Nathan Barnden thinks anyone in his position would have done the same.
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The 26-year-old was the divisional commander of a firefighting unit in Quaama, a small town between Cobargo and Brogo on the South Coast, on New Year's Eve when a ferocious fire front had forced under-resourced firefighters to defend the lives of people in the town's fire shed.
Then Mr Barnden got a triple-0 call. A family of seven was stuck in their burning home.
"We received that call and when that call came through for seven people, of which five were kids ... there's no hesitation. There was absolutely no way - the moment we heard that call - that we weren't going to do absolutely everything in our power to rescue that family and pull them out. And driving to them was one of the most challenging things we'd ever done," Mr Barnden said.
Alongside his colleague John Gallagher, Mr Barnden drove a Hyundai four-wheel drive - with no extra safety features, there was "absolutely nothing special" about the car - through the firefront to pull the family out.
"We [arrived] at their address to find three quarters of the house on fire and the deck on the fire, the car on fire in the driveway. And of course at that moment, it's just sheer fear. Your immediate thought is you're too late," Mr Barnden said.
But the family was huddled under a blanket in the lounge room
"All of them, including the kids, they'd all gone to bed the night before and woken up to this, so there's no shoes on any of them, they're wearing shorts and no T-shirts, the boys," he said.
"We ended up carrying the kids ... and we got all nine of us into a five-seater car and then had to turn around and drive back through the fire front and through all of the debris and the horrific nature of what was occurring, to get them back to the fire station. We got them back there.
"Then we did it another two times for another three separate people, of which one was fairly badly burned and spent a fair bit of time in a coma in Sydney."
Now Mr Barnden has been recognised for his firefighting work, nominated for the ACT's Young Australian of the Year award.
"I don't believe in any way that I'm deserving of something of such significance, but I'm truly touched and honoured to have been nominated for something like this," he said.
"It's a very special thing and I don't take it lightly. I guess I struggle with it a little bit because I don't feel like anything I did is outside the realms of what anyone else in my position would have done."
Mr Barnden, who grew up in Bega on the NSW far South Coast and moved to Canberra for university, remembers waiting up for his dad, Clem, to come home from firefighting operations.
"I used to stay up as a kid and watch my dad run off to fight these incredible fires. And I'd be waiting for him to get home, and usually Mum would be telling us to go to bed. And I'd be arguing with her so that I could just sit up until he got home and I could ask him everything," he told the Sunday Canberra Times.
"And eventually, I finally hit that 16 mark where you could fight fires in NSW and I was incredibly proud to be able to jump alongside him and go and do that."
Now, Mr Barnden serves in the brigade alongside his father, who is the current captain. It was one of the few highlights of 2020 to tell his dad and mum, Rosey, of his nomination.
"It was an incredible moment how proud he was and how touched he was at knowing that what his son had done has led to something like this and I unfortunately couldn't do it in person, and had to do it over the phone, but could hear it in his voice, and I could hear the way he choked up a little bit when he tried to tell me how proud he was. It was a really nice moment," he said.
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But life has never been the same after three months fighting fires last summer, even though Mr Barnden has moved back to his Canberra desk job.
"I was horrifically unfortunate I lost my uncle and cousin who were defending their home at Cobargo during the fire. That obviously has taken a fairly massive toll on myself and my life.
"I'm coming to terms with what I would describe as my new normal, which has been a fairly long battle so far with some mental health challenges and some of the symptoms of [post-traumatic stress disorder]," he said.
Youth worker Tara McClelland, 24, who works with young people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, has also been nominated for the ACT Young Australian of the Year award. Ms McClelland also advocates for youth mental health issues.
Sarah O'Neill, 20, who volunteers to provide respite and recreation for children under 12 and shifted her focus to volunteering when she lost work due to the COVID-19 economic downturn, also received a nomination.
The four ACT Australian of the Year awards will be announced at a ceremony on Monday.