Roadblocks are still in place. Power lines are down. Spot-fires burn in the gutters.
Locals use buckets of water to douse small fires and smouldering embers left from the fires that ripped through the NSW lower Blue Mountains on Thursday.
Countless houses have been reduced to cinders, while properties right next door have barely been singed.
Winmalee father-of-three Glen Posford was surveying the rubble that was his family's home on Buena Vista Road on Friday morning.
But he managed to maintain a wry sense of humour as he pointed to a garish frog-shaped coin bank, all that remained of his property along with a small ceramic vase.
"Those are pretty much the only things I found intact," Mr Posford said.
"That thing - the frog - had to survive, because I don't like it."
Mr Posford, who has only lived in the area for three months, was evacuated on Thursday afternoon.
"We got a call about three saying the deck was on fire, and that was it," he said.
He was at work when news of the emergency came through.
He tried to get back in to defend his property, but was stopped by police at the roadblock.
His wife and three kids are safe at his brother's house in Berowra.
Mr Polson said neighbours in the tight-knit community had already opened their homes, offering clothes and a place to stay.
"I've had three offers already," he said.
"We'll have to find somewhere, but for the moment I think my brother's stuck with us."
Another local, Ian Gough told AAP the family cat, Isabel, ran into bushland on Thursday afternoon as flames encroached on the house.
Hours later she re-emerged, unsinged, climbed into a bucket of water to cool down and began poking around looking for dinner.
Mr Gough said he'd spent the night fighting spot-fires, but his home was largely unscathed.
"We had a couple of windows blown out, and we lost the dog and the kids' toys out the back, but half the houses on the street are gone so we're pretty lucky."
Premier Barry O'Farrell and Prime Minister Tony Abbott are due to tour the area later on Friday.
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