"We'll start to see the stuff falling from the sky, let's wait until that moment to defend!"
Rural Fire Service (RFS) Group Captain Mick Anderson stands on the tray of a truck addressing hundreds of people.
This is how he wants them to defend their properties from ember attack in the small town of Narooma on the NSW South Coast.
All around him are what is left of its residents.
Those who have stayed behind feel the heat of the mammoth Badja Road bushfire which is almost 200,000 hectares in size and is out of control.
Nearby, it is not bin day in the town of Dalmeny but there is a scattering of yellow-lid bins down many streets.
Residents there are sending a message by leaving their recycling bins out — it means the person in that property has decided to stay and fight the flames.
Soaring temperatures and strong winds mean conditions are eerily similar to those which fanned deadly blazes on New Year's Eve.
Local resident Ron Mason's street is lined with bush and he's using a leaf blower to prepare his property.
"You have got to have that fire bin out, so the firefighters know, if the house is on fire, they know to come and have a look for you," he said.
The local RFS brigades shared the idea on social media pages and were met with chatter.
"People were saying, 'Oh I'll leave a piece of paper in the letterbox or on the door'," said Dalmeny RFS Captain Greg Hill.
"In the conditions, paper is going to rip off, or it won't survive, whereas bins are straight away a clear message.
"If it's empty, put a brick, put something in it, so it doesn't blow over.
"That way if the time comes and we are in the vicinity … we know someone's still there that we can help."
The NSW death toll since the start of the bushfire season is 17, including eight since Monday and at least 449 homes destroyed on the South Coast since New Year's Eve.
Dalmeny and other tourist towns nearby, like Kianga and Narooma, are quiet during what is usually the busiest time of the year — summer.
Clearings close to the ocean are packed with people who haven't managed to get out of the "tourist leave zone" put in place by the RFS.
Narooma residents Bernard and Arlene Jackson say many locals have left, but they've chosen to stay — and have placed their bin out the front.
"Friends have gone to Canberra ... some of them you can't contact," Mr Jackson said.
"There's only one person we rang who said he was staying, he's got an exit plan from the other side of the lake in a boat."
Back at the meeting, every time a fire truck drives past there is a roar from the crowd — some are in tears.
Mr Anderson instructs the crowd like a general addressing his troops before battle.
"If you are really super worried about things … that's the time to leave," he says.
Many already have, and will spend days in the evacuation centre in town, waiting and wondering what they'll return home to.
