' I grabbed the dog and went . . .'

IT took 10 years for the Magennis family to build their dream home, but just minutes for it to be destroyed.

IT took 10 years for the Magennis family to build their dream home, but just minutes for it to be destroyed.

The grand three-storey residence at Winmalee, in the Blue Mountains, was reduced to a rubble after one of the worst bushfires the area had ever seen relentlessly tore through the entire street, leaving locals with barely enough time to leave.

Parts of the leafy, affluent suburb yesterday resembled a tip, with burnt-out cars and rubbish scattered across the street. Small rivers of melted alloy flowed from the damaged cars' wheels.

One by one, each of the streets' residents came home to their worst nightmare -- understandbly emotional as they walked through the brick shells they had called home.

"After 10 years slowly building the place -- the landscaping was all done, the inside was just done and all we had to do was finish the driveway -- now we have to start all over again," said Julie Magennis, who was in nearby Penrith at the time and could not collect any valuables before they were incinerated.

She and her husband Michael picked through the pile of rubble to salvage what they could.

Her son Lucas was home alone studying for his HSC exams when he noticed thick smoke outside the home. Within minutes the house was alight.

"I called my dad and he told me to grab the (computer) hard-drive, the hot-rod, and go," he said. "When I left a few minutes later I looked back and thought 'holy crap' when I saw the roof was already on fire."

Across the road, David Bartush was on his roof with the garden hose putting out spot fires and saw Lucas leave before the fire swept through more than a dozen of homes opposite. But soon the gale-force winds had blown embers on to his front veranda, which disintegrated in minutes.

"I knew I was fighting a losing battle when I saw the retaining wall and trees out the front catch fire," he said. "So I grabbed the dog and went. By that time I could barely see past the front of the car."

Susan Templeman was working in Sydney when her 19-year-old son called and told her how close the fire was to their Blue Mountains home.

"I told him to grab what he could and get the hell out!" she said. "I knew our place was gone. And when I got back to the shopping centre I ran into a friend who told me they saw my house on fire. It wasn't a good feeling."