Budgong resident Dave Bright reckons he stared down the devil on Saturday.
That's when the Currowan fire leapt up the escarpment northwest of Nowra towards his isolated 52-acre property deep in the forest.
"It came like a ripsnorter from the south - 60 to 80 foot flames. Then it came from the east. Everything burnt, there were explosions everywhere," he said.
"I was in the house and looked at the fire come over the hill. People reckon they've seen the devil in it and I've probably seen it too.
"I just ran around like a blue-arsed fly, hosing everything down, I had sprinklers going everywhere. Thirty years of hard work here. I didn't want to lose it all."
Dave said he would stay and do the whole thing again, despite the terror he felt as the fire swirled around as he fought the flames, singlehandedly.
"But only because I'm prepared. I've got big dams, I've got water everywhere, I've got tanks, firefighting hoses. If you don't have the water - go."
After Dave thought the fire front had passed his home from north to south, it suddenly began bearing down again, this time from the east.
He'd just cracked a beer because he thought the drama was over.
"Black soot, clouds of smoke, winds at 80 km/h. Whoosh. I grabbed the mask, found my hat, jumped in that tub over there."
While his small flock of sheep were saved, his chickens did not fare so well, with several burnt. The fruit trees that had been lush and green the day before were burnt by the radiant heat.
At the height of the blaze drums of diesel he stored between his house and shed began exploding.
"Neighbours from Emerys Road told me me they heard the explosions," he said.
The heat was so intense a plastic water tank melted before his eyes. Sandstone blocks cracked. His beehives were vaporised.
While Dave's survival was largely luck, he'd been preparing his property for about a month, raking leaves, ensuring hoses could get water to his house and pumping water from the dams into nearby tanks.
He got to sleep at 3am on Sunday but was woken first thing - by a TV crew with a flat tyre and no idea how to change it.
Read more:
South Coast and Southern Highlands roads a priority
Residents relive the anxious wait for the fire to arrive
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