Currowan bushfire: CFA crews back to lend another hand

That's despite last week facing one of the toughest bushfires he has seen in 45 years of volunteering.

The Captain of the Bonegilla Country Fire Authority brigade was part of a strike team which saved Depot Beach and East Lynne homes when the Currowan fire pushed to the coast.

"It was some of the toughest fires I have ever fought," he said.

"It was strenuous. The ember attack coming at us ... it was a big job.

"Tor three days it was really hard firefighting. We were glad to get home and rest.

"I do not know how NSW firefighters continue."

However, on Wednesday, December 11, after a few days at home, Mr Church was heading back onto the fireground.

"Every time I go home, my wife says 'you're not bloody going back again?' and I say, 'yeh, yeh, I'm going back," he said.

It is in his blood.

"I am the third generation, my grandson is the fifth and he is here with me as well (in Currowan)," Mr Church said.

He has vivid memories of helping save the East Lynne Store, four homes on Donovans Creek Road and of coming to the aid of a well-prepared landholder at Depot Beach.

"The fire was right on him, so we drove across his lawn, wheeled around the back of the house and onto the back lawn," Mr Church recalled.

"Here's this guy standing there with a garden hose trying to protect it.

"We ran three hoses in different areas around him and the fire was on us.

"If you do not get time to set up before a fire, it makes it really hard, but it was all worth it.

"We put out a lot of bark gardens; the pots around his house were burning. He was much appreciative."

He did not discover the name of the grateful landholder, before rushing off to the next endangered house - and does even know what he looks like.

"I believe he had done some firefighting training in the navy; he had all his firefighting gear on, his face mask, his helmet and was doing a great job," Mr Church said.

"It got really hot at one stage so I pulled him in behind me, put our hose to a fog; we were getting some nice cool air coming through the water."

The crew pumped water from a pool and the owner had a sprinkler system.

"It made a big difference, because we did not have to worry about pumping water onto the roof," Mr Church said.

However, crews had to hose under the roof because "the heat was so much his pot plants were catching fire".

Mr Church recommends a good buffer between bush and homes.

"You don't need any bush within a minimum of 50 metres from your house," he said.

"You want it to be a good tree-length away."

The owner's green lawn also helped.

"You can keep a fire down on a lawn, but when you have bush coming right to your back door it is very hard to stop a fire coming in," Mr Church said.

He said the strike team worked hard to protect the East Lynne store.

"That came in pretty hard at about 11pm and we did not get away until 1 or 2am," he said.

"We believe we saved them and the four houses on Donovans Creek Road. We had one truck on each of them. Our strike team leader did a good job setting up trucks everywhere and pumping water where they wanted it."

However the crew could not save two structures closer to the Clyde River.

"We went about seven kilometres to a fairly big cleared area and saw two houses got taken out right down on the bottom of the hill," he said.

"There was not much we could do."

Mr Church said the message that unprepared people should leave early seemed to have got through.

"There were not many people at home,' he said.

"A few years ago everyone was home. Now they all go and that is why there are not many injuries and fatalities on the fireground.

"We are all well trained and if we can protect a house we will."

Mr Church has retired from his engineering business and now runs caravan and boat storage.

"My wife is home running all that," he said.

He'll fight for a few days this week, go home for a rest - and hopes to come back to help on Monday.