Mr Kelm, of Green Lake, is the Country Fire Authority’s Grampians Group officer – a role Mr Carter held many years before him.

Mr Carter formerly lived at Wartook before moving to Horsham 16 years ago.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Northern Grampians Complex fire, five years on

His memories of the Northern Grampians Complex fire, though he was not in active duty at the time, remain fresh.

“I went to the meeting at the Laharum hall on the Thursday night – more out of interest sake than anything, because I used to live in the area,” he said.

“This guy was talking about the Phoenix model, a computer fire modelling program, and about how the fire wouldn't do this tonight and it would do that at such-and-such a time tomorrow.

“I went outside the hall and I said to (one of the) officers at the time, ‘If you don't do something now, you'll burn out the bloody countryside. You have to light it.’

“My forebears taught me to fight fire with fire. It's a great servant, but a shocking master.

“That night, all hell broke loose.

“I don't knock technology, but you have to have some intimate knowledge of the topography before you start putting things in place.”

Mr Kelm, one of the hundreds of firefighters who battled the Northern Grampians Complex blaze, said he witnessed things he had never seen before.

“When I went across the Brimpaen-Laharum Road, the flames would have been easily 200 feet high,” he said.

“I’ve seen burnt deer with the young fawns’ feet burnt off.

“The thing I noticed in the Grampians is the moss on the rocks all got burnt off – it ended up like a moonscape.

“Every fire is different, and fires know no boundaries.

“This fire was right up there in terms of what I have experienced. I believe if it had been (water) bombed right from the word go, it wouldn’t have got anywhere near as big as it did.

“You hit it hard and hit it fast.”

Mr Carter said when a fire convected and collapsed – like he said the Northern Grampians Complex fire did – it produced devastating consequences and horrendous conditions.

“If there's a fire coming along and there's a ridge, the fire will drop down to the side and then – as it builds intensity – it sucks itself up. That's when you've got a convection,” he said.

“Every convection in the Grampians, in all my years, has collapsed. The heat gets so far up that it will find an inversion layer, then the cool air disperses it – drops it. It happens in seconds.

“It comes down and hits the ground, and whatever is dry will burn. It creates its own wind as it comes down, and pushes it in every direction it can go.

“I've seen huge trees lifted out of the ground, and slabs of rocks just explode.”

Both Mr Kelm and Mr Carter said such conditions showed how critical it was for firefighters at any scene to wear appropriate personal protective equipment.

“Personnel need to understand the conditions they're going into. I’ve seen a lot of people not wearing the right protective gear,” Mr Kelm said.

“The heat, and the smoke and dust that gets in your eyes… you can’t see (without gear on). It’s not to scare people off, but they need to be aware of what they’re putting themselves into.”

Mr Carter said personal safety should always be a firefighter’s priority.

“If you can't look after yourself, you can't look after anyone else,” he said.

“The back of my ute, even though I'm not an active volunteer, has still got a trunk with a pair of yellow overalls and a helmet in it.

“It's common sense. To me it hurts to see the number of people who attend fires inappropriately dressed.

“I'm not trying to be critical of volunteers  – I admire them for giving up their time – but please be prepared with the right gear.

“No one likes to wear fire brigade overalls, because they're so thick and they're as hot as Hades when you've got them on. But they're there for a purpose, because the heat is amazing – when the flames are so close to your legs, it’s like cooking on a barbecue.”