Coral Loader has faced her fair share of natural disasters: floods and fires have been unwelcome visitors for the Buninyong resident over the past few years.
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Their home in the Deepwater National Park on the central Queensland coast was threatened by the inferno that tore through the rainforest and much of central coastal Queensland last month, and this week it erupted near her Buninyong home.
One home and six dwellings near the family home in Deepwater were razed, but their home was spared.
It came just 10 months after that area was also ravaged by floods on Australia Day.
The Loaders moved from Deepwater to Ballarat so their son Corey, who has autism, could attend Ballarat Specialist School.
"Out there we were in the middle of nowhere so we moved down here to come to Ballarat Specialist School so he could get support," she said.
Although the Buninyong fire was on the other side of the Midland Highway, the fire still sent a chill through Ms Loader and Corey, who both have strong and traumatic memories of the 2015 Scotsburn fires.
The school bus Corey, and other students from south of Buninyong were on, was stopped in town on Thursday afternoon to avoid going in to the danger area.
Over the past three years the Loaders have been heavily involved in the Scotsburn Fire Recovery Group, attending the monthly dinners, helping plant trees and being part of the community supporting each other in the wake of the devastating 2015 fires.
"It was on the other side of the highway but we've got friends in the thick of the bush there and my main concern was for them and their homes," she said.
"All those who lost their homes from 2015 ... it would be heartbreaking to lose them again after they've been rebuilt."
Ms Loader said her hope was that if Thursday's fire had reached areas burned in 2015, the fire spread would slow.
Incident controller Brett Boatman said where the fire had come out of the forest and in to grasslands on Thursday it had burnt itself out, with the grass still green and only 50 per cent cured.
All afternoon and evening the nine aircraft dumping water flew over the Loader's house.
"We knew things were apparently ok when we didn't hear choppers and planes any more - we knew it meant they had got it under control."
All day Friday a steady stream of water tankers filled up in Buninyong to ferry water out to crews on the front line.
The Scotsburn Fire Recovery Group is holding a community barbecue at Clarendon tonight, with an invitation extended during the community information session to all those impacted by this week's fire.