Mr Sealey had to cut through almost 20 kilometres of fire trails to get out with heavy smoke and falling trees making the journey near impossible.

After darkness struck, a crew from Nerrigundah reached Mr Sealey and took him out of harm's way to safety.

Now, two years later, Mr Sealey has harnessed the emotions and experiences from the Black Summer fires as inspiration for a series of paintings he displays and sells from the Moruya Markets.

"I started the series just after the fires," he said. "I was a group officer involved in the fire campaign, and we were heavily involved in the Badja fire.

"The enormity of the situation that unfolded, I wanted to try to capture the memories of what I went through and the crews I was with.

"It's a tribute to everyone I worked with, and the paintings show what we all went through that summer."

Mr Sealey has sold two paintings already, and described the art as "cathartic".

"The paintings represent everyone who worked during the bushfires, who were there fighting for their communities," he said.

"There was just fire everywhere that summer, the whole Shire ended up being broken into sections and we had a big back burn operation that lasted until January 23 when the wind turned and we had the Potato Point fire.

"The memories don't really go away - we all went through something very traumatic, but there are good memories and moments within the fires and I wanted to try to capture them as well.

"The camaraderie and the friendships we built - I have eight brigades in my area and the bonds we've formed with them are very unique.

"Everyone was rallying, it was tense, a lot of us were living in the stations - we try to keep supporting the town that were impacted.

"The paintings also show dangers people may not realise, like cars and gas cylinders that would explode while we were fighting the fires."

If you're interested in purchasing one of Mr Sealey's paintings, either see his display at the Moruya markets or give him a call on 0418 950 463.

"It's a fitting time for these being the two-year anniversary," Mr Sealey said. "It's a tribute to everyone in the community as we all rallied together.

"Now whenever I go out onto a fire ground, the first thing I look for is how we can attack it and put it out, but the second thing I look for is how I can capture it with paint."