When the bushfire smoke became too thick for Graeme Zucker to stay at his Kersbrook home, he only had time to grab a few precious items: some photos, a laptop, a bag of fruit and his daughter's wedding album.
His wife Liz had already left with the three family dogs in tow, heading to the safety of a friend's home in nearby Williamstown in the Adelaide Hills.
The chickens and sheep had to be left behind, and the cat couldn't be found.
Graeme and Liz now face a long and anxious wait to learn whether their house has survived a bushfire described as the worst seen in South Australia since the 1983 Ash Wednesday blaze.
They may soon be forced to evacuate again, with Williamstown named on Saturday afternoon as one of 19 towns in the Adelaide Hills where residents should leave immediately.
Graeme says he's cautiously optimistic but admits that it's a nerve-wracking wait.
"You might be lucky, you might not be," he told AAP.
"We won't know until the roads are opened and we can drive back and come around the corner.
"If you see the house there, you jump for joy. If you don't, well you don't jump for joy."
The Zuckers' home town of Kersbrook has been at the heart of the Sampson Flat bushfire since it flared up on Friday afternoon.
There are unconfirmed reports the local primary school has gone up in flames, with hot and windy weather creating havoc for thousands of firefighters.
"It's a bit frightening," Graeme said.
"I was standing up on the roof with the hose and watering anything I could see that needed water.
"You still don't get an idea of where everything is with respect to where the fire is, where the smoke is and how far away it is."
The threat of bushfires is a fact of life for residents of the Adelaide Hills but Graeme says he's never seen such extreme conditions in the six years he's lived in Kersbrook.
"You're supposed to have all your papers in a safe and that sort of thing ... you always talk about it but it never really gets sorted out," he said.
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