You can’t see the flames but Annie Pryse and her family know they’re there.

The normally picture-perfect landscape, seemingly an extension of the family’s 48-hectare Plunketts Road property, held their attention for all the wrong reasons yesterday, as the fire that began on Monday afternoon continued to burn.

But the Pryses were a prime example of those observing the CFA and Victoria Police’s warnings — they were alert, ready to stay or go, but not alarmed.

Despite their isolation and their location barely a kilometre from the fire, Mrs Pryse felt safe and confident the well-organised CFA had the situation under control.

“We’re not alone — we’ve had the police here, and the CFA at the gate this morning,” she said.

“You could hear the planes (water bombers) out early this morning.

“That might worry some people but really, that’s what makes you feel safe — you can see what’s going on.”

Looking out from their vantage point, you could barely make out CFA trucks winding along the track on the horizon, or the fire breaks dug out early yesterday.

“It’s really pro-active; the fire’s nowhere near there but you can see their plan,” Mrs Pryse said.

Over on Coyles Road, Felicity Dawson and her aunt, Marie Pearce, were wetting down their property. The Dawsons had moved in just two days earlier.

Their brand-new home is at the end of the road and, while the hills create a natural barrier to a degree — fire travels much slower downhill than up — the Dawson home would be the first in the firing line should the fire escape.

“It’s not a nice feeling,” Mrs Dawson said of the thickening smoke haze moving towards them.

“And it’s my husband’s 40th birthday today — we’re just hosing down the property but the car’s packed and we’re ready to go if we do see some flames.”

Further down the road, Kim Day was packing up her property — specifically the horses belonging to her, her neighbours and a couple of friends.

The five proud creatures were a little skittish as a result of the unfamiliar surroundings and the way the hot wind was picking up.

“We’ve been watching the fire since last night and we’re not overly concerned but it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Mrs Day said.

“Horses will panic so we’ll get them out now, and I’ll take the dog and cat out, but we’ll stay.

“We’re prepared, we’ve got hoses on every tap, and there’s access for trucks right around the house.”

Closer to the city, it was a similar story — residents were ready to go if need be but they refused to panic.

Those at the community meeting at Victory Lutheran College listened quietly as incident controller, Graham Healy, updated them on the fire’s progress and most of those The Border Mail spoke to felt prepared.

“We’ve just got to watch and act,” said one mum, echoing the CFA message. “We’ve got our bags packed, just in case.”