Out at a friend’s bucks party in Melbourne at the time, Mr Laity was told the tragic news that his Chum Creek home was on fire as the Black Saturday bushfires tore across the state.

By the time he could get to the property two days later, his rental home was nothing more than a simmering pile of rubble.

The fire ravaged his fallen home twice more in the following days.

With all his possessions destroyed — including a life-long collection of filmmaking gear — the former filmmaker spent the next three-and-a-half weeks helping friends on the other side of the ridge defend their homes, which all survived.

“It’s just chance that I was out at the time (the fire struck). I’m really grateful I wasn’t there because my street was one the CFA wouldn’t go up because they couldn’t get back out again,” said Mr Laity, who now lives in Daylesford. “I suspect it would have been incredibly unlikely I would have lived through it.”

Click to view a photo gallery of Black Saturday

Mr Laity was at an unavoidable crossroad in life.

“It was devastating, all my filmmaking gear, everything I’d ever done was all destroyed. I felt like I was not only starting all over again with the house but starting a film making career as well.”

Having been given $15,000 from the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal, he decided to buy a wine label printer and build a business that would also give back.

Using the generosity of local wineries offering reduced rates, Mr Laity began purchasing pallets of fine wine, built a website and started contacting charities — the Victoria’s Volunteer Fire Brigades was first on his list.

“All the wine is sold online. The charity has a link on their website that connects to a landing page on my website, then the customer makes their selection and I receive the order,” he said. “The idea is the charity does nothing, they just receive a cheque at the end of each quarter.”