She piled up her four kids and four dogs into the car and quickly fled her Mason Place house, expecting her husband Geoff to follow.

But Mr Redden, a former volunteer fire fighter, had other ideas.

"The police came roaring down and said everyone's got to evacuate," he said.

"I had the car ready but I looked over and saw spot fires.

"As the police were telling me to go, they were stomping out spot fires.

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"If you don't put them out, houses could go up."

Mr Redden said his front mat then started burning, a neighbour's planter box caught alight and another yard was soon on fire. He was running back and forth between five different properties using just garden hoses.

"I turned around and there were only three of us left," he said. "It was scary that everyone else had gone.

"I'm glad I stayed because it meant people's houses were saved."

Mr Redden yelled to some firefighters about the spot fires, and they came to help. A group of people were also helping battle the fires using a drilling vehicle and pump.

But once the fires were put out, Mr Redden said more flames were appearing.

"You're trying to plug holes in a sinking boat," he said. "It was just crazy."

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Mr Redden said the fires were as bad as he'd seen. As well as the spot fires, balls of flames were flying through the air above him carried by "horrendous" winds. He said at one point, he saw flames "pouring out of a tree".

"We were nearly surrounded, but we did have an escape route if we needed it," he said.

"It was a real eye opener for me."

Mr Redden said he believed there needed to be more hazard reduction burns in the area to reduce the risk of bushfires like Tuesday's.