A fundraiser to help Chelsea Quick and Nathan Moon has raised more than $3000, with the community asked to dig deep to help out.

Ms Quick, Mr Moon, his two daughters and their son Jhett have to start again after the fire destroyed their Cathcart home on January 5.

A District 16 spokesman said the blaze may have begun in their split system airconditioning unit.

"The fire began outside the house ... but the investigator is still completing the reports," he said.

No one was injured as the family was out when the fire began.

Ms Quick said a Vic Emergency notification for the fire popped up her phone while they were out, but it didn't appear to be on her property.

Nonetheless, the family knew how quickly things could escalate after living in the Grampians region during the 2014 fires, and had a fire plan ready to go.

"I'm really switched onto the Vic Emergency app, and every time it pops up I'm checking it," Ms Quick said.

"Before we'd even opened (the app) up we said 'alright, let's get in the car' because I had a fire box ready and everything. We went to the servo and filled up. We started heading home."

The emergency app updated while they were driving back.

"The little drop arrow (on the app) said it was near our house but not our actual house. Then it changed into a building fire," Ms Quick said.

"A friend pulled us over as we were coming down the (nearby) dirt road; we saw the smoke and still didn't realise it was our house. He jumped out of the car and said 'it's your house and everything's gone.'

"We ran to the house and it was just in flames. The walls had started to come down already."

The shock still hasn't worn off, Ms Quick said.

"It was only by chance that we weren't in the house," she said. "We feel really defeated and like we haven't come up for air yet."

Ms Quick said there would have been little they could have done had they been at home.

They had left the split-system on while they were out, which was a total period of about 90 minutes.

"It was one of the newest things in the house," she said. "We looked after it properly."

They also rarely left the split-system on when they went out, and changed it's filter every week.

Mr Moon had recently lost his job and so to save money, Ms Quick had cut back on expenses including contents insurance for the home, which they rented from a family friend.

"We'd only been without it for two or three months," she said.

"I've always had contents insurance."

After their time living in the Grampians they were also extremely fire prepared.

The property's grass was short, they had full water tanks on the property, and a fire plan. "You do everything you physically can to not start a fire," Ms Quick said.

The couple are engaged and had planned to hold the wedding on the property early next year.

"We had already started getting everything together for it and we lost everything except the dress," Ms Quick said.

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Even more heartbreaking, the ashes of the baby they lost in 2017 were destroyed in the fire.

"Everything we had of him, and every single memory, was in that box," Ms Quick said. "That's why we were screaming (during the fire).

"That was the only thing in the house that really mattered."

Ms Quick said she gives a big thank you to the firies for their quick action and sensitivity.

She said. the rest of the loss paled in comparison, but was still difficult to comprehend.

"You can't comprehend that you own nothing," Ms Quick said.

"I have my car that we were in, and the people that were there when it started dragged Nathan's boat out and saved that, and we had his motorbike and the girls' four-wheeler in the machinery shed that didn't get touched.

"That's all that we have left."

The family is staying with a friend, and finding accommodation will be a priority.

In the meantime another friend, Claire Jennings, has set up a fundraiser to support the family.

The recently established bushfire crisis relief group B & G Fire Relief in Ararat has started fundraising for the family as well.

"The overwhelming support has been incredible and greatly appreciated," Ms Jennings said.

"We have a long way to go still but the efforts by the community have made a huge difference to getting back on track. It has all come as such a shock to everyone but we are so lucky that they hadn't been home and asleep when it happened."

Ms Quick was unsure how long it would take for the funds to be released and said in the meantime gift vouchers were just as welcome. Ararat Rural City Council is also assisting the family.

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