By Stephanie Chalkley-Rhoden, ABC
It is not yet known how many homes in Ruffy have been lost. Photo: ABC News
During winter the trees and hills surrounding the small hamlet of Ruffy, in central Victoria, are beautiful and green.
But in summer everything dries out.
On Wednesday, amid hot and windy conditions, a bushfire broke out at nearby Longwood. It has been burning out of control ever since.
Authorities have not been able to confirm exactly how many properties have been destroyed in Ruffy, a community of 164 people, but it is feared it could be dozens.
Felicity Sloman, the community safety officer for the Ruffy Country Fire Authority, was on a truck at Tarcombe when the fire came through and said it was horrendous.
"It was just one of the worst fires I've been part of," she told the ABC.
"Most of the buildings of the small hamlet - it's not even a town - have been lost.
"It feels very much like Marysville in a smaller way," she said, referencing the Victorian town that was destroyed by the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.
"It's quite devastating to drive back into the town after you've been firefighting and one of our firefighters looked to the right to where his house used to be, and he said, 'Don't worry. Don't even go in and try and douse it'.
"It was gone. It's a very sobering feeling, actually. But you know, we continue on."
She believes at least 20 homes have been destroyed.
She said they had no air support - possibly because those resources were tied up elsewhere - so they just followed the fire and tried to protect assets where they could.
"We couldn't all achieve that in every case, so a number of properties, houses, were burnt. Some were saved as well.
"But uppermost, we kept ourselves alive. We are not heroes. I really dislike that word. We are there protecting our community and we don't do stupid things.
"So we certainly protected homes and did our best. We will see what the rest of the day holds for us, but we're trying to stay well and alive and hope that everybody does so."
Felicity Sloman spoke with the ABC after fighting the Longwood fire. Photo: ABC News
'Road became like a fire tunnel'
Jane Homewood's property is 8 kilometres south of Ruffy and she was there checking on cattle when authorities issued a warning for people to prepare to leave.
"We felt the fires were a long way from us," she said.
"This is the first time I've been in a major fire. I had no idea how rapidly the fire was approaching us.
"We think we had about seven wind changes, so we were surrounded by fires at our house."
She said that while defending her home it felt like the fire was on top of them.
"We were jumping from firebreak to firebreak with hoses and patting it down, and it would be on the west.
"We were lucky our neighbours came as it was approaching us from the north, and then all of a sudden it was coming from the south."
She said her son, a vet and an experienced farmer, was with her, and they focused on remaining calm, but sometimes the thick smoke made it difficult to see.
Eventually, the CFA told them they had 20 minutes to get out and Ms Homewood said the road was like a tunnel of fire.
"As we were leaving trees were starting to fall. My brother has a property to the west of us and his place was up in smoke," she said.
"We were lucky to get out."
She still doesn't know if her house is still standing with embers still posing a threat.
"It can just be the luck of the draw that your house doesn't get the fire embers," she said.
Phoebe Macdermid, a farmer who lives on a property near Ruffy, told the ABC that her family had been trying to get stock into the yards a mere half an hour before the bushfire moved through the area.
"My husband tried to jump on the excavator to clear a line because we knew which way it was coming," she said.
"Then he just screamed, 'Get inside, get inside, get inside.'"
Phoeben McDermott is a farmer who lives on a property near Ruffy. Photo: ABC News
The farmer, her husband and their two children, aged 12 and 14, sheltered in their home as the bushfire swept through the property.
Pine trees and a nearby hedge were burnt to the ground but, miraculously, the home itself was saved.
"The eaves started smouldering, the gutters started smouldering," Ms Macdermid said.
"It was close."
Jim 'had a real feeling' about this summer
In nearby Upton Hill, Jim Billings knew he was in trouble when he saw the smoke.
The 80-year-old lost his home and vineyard. He is shattered.
"One minute I've got a home with all my paintings and sentimental stuff, now they've all just melted, there's nothing left. It was hugely hot fire," he said.
"It's an unreal experience."
He said with so much fuel on the ground, along with hot and windy conditions, he had a feeling this summer bushfire season would be a bad one.
"I did a lot of work on how to leave and what to take. I hadn't done that before, but I just had a real feeling," he said.
"Fortuitously, I took my caravan to be stored in Gippsland, so I've got another house on wheels.
"I've got plenty of clothes, my medication and my computers with important files. So I got some stuff out, but all the sentimental stuff like paintings I've lost."
- ABC