The blaze covered two or three acres before it was brought under control, the only damage being to some fencing, and the mower, which did not survive. It could have been much worse though.
"We were lucky there wasn't a westerly wind," Mr Beddows said.
"That would have blown the fire towards Houhora Heads, where there's plenty of scrub, and the Subritzky homestead. What breeze there was was from the east, which blew smoke across State Highway 1, obstructing traffic for a while. The highway was down to one lane for a couple of hours."
Embers had jumped across the highway at one point, starting a new fire in flax and grass, "just as we ran out of water," but was quickly brought under control, after briefly threatening a farm shed.
Water was ferried to the blaze from the Houhora fire station, about a kilometre north, and a helicopter was placed on standby but was not required.