The Badger Creek community were left distraught on Sunday 25 May after a violent fire swallowed two homes on Flora Avenue.
The Badger Creek CFA first lieutenant and incident controller Sara Poynton said the first house was fully engulfed by the time they arrived on scene at around 11.30 pm.
“We could see one house fully alight, and so I did a size up of the job. I instantly called for extra pumpers and extra tankers for BA (breathing apparatus) operators and water,” she said.
“The fire was pretty extensive, I’m still in shock to be honest.”
Firefighters immediately moved to protect the second house but the strong wind made it extremely difficult for firefighting crews to stop the blaze from spreading.
“There were embers going all through the estate. The fire and the flames were going over the road. I couldn’t see anything with the wind. It was just pushing all the smoke and the embers everywhere,” Ms Poynton said.
Sadly, the fire spread to the neighbouring property and the second house was lost.
Ms Poynton said despite the extreme conditions, the fire crews worked well and stopped it from causing any further damage.
“Exceptional work by the fire crews who worked tirelessly under the severe conditions, managed to protect any further threatened properties from catching fire as well,” Ms Poynton said.
Badger Creek CFA was supported by Healesville, Coldstream and Hillcrest Fire Brigades, Yellingbo Rehabilitation Unit and the Bayswater Breathing Apparatus van.
Luckily all the occupants were woken by the sound of the fire and were safely outside the houses when the brigades arrived.
At 2.40 am the fire was deemed under control and crews put out smaller spot fires until 3.40 am.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
