He and wife Pat were counting their blessings at the weekend despite their Branxholm St home being razed.
"It's absolutely marvellous to have all those other houses saved," Mr Kerr said.
"And things are just things - we're alive and that's what matters," Mrs Kerr added.
The couple own a backpacker business in the Commercial Hotel in the town and both were out of the house as the fire started.
Mr Kerr, a Roxburgh Community Board member, saw the smoke on the hill and went to check on his property.
He saw a metre of burning pine needles at the foot of a huge pine, with dozens of "floaters" going up from the burning needles, starting fires wherever they landed.
"I'd always thought if there was a fire you could rush in and grab something, but smoke soon changes your attitude. It was like looking into the face of a locomotive roaring."
Roxburgh policeman Roger Mattson was at the scene, checking nobody was in the house.
"I just looked at Roger and said `I'll hop in your car to get back down the hill.'
It was like driving into a cloud and I said to Roger: 'You'll have to be a bit courageous driving down,' because our road is one way and you couldn't really see for the smoke."
Within 10 minutes the house had been destroyed.
"I could see the two windows glowing orange and I knew it was gone."
Even though he was familiar with scrub fires from his farming days, Mr Kerr was amazed how quickly the fire spread, fanned by the strong winds.
The garage next to the house was relatively untouched by the fire and the plastic-covered tunnel house beside the garage was unscathed.
The Kerrs were philosophical about the fire.
"In a way, it's like another chapter in the book of rich experiences and it's made us realise what a great community we live in. It gives you a lift to hear from people, and we've had calls, emails and visits from people wanting to help, from friends and strangers - and we've never had so many hugs," he said.
Their home was clad in steel, with a wooden veranda and wooden decking around it.
The house was located on 5ha of land owned by the couple and they had established a garden, trimmed trees, cleared it of scrub near the house and bulldozed firebreaks.
"The house was set above the ground a foot or two and I guess the fire just went woosh underneath it."
The Kerrs had lived in the house for about two years and hoped to rebuild on the same site, which overlooks the town.
Their home was fully insured.
