Family grateful to those who battled the devastating Waimarama fires February 2017

Alison McEwan with Tom McEwan, 15, Henry McEwan, 10, stand on the lawn beside the long grass that caught fire last year. Photo / Warren Buckland

Still to this day, Alison McEwan cannot believe how "spectacularly close" the Waimarama fires were to burning down her house.

The words uttered from her neighbour last February notifying her of the fire sent a wave of worry through her core. All Ms McEwan remembers doing is jumping in her car and "screaming" out to her home only to be confronted by the wall of fire enveloping the hill.

"I think my house is burning down," she recalls telling her mother over the phone, who at first thought she was joking.

"From where we were it looked like my house was on fire and then it raced up the hill and the neighbours' house caught on fire and then within 15 minutes it was razed down to the ground.

"It was just terrifying to be honest.

"I've always thought it is just a house, it's not a person, but I guess your home actually does mean more than that because it is your sanctuary and refuge.

"It is your place and when that looks like it is about to go it actually does mean a lot more at that point of time than you expect."

Ms McEwan is forever grateful to the emergency service providers.

"They all worked day and night for ages to put it out and make sure it was all sorted.

"You hear the sirens go off at the station but you don't really consciously think about how much time and effort, especially the volunteer firefighters, put in and then all of a sudden they save your house from being burnt to the ground."

Despite the terrible events that took place last February, Ms McEwan doesn't see her and her family moving away from the home they have owned for the past nine years.

"There is a potential for something to go wrong everywhere and we are probably just a little bit more aware of it after what did happen."

Now, they are conscious about mowing the lawns and keeping their swimming pool filled so that the fire crews can use it like they did at the time.

It was the third fire that left a mark on the surroundings of that area; a smaller fire had taken place on the field across the road on Tukituki where the whole orchard caught fire and similarly a smaller fire had occurred up the driveway.

"It was such a big drought last year and we were aware that potentially there could be a fire but the scale of this was epic in comparison to the other ones."

At the time of the fire, her three boys, Henry, 10, Hamish, 13, and Tom, 15, were at school - something which she doesn't want to think could have happened if that hadn't been the case.