Bawley Point resident Jash 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," Mr Barber said.
A restless night had him preparing for the worst and ready to evacuate his home if the situation became too dangerous.
"It was a very harrowing experience. We felt stressed, a little bit on the anxious side," he said.
"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."
Mr Barber was prepared with hoses and non-perishable food after deciding to stay and protect his home this week.
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.
"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.
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