VOLUNTEER firefighters have been praised for saving a family home blistered by heat from a shed fire.
Ray McDougall was inside the home last Thursday afternoon when he heard an explosion.
His went outside to see his workshop, just a metre from the weatherboard home in Commercial Road, Tarnagulla, engulfed in flames.
The former local fire brigade member praised the efforts of current volunteers Kelly Whitton and Cath Horwood-Nichols for saving his home.
“They were very professional and knew what to do,” Ray said.
“I’ve been to a few shed fires over the years and they certainly got it right. They saved the house.”
Ray believes the fire that destroyed his shed, chainsaws and air-conditioners may have started when he had been sharpening a chainsaw and sparks fell onto an oily rag.
“I had gone inside to take a phone call from my son when I heard a loud explosion, the dog started barking and my wife Wilma came in saying the shed was on fire,” he said.
“There were more explosions from gas bottles and disused fuel drums.”
Tarnagulla brigade was joined by units from across the district including Inglewood and took several hours to extinguish the corrugated iron shed fire that blistered paint on the adjoining home and charred a tree overhanging the chicken coop.
Ray said the chickens were foraging for food in an adjoining yard when explosions started in the shed and “we put the hose on them for protection from heat”.
A Hyundai sedan purchased by Ray four weeks ago as spare parts was also destroyed in the blaze that started about 1.30pm.
Ray said the shed had been insured.
“The fire brigade volunteers were fantastic and we can’t thank them enough. Their good work saved the house,” he said. 
“We were a bit lucky,” Ray said.