‘Some streets you drive along and there’s not a house that has been saved’

1/19

Brian Nunn assesses the damage to the Harcourt Cooperative Cool Stores.Credit:Jason South

2/19

Fire devastated much of Ruffy, about 100 kilometres north of Melbourne. At least 10 members of the local CFA also lost their homes.Credit:Nine

3/19

Fireys tackling the Longwood blaze were pushed back to Alexandra, where they fought to save the town.

4/19

In Harcourt, where dozens of homes were destroyed, Stephen and Sam Upton lost their contents of their business while Stephen was out fighting the fire.Credit:Jason South

5/19

CFA volunteer Raewyn Rice greets her son after fighting fires all night and returning to her own home to find it was a twisted, blackened ruin.Credit:Jason South

6/19

Dianne Rickard (right) and her family sheltered at the Mansfield relief centre.Credit:Luis Ascui

7/19

Firefighters protecting homes and horses in Longwood East.Credit:Jason South

8/19

Firefighting helicopters swooped in protect horses and at Leneva Park stud, near Longwood East.Credit:Jason South

9/19

Fire ripped through the tiny central Victorian goldfields town of Harcourt, leaving twisted, blackened metal where homes and business once stood.Credit:Jason South

10/19

In Harcourt, David Foley and his wife were building a mixed tourism and farming business when everything but his tiny home was destroyed.Credit:Jason South

11/19

The ruin of Ann and Jaime Laherty-Hunt’s property on Longwood Ruffy Road, near Ruffy.Credit:Eddie Jim

12/19

Along the Longwood-Ruffy road, farm owners Mark Noye and his father Henry Noye deal with the aftermath.Credit:Eddie Jim

13/19

Ruffy’s charred community noticeboard is emblematic of the heartbreaking scenes confronting the small community.Credit:Facebook

14/19

The breakfast spread on Saturday at the Mansfield Recreation Centre, which has become a relief centre for those fleeing the Longwood fires.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

15/19

Fire burning out of control on its march towards Alexandra on Friday, where firefighters fought desperately to save the town.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

16/19

Trees burn along a road near Longwood.

17/19

Thick smoke covers the landscape near Yea, north-east of Melbourne, on Friday.Credit:Eddie Jim

18/19

Fire crews attacking the Longwood fire.Credit:Jason South

19/19

Wyatt Moncrieff at his property near Longwood East. The fire came right to the back door of his home, and burnt down a neighbour’s house.Credit:Jason South