It had been a wild night out on the streets for the reporter, but not how you might first think.

For, while Auburn St is a hub of business activity, it is residential too.

The fire that destroyed Centrelink and St Vincent de Paul threatened the homes of a small handful.

She recounted her experience:

We were sitting in our lounge room, soaking in the aftermath of another Game Of Thrones finale, when the room began to glow.

We saw the tower of flames through our window - higher than our roof, threatening to tip over and consume us at any point.

I remember sprinting into the empty car park, lit up by fire. The boys had no shoes on as they sped through the dark to move our cars and pound on neighbouring doors. One of our neighbours had time to grab his keys and nothing else. No phone. No wallet. No jacket.

We were an odd sight shivering together in the gutter, locked out of our homes and looking back on the scene not really knowing what to do or what to expect.

People were running all around us, and we stood still. Our phones buzzed until the batteries died.

We sat in the gutter and watched emergency services run in and out, waiting for any sign that we might be able to return home.

While the smoke didn't prove much trouble for breathing the claustrophobia set in when the rubber-neckers arrived.

Car-loads filled with people jammed the streets to get a good look at Goulburn's latest action movie. We saw several near misses, one with a police vehicle, before emergency services cordoned off the area. The foot traffic continued, and one bloke walked his dog through the street.

A lady standing by with two young girls was overheard saying, "I hate watching things burn".

An ember floated slowly from the heaving, groaning chaos and settled on the roof of our place. Then the wind dropped, and that was no longer a concern. Within the hour the firemen had made a dent in the blaze.

We stood behind yellow tape as firemen battled from four sides of the fire to rein it in. If it had spread to the shopfronts, it would have been disastrous. We were told a brick wall helped stop it from spreading south into our units, and counted ourselves lucky. Others were not so.

Business people, public servants, cafe owners and charity volunteers inspected damage yesterday.

We have our firies to thank that it wasn't so much worse. The city owes them a debt of gratitude, once again, for a massive effort.

Like everyone, we will watch the current court proceedings surrounding the accused with great interest.