A father and his two daughters are counting their blessings after their family home on the outskirts of Leadville was spared from the Sir Ivan Fire.
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The brick home resembled that of an oasis as it sat on a green lawn in the middle of the blackened property that was ravaged by fire on Sunday, February 12.
Jamie Milling and his daughters Fenella (20) and Annabel (18) watched from their kitchen window as smoke bellowed from beyond the mountains the day prior.
Jamie found himself fighting the 14 kilometre fire front alongside several strike crews on the Sunday as resources were stretched to their limit during the crisis.
Additional trucks were called to the scene and joined in the suspenseful wait for the second fire front to break through the ranges.
“It came out of the scrub, raced across the open country and came straight for the home steads and buildings,” Jamie said.
“The heat was tremendous – one minute you were next to the fire, the next it was over the top of you.
“It was frightening.
“Everyone put their life on the line and everyone I spoke to had a fear they were going to die.”
When the fire reached the windbreak west of his house Jamie thought the worst as he watched the flames leap toward his home as it brushed the walls and roof.
“I was filling up [my truck] at the dam and looked back expecting to see different a colour smoke and flames,” he said.
“I didn’t want to go back.”
However when Jamie returned to defend his home, he breathed a sigh of relief as his farmhand had saved the homestead.
“While I was away, Ben Rout came in with the farm truck and put the house out,” Jamie said.
“I must give a lot of credit to him for saving my house.”
The support the Milling family has received since the incident has been nothing shy of overwhelming, with people offering food, fencing, water, stock feed, plants and services to help them.
Jamie made a special point of highlighting the efforts of people as far away as Cootamundra and Trangie who donated their time and resources to transport truckloads of hay to the fire-affected area. Last weekend alone around 100 trucks transported stock feed to Dunedoo in an incredible act of mateship.
“It made me emotional,” Jamie said.
“I take my hat off to the Trangie, Cootamundra and Lue people for getting that to us.”
He also acknowledged the prompt work of Country Energy and Telecom for getting power and phone lines back up and running.