He had been spraying blackberries on his farm from his tractor earlier in the week and - armed only with his torch and the hose to the attached pump - he fought the fire from about 11.30pm to 7am on Sunday morning.

In his other hand he held his asthma pump and attempted to see the flames through the heavy smoke blanketing his farm. The former volunteer firefighter didn't think twice about defending his property.

"The fire's at my door, I've got to go," he told his grandson on the telephone.

That was the last family members heard from him until the next morning.

"It was about 10 o'clock at night when I smelt it," Mr Ludeman said. "I had all the doors open and I could smell it.

"I go out with my torch. I went out to the back of my sheds and I could see smoke and a glare into the sky, which was an orange colour."

Mr Ludeman watched the blaze for about half an hour and realised it was inching closer to his property.

That's when he decided to go out and fight.

"It was about half a mile from my paddocks," he said. 

In the next hour, the fire crept up towards the various sheds on his property. 

"I only had my torch and there was smoke everywhere," Mr Ludeman said.

He worked through the night, putting out spot fires on his property.

"About 7am the winds died down and a little bit of drizzle came. Not enough to put it out but it wet my head."

When you look at the smoke damage to the perimeter of Mr Ludeman's proeprty, which spans about 1200 acres, you can see just how close the fire came to taking his home and 300 head of cattle.

"If I didn't work all night here on this, I'd be gone too," Mr Ludeman said.

He said he was grateful he was able to defend his home of 75 years.

"It's everything to me," Mr Ludeman said.

Mr Ludeman said he was concerned there would more serious fires in the future

"Unless there are fire breaks, this will happen again in the future," he said.