The only indication people once lived in this remote bushland is a burnt shoe wedged in the fork of a tree.

The shoe belonged to ACT Parks and Conservation manager Brett McNamara's youngest daughter. He placed it there 15 years ago after it was unearthed from the ashes of his home.

On January 18, in 2003, four bushfires burning in the Brindabella mountain range formed a single front and raged towards homes in Canberra's south-west.

Four people lost their lives, more than 500 homes were destroyed and a city was left wondering how such a tragedy could occur.

Mr McNamara knew it would be a bad day when he awoke to the ridgestock canopy burning about 7am.

His wife Michelle and their children Jordan, 8, and Gemma, 6, fled to a friend's home in Monash.

Mr McNamara stayed "to fight the good fight". It didn't even occur to him it could be the last time he saw his family.

"We had water overflowing the gutters of the house we'd prepared the home so well," Mr McNamara said.

With his Rural Fire Service crew in tow, Mr McNamara faced down the incoming ember attack.

"The valley itself was engulfed in this all consuming firestorm. Dust was burning," Mr McNamara said.

"I remember being pelted by kangaroo pellets, you know dried poo, and they were alight, they burning. It was like a scene out of hell, it was incredible."

As embers rained down, Mr McNamara's face cloth caught alight. He still has a scar on his nose from the burns.

"I can remember peeling off the face cloth and honestly thinking I was going to die. If it wasn't for the fire gear I was wearing, you and I would not be having this conversation, it's simple as that," Mr McNamara said.

The firefighters took shelter inside Mr McNamara's home, unable to withstand the onslaught of the embers.

Mr McNamara stood at the kitchen window, watching the inferno bear down on them.

"I can remember it so well, touching the glass of the kitchen window and seeing these flames outside the window licking the glass as if they wanted to come in," he said.

"All of a sudden it just exploded and the fire and the flames just came in. Still to this day I've got a recollection of going past Gemma's bedroom and her bed was alight. She had these little toys on her bed, and these flames were dancing on her doona and that's when we knew it was time to get out of the house."

The corrugated iron roof peeled off "like a banana" and the house groaned "as if it was dying", Mr McNamara said.

They managed to escape the burning home and sat in the blackened bush, watching all of the McNamara family's worldly possessions go up in smoke.

There was grief, but also relief when Mr McNamara realised everyone had gotten safely out of the home.

"I'm eternally grateful for that. Fifteen years later, you rebuild things, you get new possessions but those guys that were with me, we'll go and have a beer on Thursday and tell a few war stories," Mr McNamara said.

Mr McNamara still fights fires, but does so with his charred face cloth folded neatly in his firefighting jacket pocket.

He watched another family stand in the ashes of their home a few years ago while fighting fires in the Blue Mountains. He was able to tell them with certainty that they would be OK.

"Nature is quite remarkable. Fire has shaped and molded this landscape for millennia and it will continue to shape and mould this landscape. There's a lot to be taken from nature and its resilience and its recovery from fire and I think that's true for us as a community too," Mr McNamara said.

On Thursday, he'll spend a quiet moment at the ACT Bushfire Memorial in Stromlo Forest Park, thinking of those who didn't survive the firestorm - Duffy residents Alison Tener, 38; Doug Fraser, 60; and Peter Brooke, 73; and Stromlo resident Dorothy "Dolly" McGrath, 76.

He will also hike up Mount Franklin or Mount Gingera to reflect on how the landscape and people of Canberra have regenerated since the fire.

There is something he would like everyone else to do too.

"We can't have a fire truck outside everyone's front door or helicopter above every single house and if you live on that urban edge, if you live in a rural community in Sutton or in Bungendore, you should think about having a fire action plan. Take it from my experience - it can happen and you can lose everything," Mr McNamara said.