KEY POINTS:
John Tupara dived into a ditch and covered his face with his hands as the flames swept over him and his colleagues.
Last night the firefighter was one of three New Zealanders in hospital recovering from serious burns after they were caught by the bushfires devastating south Australia.
But Mr Tupara's sister, Tiahuia Morunga, said her brother loved the job and it was unlikely Saturday's scare would put him off a career he had been doing for more than 10 years.
"I don't think that would frighten him," she said. "He would still go back. We're tough bikkies."
Mr Tupara, a father of one, was among 11 New Zealand firefighters who became trapped by a large blaze at Mt Terrible, in northeastern Victoria, at 2.30pm on Saturday.
They sought refuge as they had been trained to do, but Mr Tupara, Barrie Hunt of Christchurch and Nick McCabe of Nelson were unable to escape the ferocious flames. All were burned on the hands and face.
Mr Hunt also has airway burns. All three were flown to Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
Mr Tupara's father, Sonnie Tupara, said he had been able to speak to his son in hospital. "I wasn't going to go to bed until I heard his voice."
Mr Tupara, a Department of Conservation firefighter from Waiotapu, near Rotorua, was burned on the hands, ear, and face and was having surgery in a Melbourne hospital.
"I knew he was sore from the way he was talking, but he said: 'I'm all right, Dad'. Then, I could sleep."
Ms Morunga said her brother avoided serious burns to his face by using his hands to protect himself.
She had not spoken to him, but said another sister in Melbourne was keeping the family updated on his progress, and they were satisfied he was doing well.
Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker today said he would go to Victoria tomorrow to meet New Zealand Rural Fire Service personnel fighting the wildfires.
He will also visit the injured men in Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
Sonnie Tupara will fly to Melbourne on Wednesday, a trip he already had planned for Christmas, and said he was looking forward to seeing his son.
He said he was proud of him and relieved he had not come to more harm.
"I've already lost two other children and my wife. I said to the man above: 'You can't take another one'."
This is the second time John Tupara has fought bushfires in Australia. He has been to several other countries, including Canada, to fight fires.
Forty-eight New Zealanders are helping to battle the bushfires. Of the 11 in the Saturday incident, five were back on the job yesterday. The fires have burned more than 5500sq km of bushland in Victoria.
The only person to die in the fires has been horse trainer Donald Dosser, 48, who was killed when he fell off a vehicle on Thursday and was run over by a trailer as he helped fight fires in the badly-affected Gippsland area, in Victoria's southeast.
Teams make most of weather
SYDNEY - Firefighters yesterday were taking advantage of good weather to try to contain parts of a large bushfire in central NSW, before a forecast drop in humidity.
Officials said the Goldmine Rd fire, 45km southwest of Narrabri, had burned out 12,500ha on two fronts.
"It is a large fire but it is not threatening any property," Rural Fire Service spokeswoman Rebel Talbert said.
Firecrews were hampered in their efforts to control the blaze on Saturday by strong southwesterly winds.
But milder conditions, which enabled allowed backburning to go ahead through the night, were expected to hold until last night.
Seventy firefighters and 12 waterbombing aircraft will continue to work on the fire until a forecast plunge in humidity to 15 per cent.
The Goldmine Rd fire and six others have been burning for weeks around Coonabarabran and Narrabri, blackening more than 130,000ha.
Mild conditions have given the southern NSW township of Tumut, near the Snowy Mountains, a reprieve from an advancing bushfire.
- AAP