<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A family is grateful to be alive after they were forced to huddle together inside a shipping container as flames tore through their home.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Isabel Bafunno, 81, said they tried to put out the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/bushfires" rel="" target="" title="fire "><span>fire</span></a><span> when it reached their remote Caveat property in </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/victoria" rel="" target="" title="Victoria"><span>Victoria</span></a><span>, but "it was hopeless".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Outside, fire crews battled one of the state's fiercest blazes, named the Longwood fire.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/victoria-fires-multiple-bushfires-continue-to-burn-out-of-control-weather-conditions-ease-water-contamination-damage/1af8009c-3ff4-4bc5-881d-8c6af9a26edd"><strong><span>Homes razed, cattle killed as fires continue to burn</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bafunno, her 59-year-old daughter, and her 92-year-old brother Peter Palmieri endured a long, anxious wait.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It wasn't until Saturday morning that the Police Air Wing chopper arrived to get them to safety.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They're an amazing lot. They are wonderful, wonderful people, all of them in that kind of thing," she said.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/bushfires-victoria-family-shelter-shipping-container/fd0eaa95-b618-4597-b6ef-5cd6b2cf6691" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Peter thought the home he built in 1976 was fireproof - but the intensity of the blaze was nothing he'd seen before.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>An ember attack overwhelmed the property.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Suddenly, I don't know maybe the heat it blew up the wall over the home, it blew up," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Everywhere you look it looked like a war, sparks everywhere."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Isabel's daughter braved the flames to save the family cat.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We had to run into the house and it was all smoke, and we couldn't see a thing, you know," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Their beloved Bubba is recovering at a nearby vet.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Air Wing Tactical Flight Officer LSC Brittany Smith said they were extremely lucky.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"By no means do we encourage people to shelter in shipping containers, however on this occasion all I can say is this family is extremely lucky," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/protests-in-iran-reach-the-2week-mark-as-authorities-intensify-crackdown-on-demonstrators/1e368ec5-299f-4caa-a26d-761084d183f2"><strong><span>Deadly protests in Iran reach two-week mark as country remains without internet</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It was good we were able to get in and get them out."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Many Victorians are returning home for the first time.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In Yarck, residents are only just being let back in, stepping into the aftermath of what the fire spared, and what it didn't.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Maroondah Highway is lined with the ruins of family homes, at least 11 have been lost in a town that has only about 30.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>With fire bearing down on all sides, Bob Balsdon stood his ground armed with nothing more than a mop and a bucket.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-cyclone-warning-severe-weather-forecast-heavy-rain-updates/41d13e7e-3d9c-43f8-9326-da96909c22b6" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>'Significant rain' still expected as Ex-Tropical Cyclone Koji crosses Queensland</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Yeah, at one stage we had to because the fire truck had to go in the end," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Nobody could get water so we just fought it with buckets and mops and shovels, whatever we could to save the house."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Because it's been so hard for crews to get into Yarck, they haven't been able to assess the trees, so the Maroondah Highway has turned into a dangerous obstacle course.</span></div></div>