Peter and Jennifer Filmer remember the 2003 fires very well.
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He came within an inch of death while she heard a running commentary on frantic efforts to save him.
He was driving a Rural Fire Service water tanker when a tree collapsed, crushing his cab, with a branch stabbing through to the ground.
At the same time, she was in the RFS control room and witnessed her partner's near death, but remotely. She heard all the instructions over the radio in a running commentary as her husband fought for life.
She heard it when he passed out, and she heard it when the helicopter arrived to take him to Canberra Hospital. Only the care there saved him.
He says now that while he was still barely conscious, he was thinking only of his family.
Despite the horrific memories of the 2003 fires, they plan to stay and defend their property south of Tharwa this time.
"We are expecting it on Friday and if not then, it'll be Saturday," Jennifer said.
"We were burnt down in 2003 so this is the second time for the fires to come through.
They were outside on Thursday watching the spotter plane circling endlessly over the fire. "It's a waiting game."
The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a high of 41 degrees on Friday, with little - if any - chance of rain.
The couple read the wind and it's not good. "Winds on Friday and Saturday are north-westerly so it'll sweep through. It will come here in the next few days."
Is she sure? "Absolutely."
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She has one fear. They feed the animals on her remote property - possums, kangaroos, lizards.
"We might save the house," she said, "but not the kangaroos and that is heart-breaking."
Five kilometres away, the Gregory family already live in the shadow of the Orroral fire.
Bush on the hillside above their farm is already burning. The major part of the fire is just beyond the ridge but spot fires break out on their side.
"As soon as we get a north-westerly, it'll come over the hill and just burn down," Will Gregory said. "It'll just come down and go along all that range and if we get enough bad weather, it'll spot fire into the range behind us and keep going south."
There are six generations of knowledge on the farm so he speaks with certainty.
His family has been told to leave but will stay and defend, partly because they don't think the current fire is as fierce as 2003.
"The 2003 fires started 40 or 50 kilometres away, and it had a week of hot, dry and windy weather so by the time it got here it had twice as much momentum as it does now.
"We might have a day or two of bad weather for here but once it gets further south and keeps going through the National Park it may be more serious there."
They have five utes with 1,000 litres in tanks on the back of each.
The brothers' mother, Sharron Gregory, is behind the decision to stay despite the urging of the authorities.
"We've been told to leave but they know we are well prepared," she said as she held her ten day old grand-son, Freddy.
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
