Some families near Nelson have been forced to evacuate their homes with a lifetime of possessions in tow as a devastating fire continued to tear through the region today.
1 NEWS spoke with one family from Redwood Valley.
Evacuee Lucinda Blakley-Jimson recalled, "We could see the ridge was really burning, but we thought, 'As long as it doesn’t come over the ridge, we'll be alright' – and then it did".
"About five minutes later, we had a couple of fire officers at the front door saying, 'You need to leave now.'"
Kerry Jimson added, "It was night then and quite dark because of all the smoke, and then you saw these just, sort of, scratches of orange which became bigger and bigger and started filling up more and more space along the ridgeline".
"It's surreal seeing, driving down the highway with all these fire vehicles parked up, flashing lights everywhere. Dim, sort of smoky atmosphere, road cones everywhere and people just packing up."
With Ms Blakley-Jimson eight months pregnant, the family didn’t take their chances, having spent the night in a local lodge.
"All our baby gear's set up, there's a bassinet there and a changing table, and all the baby clothes and things like that," Mr Jimson said.
"It's like, 'Well, if we're not going back to that, where do we go to?'"
SHARE ME