Jim Tait owns a 15-acre farm in Huonbrook Valley, once the wettest valley in the wettest part of NSW, in the Byron Hinterland.

But in the early hours of Sunday morning, he and other residents of the area in the Northern Rivers region found themselves defending their properties from a fire which has already burnt down a house, his neighbours' water tank and continues to rage out of control.

Jim Tait, exhausted after fighting fires on on his property in northern NSW.

They worked all through the night when the fire from nearby Mt Nardi snaked down the 6 kilometre-long valley, and jumped Cooper's River because of huge winds, leaving a trail of ash and destruction in it's path. By Monday he was exhausted, and bracing for worse Tuesday.

Mr Tait, an environmental scientist who once kept cattle and horses on his property, said Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack's comments dismissing any link between the fire and climate change as concerns of "raving inner city lunatics" were inflammatory.