Battling a deadly out of control blaze in New South Wales, the fire scene was "horrendous," according to exhausted volunteer firefighter Felicity Perry.
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Ms Perry, 22, arrived back at her family's Sassafras farm late on Monday night after five long days working on the fire front line.
Her crew was based at Glen Innes and sent to Wytaliba to protect properties where the fire burn through the town in minutes. After a few hours sleep, Ms Perry was at the Mersey Community Hospital, where she works in food services on Tuesday. However, her thoughts were still with her colleagues in the danger zone, which is where her father, Sassafras Fire Brigade chief, Tony Perry, is heading today.
Mr Perry was packing his gear to fly out with 40 others from Tassie to join the 3000-strong firefighters interstate. Asked what had confronted her, Felicity paused to find the words to convey the devastation.
"There was a whole lot of fire a wall of fire. It was crazy; really, I don't know how to explain it," she said.
"It was horrendous; it's bad up there. The first few days, we were lucky to be backburning, and then we were tasked to protect properties."
Ms Perry, who joined cadets at 10 and is a senior firefighter, had never seen anything like it.
"It's very exhausting," she said. At one stage, her crew was trapped and forced to stay in their fire vehicles with her parents left wondering if she was safe when she didn't make contact that night.
"We left to head out and we couldn't get out so we stayed there overnight; we hadn't slept for 38 hours," she said.
The fire had gone through the area.
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"We were in the black zone so we were pretty much safe to stay on a school oval. I tried to keep mum and dad up to date and got messages to firefighters who were already out."
Ms Perry would have liked to continue to help but was happy to get some rest.
"With dad and the others going out it's good to know people are getting more help," she said.
"People are in shock it is horrific...they want information and we can't give it to them."
Ms Perry feared more lives could be lost.
"After seeing how people were not wanting to leave when they need to leave," she said.
Mr Perry said like everyone in the TFS his daughter was well-trained to be there. She went with three other North-West firefighters and 20 from Tasmania.
"You are always going to worry as a parent it's what you do," Mr Perry said.
"I'm not going to say we're looking forward to going but we're going to support our fellow firies that came over here and supported us last year...," Mr Perry said.
"I believe I'm going to Rockhampton at this stage," Mr Perry said.
All the Perry family, including Felicity's mother Tania and brother James, 20, are volunteer firefighters with a combined 70 years' service.
"It's not about fighting fires. It's about the community and mostly about helping people where we can and it's just something I've done for 31 years," Mr Perry said.
Mr Perry said he still gets nervous fighting fires.
"You don't know what you're going into," he said.
"The day you're not (nervous), and the day you think you know it all is the day to hang up your boots."
Mr Perry said he had seen a change in the fires he fights now.
