MINIMAY farmer and Country Fire Authority volunteer Tim Hawkins watched helplessly, taking refuge in a firetruck, as flames hurried towards his property on Tuesday night.
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Mr Hawkins said the fire ravaged the 200-acre property surrounding the house on most sides.
“The flames came withing 15 or 20 metres of the house,” he said.
“I was firefighting maybe half a kilometre away.”
Mr Hawkins said they believed the fire was sparked by a header to harvest clover operating nearby.
“The fire was well contained but flared up when the wind changed. It was a big concern,” he said.
“We had sprinklers on when the fire was about two kilometres away to give protection but when it started up again it was so ferocious there was no time to do anything.
“We just jumped in the truck and took cover as the smoke and fire went through.”
Mr Hawkins lives at the property with wife Annabel and their two children, who were not home at the time.
He said the family was shaken but pleased the damage was not more extensive, having completed and stored their hay harvest the day before.
“It’s very upsetting,” he said.
“Things like this do happen in the country. It’s good that when you need it all the authority and neighbours pull together and were so well resourced.
“We had helicopters, airplane, strike teams – they did a great job.
“It’s great to see the spirit of the authority working so well.”
Mr Hawkins said he discovered his home survived via social media.
“I was on the truck and I saw a photo on Facebook,” he said.
“I just thought ‘wow, that’s our place’.
“You always see someone else but you don’t expect it in your own backyard.”
Mr Hawkins, who has been an authority volunteer for about 25 years, said the work of fellow volunteers and recommended fire-prevention methods helped save his home.
“The house is fine. The fencing around the house and pipes will need some work, and burnt trees on the property – it’s unknown whether they’ll survive,” he said.
“We only built the house five years ago and we put a lot of thought into fire prevention at the time.
“I do a lot of mowing of the lawn area to keep the fuel down. Basically mowing around the house and the great work of the authority saved the day.
“My neighbour would have lost crops.”
Mr Hawkins said authority volunteers worked from 1pm to well into the night to put out the fire.
“People in the area took refuge and moved away to a safe area,” he said.
“The way things were going it could have gone a long way. It was better to go to the lake. It was too dangerous.”