The pair were at a friends’ place in Ecklin South. Dinner had wound up and the couples were playing cards.

“It got dark and then the lights started to flicker. We thought the power was going to go off so we got some torches,” Ms Jeffries said.

It was then the gathering saw what they first thought was lights, but quickly realised was fire racing in their direction.

“From looking out the window and seeing it, it was pretty quick to come around,” Ms Jeffries said.

“I can’t believe we went from playing cards to that within such a short time.”

They realised it was too late to leave and put extra clothes on and prepared hoses and water.

“I thought we needed to go, but you could see the fires around by that time. It was hard to know where to go, what roads.

“The sky was lit up and you could see it coming and moving. Just the smoke and the dark. That was scary. It felt like it was just everywhere.”

They feared the fire was going to go over the top of them.

“At one point we sat in the dairy with a hose and water all around us thinking the fire was going to go over us, it was pretty scary,” Ms Jeffries said.

Miraculously, the property escaped the fire and Ms Jeffries and Mr Baxter decided to return home. The couple knew fires were racing through their own neighbourhood and they feared for their cows, dog and Ms Jeffries’ new horse.

“When we were driving back there was just bits of fire. It was everywhere, it was every direction that you looked in,” Ms Jeffries said.

“We were wondering what we were going to be coming home to.

“We got home about 3am… we packed up a few bits and pieces and thought if it comes, we will just go. We put some of the cows in the dairy.”

Once they heard that the spread of fires had slowed and it had begun to rain, the couple tried to get some sleep.

“By 7am we got another message saying it was too late to leave.

“I phoned my daughter in Adelaide and told her the fires were really bad. She’s on the emergency site and telling me I was right in the fires and that I needed to get out. I told her I knew that, but it wasn’t as easy as that.

“All day Sunday it was touch-and-go. We were just watching and getting prepared.”

Despite their fears and a long and restless night, the couple’s property survived intact.

“We were so lucky, Brad Porter is one of our closest neighbours and he was completely wiped out,” Ms Jeffries said.

“If the wind had been blowing in the other direction we would have lost everything as well.

“It makes you realise how lucky you are.”

While the couple didn’t lose any stock of their own, Mr Baxter has been helping his neighbours with the depressing task of burying cows and fixing fences.

“He went through the fires last time here (Ash Wednesday),” Ms Jeffries said. “But that doesn’t make it easier.”