It initially seemed like his Indi property of more than 40 years, near Biggara, would be fine on January 4 as flames burnt away from his home.

But a sudden wind change - a "south wind blowing like buggery" - created a dangerous and nearly deadly situation.

"We've had grassfires, but I've never seen anything like this," Mr Tyrell said from the property this week, standing in a paddock surrounded almost entirely by scorched grass and blackened hills.

"The flames were four or five foot high.

"We weren't expecting flames to blow this high."

Despite occurring at 7pm, Mr Tyrell said he couldn't see a thing during the blaze as smoke filled the air.

His son, Cameron, was forced to ditch a bulldozer into a dam during the firefight.

Another person battling the blaze nearly rolled a quad bike after running off the road in thick smoke.

His home and other nearby houses at the property were saved but of the 540 acres the family run beef, dairy and sheep on, only 40 acres were not burnt.

It will be a long time before things return to normal for the Tyrells and dozens of other farming businesses in the region.

Access to the area remains limited with scorched homes, sheds and trees littering the landscape.

There is a constant threat of the uncleared trees falling.

It should be a busy time of the year for tourism around Corryong but the landscape is instead full of people working to fix the damage.

Graeme's son, Defence Force captain Nick Tyrell, received a surprise call up after the fires to help.

While he should have been at the Biggara farm this week with his family enjoying some time off, he was instead dressed in his army fatigues and viewing the damage to the farm and wider region.

He is one of hundreds of Defence Force members helping to clear and rebuild the region after hundreds-of-thousands of hectares of land was burnt out.

Authorities believe it will take years before things return to normal, and the risk of further fires sparking up over summer is far from over.

"There's still a lot of work to do," Captain Tyrell said.

"You can see it on the way in - farmers are building fences back up, there are still a lot of power poles down.

"It's devastation all the way through.

"It's just black.

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"Some people have lost everything."

Soldiers are helping wherever they are needed, be it transporting water and hay, or helping to clear roads.

Hearing that his hometown was alight wasn't easy for the Brisbane-based army captain.

He could only follow the fire from 1000 kilometres away, unsure what was really happening on the ground.

"When you're that far away, there's nothing you can do," he said.

"Not knowing, not being able to talk to anyone, was probably the hardest bit at the start."

His brother had been on the phone to his father during the fires when the line cut out mid-call.

All communication was lost for days.

Thankfully, no lives were lost in the Upper Murray region.

His father said if those in the area had chosen to leave before the fire, as the authorities had strongly urged them to, things would have been much worse.

"If our valley had evacuated, there would have been 20 or 30 homes burnt," he said.

"It's ridiculous.

"A lot of those local fellas know how to fight fires."

Mr Tyrell said the blaze burnt through grass and stopped 100 metres from his home.

"Well, you don't let panic get to you ... that's the most important thing when you're fighting a fire," he said when asked what the firefight was like.

"I've fought a few and if you panic, you're gone. If you know what a fire will do, generally you'll get through it.

"That's what we aimed to do, because we were going to cook if we didn't.

"It was so smokey and dark, you didn't know what was happening in front of you.

"That was the problem."

A Victorian firefighting crew turned up at his property "out of nowhere", Mr Tyrell said, and helped extinguish the blaze.

Mr Tyrell said his property was by no means the worst impacted.

The Tyrells managed to save all their stock, but other businesses and the livelihoods of many have been completely destroyed.

The Defence Force members are directed by various services as needed.

Captain Tyrell said he was proud to be involved in the rebuild.

"I'm happy to be here as long as I need to be," he said.

"I don't think you'll see us moving out in the near future.

"People in the town are generally very resilient.

"You go from droughts to fires, and you've got floods as well.

"Backing it up is what they do.

"There's still smiles and happiness going around.

"They'll just get on and do it.

"All the support and the help that's come in, there's a positive attitude and an acceptance of it."

Captain Tyrell left the family farming property after joining the army following high school.

His last visit occurred in mid-December.

It was a vastly changed landscape this week as he viewed the damage for the first time.

"Right now we're supposed to be here with the family, having a holiday," he said.

"It's very different to what it was."

Like many farmers in tough times, his father is staying optimistic.

Accessing enough feed for his stock is the main priority in coming months.

His grass is blackened and burnt down, and small shoots of green have already started returning, but he isn't confident the grass will properly regrow any time soon.

He was also forced to tip out thousands of litres of milk while transportation was limited.

"I think it's reasonably positive in the area," Mr Tyrell said.

"Some of the farms are really burnt out, but they're positive.

"You've got to be.

"You can't be down in the dumps, it doesn't do anything for you."

Business owners this week expressed mixed feelings about the coming months.

Thick smoke still filled the air, despite the fire burning the hardest nearly a fortnight earlier.

Services are slowly returning to normal as stores re-open, but the area remains closed to tourists due to roadblocks.

It's unclear how long the army will remain in the region.

Soldiers have also been involved in the protection of huts in the high country, in case fires burning near Myrtleford and Bright spread further afield.

Cope Hut on the Bogong High Plains was wrapped with a fire protection material on Thursday.

About 100 soliders have set up camp at Corryong Recreation Reserve, and Towong mayor David Wortmann said they were "helping us considerably".

"They're here for the long haul," he said.

Captain Tyrell said that the part-time soldiers - also known as reservists - had been able to bring wide-ranging skills to the recovery works through their experiences in civilian jobs.

A call out from Governor General David Hurley for reservists to support in the fire recovery was an Australian first, and Saturday marks two weeks since Defence Force personnel were deployed.

An army spokesman said they would provide support "for as long as we are needed".

"The guys that have come up, one bloke said to me 'it's not what he was trained for' but he was happy to be here," Captain Tyrell said.

"Everyone that's in here, that we are bringing in, they just want to help out as best they can.

"We'll provide the help we can under the lead of the emergency services in town.

"It was only by chance that I came into Bandiana and I didn't know we were going to Corryong.

"Now we're up here, it feels quite good. It's more of a privilege than anything to be involved."