Knowing her kids were safe in town, she rushed into her newly-built property and grabbed her dog, two cats and precious family belongings before driving down the hill to watch the fire unfold.

It started off like any other Thursday, until Ms Grant received a phone call from neighbours about a fire in the area 

and it appeared to be on her 150 acre property.

“Obviously I raced out (of work) and as I got to Forest Rd I could see our house on top of the hill but I couldn’t see the Moore Creek hills behind it. I knew the house was OK but it looked bad,” she told The Leader yesterday.

It’s believed sparks from an angle grinder caught onto the dry Moore Creek land, and from there the ferocious blaze moved onto the property and up the hill, resting just a tenuous 100m from the family home.

The family had only lived in the new home for seven weeks after five-years of owner-building.

“All the fences are destroyed and there’s damage to our windmill,” Ms Grant said.

“It was quite scary, but the fire brigade were brilliant and they stayed pretty much all night.

“It was just 100m down the hill from us. We’re lucky last night was a still night – it’s usually pretty windy out there.”

As firefighters and aircraft worked to contain the fire and stop it spreading towards the home, Ms Grant’s two young sons stopped by at the foot of the hill in awe at the spectacle of firefighting activity in the sky.

“It was quite amazing watching the two planes and the helicopter, so we went back in and got the two younger boys – they’re three and six and love fire engines,” Mrs Grant said.

“We stayed there last night and sent the children to my sisters house.” in town - it was a sleepless night.

“They said it was pretty contained this morning but were a bit concerned of the wind, there’s still quite a lot (of grass) burning.”