By Nate Woodall, Jessica Longbottom and Madi Chwasta, ABC News

Photo: ABC News / Jessica Longbottom

Don Deelen says most people would think he was stupid for staying to defend his property from a bushfire.

"You do what you think you have to do," Deelen said. "It's my house."

The 82-year-old cattle farmer from the central Victorian town of Koriella, which was ravaged in the Longwood bushfires, said he was putting out spot fires with a hose, when his garage caught alight.

Photo: ABC / Jessica Longbottom

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