A ceremony will be held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Canberra bushfires at Stromlo Forest Park on Wednesday, an evening service provided for residents wanting to reflect on what was lost.
Members of the community are invited to visit Stromlo at any time throughout the day and place a rosemary sprig in the pond at the Bushfire Memorial.
Anyone who wishes to stay for the official ceremony can bring a picnic blanket or chair and watch from a grassy area nearby from 6.30pm to 8pm.
The ceremony will pay tribute to the four people who lost their lives and the many more who lost their homes when fire burning in the hills to the west and south-west of Canberra reached the suburbs.
Stephen Alegria, ACT Parks and Conservation manager, said January 18, 2003 was life-altering for many Canberrans, the capital experiencing a fire tornado on the urban fringe for the first time.
"Whether you're a firefighter or community resident impacted by it, everyone's going to have a different experience and a different recollection," he said.
"The opportunity for everybody in the community who wants to be there to attend and remember the 20th anniversary of that event is really important.
"I also acknowledged that there may be people that don't want to be involved, and they might have their own way of remembering what happened and reflecting on that."
Mr Alegria said for his colleagues in ACT Parks and members of the Rural Fire Service whose lives were at risk that January, the impacts were still being felt.
"That kind of experience doesn't go away for people, they can manage it, but it's always going to be part of their life history," he said.
Mr Alegria had been working with ACT Parks for just 12 months when he was called on to help fight the fires.
In addition to the loss of lives and property, he said the damage to parks and reserves where they'd worked had been difficult to witness.
Mr Alegria said the depot he's worked out of at Casuarina Sands had also burnt to the ground. He said the 2003 Canberra bushfires had shaped the focus of the ACT Parks service for the two decades just passed.
"I hope that the community can acknowledge the fantastic efforts that were made by the firefighters on the ground back in the day," he said.
"I think it's important that people acknowledge that we have learned so much since 2003, as a government and as a community, about bushfire.
"We can't always prevent them or control them, but we're always learning, we're always trying to do better in terms of fire management, and our number one priority is to keep the community safe.
Wednesday's 20th anniversary event will be live streamed here.
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