About noon on Saturday, October 26, the couple noticed black smoke pouring through the trees behind their Homestead Estate (off Black Head Road) home.

"That's when the weather started to turn a little bit bad," Terry said.

As smoke and fire began to edge closer to the home, Jan rang the fire brigade.

Firefighters were already attending to fires in the Failford, Darawank and Tuncurry areas.

As the night wore on and with the threat of fire on their doorstep, Terry worked to put out some of the embers wafting into their backyard.

Smoke and heat soon became unbearable.

"I couldn't breath," Terry said.

About 11pm, Terry and Jan headed for the evacuation centre at Club Taree.

There they joined with about 100 anxious people, hoping their homes would still be standing the next morning. The Club Taree staff helped anyway they could.

"They gave us food, coffee and tea and looked after everybody," Terry said.

"They looked after the dogs as well."

Terry and Jan stayed overnight and returned home the next day, unaware of its condition. Jan was fearful of what they would see.

"I thought the house would go," Jan said.

They discovered the bushfire came within 50 metres of the house. Terry was thankful of the work of firefighters.

"The firies always do good stuff and I really appreciate what they've done," he said.

Now knowing his home was unharmed made the uncomfortable night sleep a non-issue.

"It was a bit hard sleeping on the floor (at Club Taree) but it was better than anything else," he smiled.

Stay ahead with local news by signing up for the Great Lakes Advocate newsletter here.