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.
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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."
"We're just chasing our tails all the time," Mr Magnuson said, adding that the brigade had many successes in the past week.
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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.
Fourteen of the Bawley Point Bushfire Brigade members were out firefighting on Wednesday.
"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."