Couple thank fireys for coming to their rescue after Noonamah bushfire came within metres of their home

LEANNE and Grant Hopkins raced home thinking the worst when news broke that a fire was burning through their neighbourhood. It was the first fire they had experienced on their property.

Leanne and Grant Hopkins had their house surrounded by a bushfire on Monday near Noonamah. Local volunteer firefighters saved their house from damage. Picture: Che Chorley

LEANNE and Grant Hopkins raced home thinking the worst when news broke that a fire was burning through their neighbourhood.

The blaze edged right up to the 10m-wide green lawn they keep around their house as a protection against bushfires.

Under prime fire conditions, an out-of-control blaze whipped through the Noonamah area threatening about eight homes on Monday afternoon.

It prompted the response of 25 fire crews and six aircraft working with residents to contain the blaze.

The fire in Noonamah came close to the Hopkins' home on Monday night. Picture: Lenny Klein

The fire in Noonamah came close to the Hopkins' home on Monday night. Picture: Leanne Hopkins

The young couple has lived at their Noonamah home for a year and it was the first fire they had experienced on their property.

Neighbours jumped to help the couple, collecting their two dogs and turning the sprinklers on to stop the fire from encroaching on their home, while they raced home from work.

“And not long after we got here the water bombers came through the back and then they (fireys) came and (back) burnt the rest out,” Mr Hopkins said.

The fire in Noonamah came close to the Hopkins' home on Monday night. Picture: Lenny Klein

Remains of the bushfire in Noonamah, which surrounded the Hopkins’ home on Monday night. Picture Che Chorley

Their property, scattered with bright green-leaved pandanus trees, is now scorched and covered in ash.

“It looks pretty catastrophic when you walk down there, it looks so different. There’s just nothing.

“I suppose everything will grow back,” Mr Hopkins said.

The couple packed up all of their important documents just in case things turned bad.

Smoke from the bushfire in Noonamah, which surrounded the Hopkins’ home on Monday night. Picture: Che Chorley

Smoke from the bushfire in Noonamah, which surrounded the Hopkins’ home on Monday night. Picture: Che Chorley

“Once all the fireys were here, they know what they were doing, so as soon as they were here there wasn’t a worry in the world really,” he said.

“It’s still pretty exhilarating. It’s the first and the closest I’d like to get to one.”

Grant Hopkins had his house surrounded by a bushfire on Monday near Noonamah. Local volunteer firefighters saved his house from damage, but his property was engulfed in flames. Picture: Che Chorley

Trees and shrubbery burnt in the bushfire in Noonamah on Monday night. Picture: Che Chorley

Fireys back-burned through their property and waterbombed near the house in an effort to stop the fire.

While the couple was well prepared and had fire breaks and green spaces, they say they will make sure they have bags ready to grab and go if ever there was a fire bad enough to warrant it.

Grant Hopkins surveys the damage the bushfire in Noonamah on Monday night caused to his property. Picture: Che Chorley

Leanne Hopkins with her dog Noddy, at her property which was surrounded by the bushfire in Noonamah on Monday night. Noddy was evacuated by a neighbour. Picture: Che Chorley

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Bushfires NT chief fire control officer Andrew Turner said Bushfires NT was undertaking a preliminary investigation to ascertain the area of origin and possible cause of the wildfire.

“Bushfires NT, often with the support of the NT Police, investigates all significant fires, although the fire cause is not always able to be determined precisely,” he said.