Anglers Rest residents were ready to defend their properties after a "textbook" planned burn escaped its containment lines.
A fuel reduction burn of 383 hectares at Anglers Rest, near Omeo, breached its containment lines mid-afternoon on Tuesday.
Anglers Rest resident Jeffe Aronson said they had been asking for the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action to conduct a burn around their property for 25 years.
"The whole point was to burn through some of the super thick undergrowth that was close to our private property," he said.
"Finally they've done it and it was described b everybody as a textbook [example] all the way through yesterday and today.
"DEECA was top notch, they had a lot of crews and they were on it."
Forest Fire Management Victoria regional agency commander Peter Brick said the planned burn crossed Bundara River and was burning in Anglers Rest, north of the historic East Gippsland Blue Duck Inn.
"A number of spot fires have also been detected in the surrounding state forest," he said.
He said a watch and act message was downgraded to advice on Tuesday evening, while the fire burned in the Alpine National Park.
FFMVic crews returned yesterday morning to assess the area with aircrafts and map the extent of the fire, and continue blacking out the fire around private land.
Mr Aronson said they were in the "middle of a bush" on a five-hectare property, which they had equipped to defend against fires.
"The fire came barrelling through for about an hour right through our notch," he said.
"It picked up a couple of burning twigs and spotted across the river, and happened to hit a property."
Mr Aronson said the residents were safe, and the only private property damage so far were two plastic tanks.
He was on the community recovery committee in 2020, after bushfires threatened Anglers Rest homes.
"You have to take risks to get some gain, they were doing other burns before and during, they'll start more after," he said.
"It's just one of the things you have to deal with when you live in the bush."