Best mate guides a Victorian firie

Wye River firefighter Wellsy felt his best mate looking after him from above as he battled brutal bushfires on Christmas Day.

Howie died in 2013 and the community put up a monument at nearby Separation Creek beach to his memory.

"The reason I've still got a house? Because I wore his gloves all night," Wellsy said on Wednesday.

"He was looking after me."

Wellsy - who only goes by "Wellsy" - joined the CFA after his father died a decade ago and he moved back to Australia.

His dad was a firefighter who had hundreds of firefighters turn out for his funeral, with his fire truck as the hearse.

Wellsy is part of a town that has planned and re-planned for bushfire to take their homes.

Every year, the brigade holds fundraisers and asks for donations, and this year it was able to buy a new tanker, with a stronger pump.

"Without the donations we might not have a town today," Wellsy said.

"With those funds we bought equipment and another fire truck."

He credited the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning's firefighters ("the Green Army"), the aerial water bombers, and strike teams from other brigades for helping to save the town.

A trip through the fire ground showed how random the Christmas Day destruction was.

One couple moved out of their little cottage and moved across the valley to a larger home.

The new house was burned, the cottage survived.

A track above Separation Creek revealed a thicket of black, burned trees all the way down the clearly visible water.

"You could not see the ocean from here (before the fire)," Wellsy said.