A mother of three young children has told how she was forced to shelter with them in a dam after being caught on their property by one of the biggest of the Victorian bushfires.

Helen Goudy says she initially opted to remain at her home on Porcupine Court in Chintin on Sunday, as the fire raced north to Kilmore.

However, when the wind suddenly changed and the flames came racing up towards her house on the hill, Ms Goudy decided it was time that she and the children - aged two, four and seven - fled for their lives.

"Initially we thought it was going to go straight past us but then we saw the size of the flames," she said.

Sorry, this video has expired Kilmore mother hid in dam with three children to survive bushfire

"They were coming real close and they suddenly looked like they were leaping up the side of the house so that's when the terror set in."

She says that when the flames were licking at the house, she knew they had to get out.

She took the children, Austin, Tori and Royce, and sheltered in the neighbour's dam 20 metres away.

"We went in the second dam, and we went in up to our necks and put the blanket over our head, but sure enough the fire came up to the second dam and blew right over," she said.

"It was very smoky, and it seemed like we were there for hours.

"The water was cold, but as soon as we stuck our knees or body out it got a bit burny so we just kept in up to our necks.

"I had the baby on one side and the four-year-old, and we were all huddled together.

"We held the blanket up like it's a tent and tried to keep the smoke out and just wished it would hurry up and go past."

Ms Goudy says the children were understandably "hysterical".

"The seven-year-old was quite brave, but my daughter was a bit panicky and the baby was really quiet and didn't say anything," she said.

"I tried to be positive, said it would be okay, you're going to grow old, you're not going to die while you're little, and we kept on talking positively - slow your breathing down, don't breath in too much smoke.

"We could hear the helicopters right over us, dropping water right near us, so they could see us.

"And my daughter was saying, can't we go up in the helicopter, and I said, no, stay here."

Ms Goudy says she thinks they sheltered in the dam for about an hour before emerging unscathed, despite the fire coming "right up to the edge of the dam and the reeds a couple of metres away".

"Eventually it passed and they had no shoes on, so I had to carry them up one by one, which was a saga because they started getting scared," she said.

She added: "I was thinking, 'Oh my God, we made it, we haven't let the fire get us, we've survived the fire."