What Bruce and Lindsay will never get back are their 13 beloved greyhounds, which perished when the blaze, fuelled by 70km winds, whipped across the crisp-dry grassland south of Canberra destroying three homes.

A fire-fighting truck was also damaged and three people injured.

The Perrins managed to save the two houses on their Tinderry Road block, but their sawmill their livelihood was destroyed.

''The hardest thing was listening to the dogs. You're helpless. You're flat out saving yourself and you listen to your dogs burn to death,'' Mrs Perrin said.

She said the blaze came at them like a train that brought furnace-like temperatures.

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times