A REDESDALE woman was saved with minutes to spare as fire raced towards her home.Sandra Rickard was watching Country Fire Authority updates on her laptop while cooling off in her wading pool on Saturday when she saw smoke.“It was coming straight for us,” she said. “I had a quick look around for ember attacks and, if need be, I could put them out.“But I could see the fire racing in the paddock next door and called 000.“I couldn’t get through . . . but luckily as I was doing that, the CFA arrived.“It was not safe to go, so I stayed with them. We were going from A to B to C to put out fires . . . it was overwhelming.”Ms Rickard turned to watch as her car went up in flames, along with her backhoe and the timber deck in her courtyard. It was then she remembered her three cats were in the house.“I told the CFA guys and they went to have a quick look . . . one cat jumped at me, but we only got one out of three.”Ms Rickard said the fire then blocked the area from the house to the driveway, but the firefighters managed to get her to safety.“On the way out, I saw the shed go up,” she said.“The windows broke in the house.“It was scary . . . I think it’s all gone. I don’t care about my stuff, I just care about my cats.”Ms Rickard said she was surprised quickly the fire hit.“I was so prepared . . . I had everything packed, I just needed five more minutes to get the car to the door, get the cats and throw everything in,” she said.“But I didn’t have five minutes . . . if the CFA hadn’t come, I probably wouldn’t be here.”