The fire, at the rear of The Magic Pudding Homewares in Vincent Street, started about 1.10pm last Tuesday.

A 19-year-old man has been praised for helping stop the spread of the blaze before firefighters from Daylesford and Hepburn arrived.

Country Fire Authority volunteer Shane Yanner quickly doused the flames using a nearby fire hydrant.

"I was just around the corner at work and a workmate yelled and told me there was a fire," Mr Yanner said.

"I knew where the fire hydrant was and just ran to it and tried to slow the fire down," he said.

He said the sound of leaking gas didn't affect his efforts.

"I was used to the sound of gas burning from other fires I've been to with the brigade so that didn't worry me too much," he said.

The reluctant hero has been a member of Daylesford CFA for four years and is a storeman at Coles supermarket.

Daylesford Fire Brigade Captain Don Anderson said Mr Yanner had been a reliable firefighter since joining the brigade in 2004.

"He's always done the right thing, he's a pretty good volunteer," Mr Anderson said.

"Although he's a younger volunteer, age doesn't seem to affect his work," he said.

The Magic Pudding Homewares operator Karen Rowe also praised Mr Yanner's quick thinking.

"We'd like to thank Chris for his fantastic work, and the rest of the CFA, they did a great job," Ms Rowe said.

"The gas that was burning was quite scary, you don't really know what to think in that sort of situation," she said.