As their town burned down around them, a pair of Australian grandparents scrambled to save their five young grandchildren and clung to a jetty while the flames raged.
Grandfather Tim Holmes captured photographs from the harrowing, three-hour ordeal that the family survived Jan. 4, according to the Guardian. The photos were released Jan. 9.
Scroll down to see Holmes' images.
NBC News reports that the family took to the cold water to shelter themselves from "tornadoes of fire" roaring through the town of Dunalley, Tasmania, which was destroyed in the blaze.
"The next thing we knew everything was on fire, everywhere, all around us," Holmes told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "There was no other escape."
Holmes and his wife, Tammy, escaped to a nearby jetty as fire surrounded the three homes owned by their family. According to TNT Magazine, the inferno threatened to consume the wood structure as well, but Holmes put out the encroaching flames with sea water.
Holmes sent a text message to his daughter, Bonnie Walker, to let her know that her children, who range in age from 2 to 11, were safe and in the water.
Record high temperatures, combined with a long stretch without rain, have created what Australian officials are calling the "most dangerous conditions for fires on record."
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