07:20

The fire came over the top and then came around here and took this, and one of the fire vehicles as well,” says Rob Meggs, Hilson’s neighbour. He’s standing in front of the still-burning ruins of his shed and office. His house survived, thanks to the efforts of the RFS and metropolitan firefighters, he says.

The shed was “a hoarder’s heaven”.

“It was chockers full of stuff, that might be a release in one way. But my office, that might be a bit more painful. It had some records in there that I won’t be able to replace.”

He warns us not to get to get too close, he thinks all the petrol cans have exploded now but there are still paint cans under the collapsed tin.

He stayed to defend the house.

“We were advised earlier in the week at a meeting that the conditions weren’t catastrophic and if you were physically able and prepared [you could stay].”

He’s been in his house 22 years, and hasn’t seen anything so big.

“I’ll still continue to live here, now that this has been through it’s probably good for another 50 years.”