ECHUCA Village CFA captain Darrell Phillips said the Strathallan bushfire was one of the worst he's experienced.
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And he's experienced a lot in his 25 years as a firefighter.
“I've been to the Black Saturday and Daylesford fires,” he said.
“We had pretty similar weather conditions here. Obviously the topography was different but this was one of the worst days I've seen.
“It was a great effort to stop it like we did.”
Mr Phillips and his five-man crew were among 140 firefighters who braved Code Red conditions on Thursday as two fires swept through Strathallan and Nanneella.
The Echuca Village volunteers spent seven hours battling the blaze on Strathallan and Burgoine roads, trying to protect the Burgoine family dairy farm from going up in flames.
“It was pretty tough going but the adrenaline keeps you going,” he said.
“The fire was travelling pretty quickly and even blowing itself out it was so fast.
“But it didn't take much for reignition. It was like laying bricks at the Great Wall of China.
“Sometimes the water wasn't even coming out of the hose properly because of the wind. It'd come out and then go around in circles.”
The 53-year-old said he was feeling a bit croaky and sore on Friday.
“There are a lot of people behind the scenes that keep us going so if they didn't step up we couldn't do what we do,” he said.
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