- Fire update below
BLACKENED earth surrounds Warrabah Station as far as the eye can see.
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Fire ripped through the historic property on Wednesday night.
But, with an unlikely stroke of luck and plenty of hard work, Anna and Peter Stevenson's home was saved - along with the 100 year old sheep shearing station and crown jewel of the property they manage.
“Moving stock around on a quad bike taking in that smoke it felt like I swallowed razor blades, I couldn't breathe,” Mrs Stevenson said.
As the fire drew closer to the house, Mrs Stevenson grabbed her son, the filing cabinet and irreplaceable photographs before she fled.
Her husband, Tamworth’s Rural Fire Service group captain, stayed back to fight the blaze.
“There’s a lot of history on this place, I'm hard up to meet someone who hasn't worked here or had a parent or great grandparent work here,” Mrs Stevenson said.
“We get people off the street coming here who have been married here, worked here with photographs.
“The stables are 100 years old, there’s a lot of heritage here and Pete was acutely aware we couldn’t lose any of that.”
But it wasn't smooth sailing. Hundreds of hectares of good country is ash, kilometres worth of fences are down and water pipes for stock are damaged - leaving water for stock in peril.
Read also: Homes destroyed as Tingha fire continues
The home has been without power for three days and with no mobile reception, communication with the outside world was nearly impossible.
The husband-and-wife team have had Rural Fire Service crews parked in tents on their property diligently fighting the fire that surrounded the cottage.
In the midst of our phone conversation Mrs Stevenson stops to answer the door.
It's a firefighter, sausage sandwich in hand for lunch.
Never did she lose confidence in the firefighters, she’s seen her husband save hundreds of homes from bushfire.
"I'm married to the right person," she laughed.
Thanks to the relentless drought, the couple had downsized their herd to a skeleton few.
A godsend in Mrs Stevenson’s eyes.
“Thankfully we are down to 400 head from 1400, it would have been such a nightmare to save them all,” she said.
“Without the drought there would have been stock in every paddock and to have livestock die in a bushfire would have been devastating.”
It will take time and hard work for the couple to recover, but both are so thankful to the RFS volunteers that saved their home.
Fire update: 4:30pm
Two properties have been destroyed at Beulah in the Linton blaze.
Firefighters are positive more favourable conditions are headed their way on Friday.
Temperatures are expected to reach a high of 28 degrees, with winds at 30 kilometres an hour in an easterly direction.
The fire has burnt through more than 3000 hectares of land and could threaten a property at Linton.
NSW Rural Fire Service volunteers have started to contain the fire and bring it under control with 15 crews on scene.
It's most likely to spread toward Bonnay-Linton Road, residents are advised to remain alert.