A Mogo woman has described the moment she learned her business had survived the New Year's Eve bushfire devastation.
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Scenes broadcast of the inferno that gripped the Princes Highway tourist destination on Tuesday left little hope for Teresa and Barry Horsburgh.
However, the Rosemont The Patchwork Shop owners met a firefighter in Tomakin and received great news.
"He said 'your place has survived' and I hugged and kissed him," Mrs Horsburgh said in Mogo on New Year's Day.
Walking the streets, the couple was glad to see their Tomakin Road business standing, but are devastated for friends and fellow business owners, such as the woman they know only as "Mary", an artist whose home and gallery was totally destroyed.
READ MORE: Photos from the Mogo fireground
Mr Horsburgh said the couple decided to leave before the Clyde Mountain fire swept through the northern section of the retail strip.
"We stayed here until a bit after 9am yesterday morning and we just had to leave," he said.
"It was just too much; the smoke and heat; it was getting extremely hot and on the phones they were saying Mogo was only about 10 minutes away from the fire.
"We decided we better leave but fortunately we were one of the lucky ones."
Mrs Horsburgh said the couple had trimmed dead trees before they left.
"We had done a lot of prep," she said.
The couple mowed, cleared debris and hosed everything down.
"A few of the trees on the edge are badly singed but fortunately did not catch alight," Mr Horsburgh said.
A home across the road on the southern edge of town was not so lucky.
"It was quite close," he said.
The couple is full of praise for the firefighters who were able to save all the businesses on either side of the highway south of Annett Street: "They have done a marvellous job."
Firefighters told Australian Community Media they had battled to protect as many businesses and homes as they could from the fast-moving fire front, but simply could not save everything.
Most of the businesses north of Annett Street were gutted - roughly one third of the retail sector.
Behind the main street, The Original Gold Rush colony lost several buildings, but some remained.
