It is a special type of person who rushes in when everyone else flees, which is just what all the firefighters in Tasman are doing this week.
Two of the firefighters combating the blaze near Nelson admit there is fear.
"When you see big wall of fire heading up the hillside, it does give you a wee fright," firefighter Matt Riordan told TVNZ1's Seven Sharp.
"You'd be pretty cold to say it doesn't affect you on some basis," Chris Noonan, whose nickname is Parrot because he's so talkative, also told Seven Sharp.
Like so many others fighting the Tasman fire, fire fighting is not Mr Noonan's day job.
"We have got a kid's entertainment business, we do birthday parties, generally have fun with parrots and lizards and miniature horses."
Mr Noonan, who has his hair dyed flaming red, was volunteering as soon as the blaze took hold. On Wednesday he worked a double shift for 19 hours.
For Mr Riordan, he's not exactly sure why he does what he does.
"You don’t know the people but it's their house at stake, you don't know the people but it's what you do as volunteers," Mr Riordan said.
"I think it's the community thing, they don’t want to see this being ruined for future generations," Mr Noonan said.
Not that there is much time for self-reflection as they work to dampen down hot spots that can flare up any second.
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