Mick Duggan will never forget the day the Green Wattle Creek fire tore through Balmoral.
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The force of the blaze, like "a train coming through the bush with a jumbo jet pushing it", will be etched in his mind forever.
When the fire approached his street on Saturday, December 21, he stood on his veranda and saw the flames pull the wind in "ferociously".
Earlier that day, Mick was told his house was under threat and he had "a bit of a reality check and a bit of a breakdown".
Commotion started to escalate next door at the fire shed, as fire trucks flew in and out of the driveway to replenish water supplies.
Soon after Mick noticed a particular driver had waved his arms for help.
Mick recognised Balmoral firefighter Matt Eyles in the passenger seat, as the firefighter came to check on his street days earlier.
"The driver pulled up, kicked open the door and Matty melted out of the door," Mr Duggan said.
"He had one foot on the ground. We helped him out of the vehicle and he collapsed. That's when all that drama started.
"He was drifting in and out of consciousness. He was there one minute and mumbled a couple of words then he'd get this gaze."
Matt's heart rate had skyrocketed, his pupils were tiny and his eyes were fixed.
Paramedics shouted "does he have a heart condition?", among other questions as they ran through a checklist.
Heat exhaustion was the culprit. Mick's instincts kicked in and he implemented his first aid knowledge.
"We packed him with ice and we had packets of frozen lollipops from the fire shed," he said.
They opened Matt's shirt and covered his torso with ice and a towel to contain the temperature.
Matt's heart rate came down, his body temperature cooled down and he started to talk.
"He blinked his eyes then he looked over and realised it was me. He said 'Mick, your house is fine'," he said.
"That was an emotional point for me, I've gone from total devastation to elation."
However the danger wasn't over yet. The air became hotter and filled with smoke.
The fire had lit on the Bargo side of Balmoral, crossed the road and "started to mutter back" to the northern side of the village. Then the southerly winds hit.
"Everyone started yelling 'get in the shed!'. We had nowhere to go," he said.
People and animals were packed into a shed, their faces covered in wet rags, fearful of what could happen next.
"A few of us thought the shed was on fire," he said.
"A lady jumped up and said 'I think it'd be the right time to say a prayer'.
"I thought 'it's going to happen'. I thought I was going to die in the shed."
The fire roared loudly and everyone fell silent.
What they had not heard was a helicopter had water bombed the shed and Fire and Rescue crews as they hosed down the building. They had all survived.
One of Mick's neighbours had lost her house.
"It pulls on your heart strings. She'd recently been widowed, her husband was gone and she was in the house on her own," he said.
The neighbour had nothing but her car and the clothes on her back. She'd lost everything, including her late husband's ashes.
In the days after the fire, Mick endured many sleepless nights.
"I couldn't relax. Then reality kicks in, there's nothing left to burn, it's gone."
For help in a crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. Visit the Beyond Blue website for more mental health resources.