmas Day as an intense blaze tore into the town.

No lives were lost in the fires.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews praised the town's well-organised fire plan, which was first written in 1984.

"That's exactly why, yes, we have homes to rebuild, but we have no funerals to go to," he told reporters on Monday.

"Preparation is the best and most important thing."

Even though 116 out of 334 homes in Wye River and Separation Creek were lost, emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley said he expected the number to be much higher.

The local CFA brigade's Facebook page was flooded with messages from grateful home-owners thanking them for saving houses.

Wye River CFA captain Roy Moriarty said the community was well aware of the fire risks, and had contributed as volunteers and with donations over the years.

Mr Andrews said the community had obeyed evacuation instructions and that's why everyone lived.

"Leave early and live. Wye river is a testament to that. That's no slogan, it's a fact," he said.

Mr Andrews said the amount of back burning around the town had been appropriate.

"The amount of back burning that was safe to be done, has been done," he said.