When farmer Robert de Gues woke up at 3am on New Year's Eve he already knew it was going to be a difficult day.
Aware that wind conditions were likely to push a massive fire burning in Victoria's East Gippsland towards his property, five kilometres outside the small town of Genoa, the 63-year-old quickly began preparing for the worst.
Shortly after 7am, as his wife worked to move their cows to safer pastures and he used his farm machinery to get rid of grass and trees near the house, Mr de Gues said the sky turned "jet black".
"Me and my wife were here on our own and we just defended ourselves," he said.
Genoa, a small township of about a dozen people, is about 30 kilometres inland from Mallacoota - where pictures were taken of blood-red skies and trapped tourists on beaches, shocking the world earlier this week.
The red sky in Mallacoota on Tuesday as fires approached. Source: Supplied
With no promise of emergency assistance, Mr de Gues, who has lived in the area his entire life, was left to battle the approaching fire from the south-east. He was one member of a small group of property owners who stayed to defend their homes.
"Those that stayed here are very disappointed in the emergency services because there was none," he said.
The out-of-control blaze remains at a Watch and Act level but Mr de Gues believes the worst is over.
"It was all over by 9.30am. We sat down and had a coffee and I made the comment to my wife, 'I think we've survived this one'," he said.
The de Gues family on their scorched farm. Source: Supplied
"I've still got my house, I've got my wife, I've got my shed, I've got my tractors, I've got all my cows. Yes, I've lost three or four kilometres of road fencing, and five or six kilometres of boundary fence. But I've still got all my machinery - I'm the lucky one.
"There are a lot who have lost their houses and everything."
However, two days after fire hit the township, Mr de Gues said there is still no sign of emergency services as locals struggle to access enough water and fuel to power generators and firefighting equipment ahead of the dangerous conditions .
Instead, members of the tight-knit community have been filling the gap by driving around to check on their neighbours.
"We are trying to make sure everyone is OK and we are helping out if we can, sharing water, petrol, fuel, whatever, food. If we can help, we will," he said.
"I'm just worried about keeping my cows and myself alive."
According to the Country Fire Association (CFA), supplies, including water, face masks and medicine, are currently being delivered to Mallacoota by boat as planning continues to relocate up to 4,000 thousand people trapped in the area.
On Thursday morning, Emergency Management Victoria's deputy commissioner Chris Stephenson said they were offering "very significant relief" to remote communities throughout Gippsland.
"That is a huge effort that the state is undertaking, joined up with the defence force and also Victoria Police and other agencies," he said.
But as increased temperatures and winds are expected on Friday, questions are being raised over whether volunteer fire services in NSW and Victoria have enough resources to manage the threat.
In response, Deputy Commissioner Stephenson urged those Victorians in isolated and remote communities to leave early ahead of the worsening conditions.
"The risk we really have at the moment is isolating more communities and our abilities to get into those communities quickly to provide relief," he said.
"So if you live in remote communities we will be sending out strong messaging that you should not be there. That you should be in a safer place."
The Fire Brigade Employees Union (FBEU) - which represents professional firefighters mainly employed by Fire and Rescue NSW - on Thursday called for at least 400 extra firefighters in response to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian's warning that more fatalities are expected this fire season.
The Commanding Officer of HMAS Choules, Scott Houlihan, leading a liaison team to meet with community leaders in Mallacoota, Victoria. Source: Department of Defence
So far, seven people have died on the NSW South Coast since Monday and 17 remain missing from small Victorian communities, like Genoa, in East Gippsland.
"That number may grow or indeed people may report to authorities, or we can get to them either via mobile phone coverage or getting people into those communities," Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters on Thursday.
One Victorian has so far been confirmed dead as a result of the fires.
"We didn't sign up to just accept people will die. Our communities didn’t sign up for that," FBEU's state secretary Leighton Drury said.
"It’s simple. We need the Premier to announce more firefighters. That’s what the people of New South Wales want and need."
Responding to questions on whether additional supports would be coming to regions under threat, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the federal government would "fully support" the communities and provide whatever resources were required.
"Our agencies are co-ordinating responses between Commonwealth resources and state resources," he said.
"That is what the Commonwealth does in these situations and that is what the Commonwealth will continue to do. And what we won’t allow to happen is for governments to be tripping over each other in order to somehow outbid each other in the response."
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews flies in helicopter over the East Gippsland fires in Victoria on New Year's Day. Source: AAP
Despite being urged to leave, Mr de Gues said he would be staying in Genoa to defend his home and he urges the government to listen to the locals on how the bush is managed.
"I've been trying for years to get them to do more burning off around the settlements of Genoa," he said.
"We are only a small population, in the bigger scale of things we're irrelevant. Even poor old Mallacoota, it cops a lot of tourists in summer but the amount of burning off they've done is pathetic."
