An exhausted Bawley Point fire captain Charlie Magnuson remembers the terror he felt as he saved a mate on Tuesday from a fire surrounding a Termeil property.
His friend, an asthmatic man, had stayed back to protect his house but he began to struggle with the smoke and called for help when it grew clear the blaze could cut him off.
Mr Magnuson has no doubt the Bawley Point Bushfire Brigade saved the man's life when it found him and drove him away before fire destroyed much of the property.
He remembers the look of terror on both their faces, as the flames leapt up.
"It was very hairy, we risked our lives getting in and getting out," Mr Magnuson said.
"When we got halfway up, the flames were all around the truck but we couldn't turn around, so we weren't going to stop until we got him."
The Currowan fire was a living thing, Mr Magnuson said, giving birth to more fire as firefighters tried to contain it.
"It's shooting embers, they can go 6km away. It's shooting an ember over there and basically you've got another fire.
"It's like a living creature, that's how we treat it.
"A lot of people don't realise, you need a lot of water to put a fire out, a big fire."
The blaze threatening South Coast homes was also hard to manage because every day the wind was doing something different.
"We're just chasing our tails all the time," Mr Magnuson said, adding that the brigade had many successes in the past week.
Firefighters at Bawley Point spent the day containing fire at Jack Reid Road that was threatening their community, and at nearby Kioloa, amid calmer conditions on Wednesday.
However predictions of a strong westerly wind had him bracing for a tough and long Thursday, despite finishing 36 hours straight fighting the fires.
Mr Magnuson said the community had kept the brigade going with food and drink, and helping keep up their morale.
Twenty six brigade members had fought the fire over the last week, and other brigades, police and ambulance had supported the efforts.
"Most of us haven't had a break. We try to manage that fatigue, but in these sort of fires you can't really, big days," he said.
Further south at Bawley Point, resident Jash Barber was prepared with hoses and non-perishable food after deciding to stay and protect his home.
Mr Barber saw fires glow over the hill behind his home as they raced towards his property from three directions on Tuesday.
Fire moved from the direction of Termeil, Kioloa and Currowan towards his house.
"We had it 180 degrees coming towards us," he said.
"It was a very harrowing experience. We felt stressed, a little bit on the anxious side.
"I was up most of the night because I couldn't breathe properly.
"But we had the information coming through to us really reliably so we did feel fairly safe, and we were prepared to evacuate if required."
An electricity outage on Wednesday also made him grateful he'd boiled 10 litres of water to drink already.
The bushfire smoke made it hard to breathe throughout the day and soot covered his house inside and out as ash blew in from the west.
Despite the bushfire threat and predictions that Thursday would bring worse conditions, Mr Barber's reasons for staying were clear.
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"This is home and we wanted to protect and preserve what we have and look after our local friends as well," he said. "I would like to save lives and property here if I can." Mr Barber was keeping vigilant by following news updates and alerts, and had an evacuation plan.
"'Once we see flames get near the property, within say a kilometre, we'll definitely be out of here," he said.
Thursday will see a severe fire danger warning for the coast with the fire expected to spread.
