Large flames can be seen only metres from Greg Bourke's family home and his prize collection of carnivorous plants.
But he isn't worried.
"I'm pretty relaxed, these guys know what they're doing," he says of the 15 Rural Fire Service members fighting flames and back burning five metres from his home.
The property at Berambing, in the Blue Mountains, is under threat from the State Mine fire, which has burnt through 42,751 hectares of scrub and bush.
But it wasn't Mr Bourke's home the RFS first protected when they arrived at 8am (AEDT) on Tuesday.
They were instead asked to back burn around Mr Bourke's $150,000 collection of imported and native carnivorous plants.
When the fires raged last Thursday, Mr Bourke sent his wife and two kids to friends in Sydney and started clearing around the house.
His preparedness seems to be paying off, but he's still calling into his home every few hours to make sure it's standing and that water is being pumped to his rooftop sprinkler.
Mr Bourke is also running a refuge centre at the Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens, where he's acting curator.
He says he accepts fires are part of living in such a wild environment.
"Part of the reason to move to the mountains was to be amongst the bush so you do take that (fire) risk," he said.
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