Last week, Blackheath resident Jenny Bibaoui watched as fire-fighters - including one of her neighbours - stood in her backyard to battle flames.
They stopped the blaze literally at her back fence, cementing them as "legendary" in Ms Bibaoui's opinion.
Then on Christmas Day, her niece and friend noticed a frightened possum taking refuge in the eaves.
Ms Bibaoui tried to call both National Parks and the RSPCA but both were closed.
But not WIRES. Although she was up the coast at a Christmas dinner, volunteer Tracy Burgess answered the call and came to the rescue.
"I'd say the ringtail escaped the fire to the house and was scared and wouldn't move from under the eaves. She's now in care so I can monitor any damage," Ms Burgess said.
The pair are now setting up watering and feeding stations in the burnt-out bush to ensure native wildlife survive.
With some fruit and vegetables donated from The Vegie Patch at Blackheath, they chopped the food into small pieces and put it on little pot plant saucers.
Once distributed around the back fences of some of the Rodriguez Avenue properties, Ms Burgess filled a clam-shell pool with water. She put a couple of rocks and larger branches in the pool so little animals, like antechinus, can get in and out.
Wild bird seed feeders were draped from the trees and finally a bale of straw scattered around to provide food for kangaroos and wallabies.
Ms Bibaoui was going to contact her neighbours to get them to join in and urged others near burnt land to do the same.
"People want to help but they're not sure what to do. I'll be doing the rounds of my neighbours later today," she said.
