A red wall of flames was headed towards Carboor late Wednesday night, with Wangaratta councillor Harry Bussell among those in its path.
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"It got pretty close," he told The Border Mail yesterday.
"It was about a kilometre from my farm and I was in the direct path of the front."
Cr Bussell has his own fire unit on his vehicle and had been on the way back from helping with a smaller fire at Whorouly South when he spotted the danger at about 10pm.
"Here's this big, red wall coming towards us," he said.
"It came to the edge of the bush and the flames would have been twice the size of the trees."
His first move was to help evacuate his 90-year-old mother, who lives alone nearby.
She was taken to Wangaratta by his wife, while Cr Bussell stayed and sat behind the CFA trucks in case sparks flew over firefighters and started any more spot fires.
The blaze burnt through 150 hectares in 70km/h winds before being contained, with dozers and graders putting in primary and secondary control lines.
It came within 100 metres of one property.
Cr Bussel praised firefighters for coming in big numbers and keeping the danger at bay, but expected fires to continue in the region over the next two months, saying "we know it's not over yet".
He said Wednesday's fire came out of the Hurdle Creek pine plantation, which would take at least two years to clear and replant.
"I suspect when we go back in the next day or so it'll just be white ash everywhere," he said.
"It's the first time there's been a fire like this in Carboor's history.
"We've been settled here since just before 1900 and there's never been a fire that's been this big."
