Ron Howard is counting the days until he can move back into the Quakers Hill Nursing Home, which has officially reopened more than two years after a devastating fire killed 11 elderly residents.
But although he was one of the "lucky ones", Mr Howard's partner, Beverley Pryke, says he is still traumatised by the fire and rarely talks about it.
"When we had the memorial he cried, but that's about the only time he showed anything," she said.
A resident of the home in Sydney's west, Mr Howard was woken by smoke alarms early on November 18, 2011. He hoisted himself out of bed and into his wheelchair to find the hallway already thick with smoke.
The blaze, deliberately lit by a member of staff, consumed the building.
Arsonist Roger Dean was sentenced to life in August for the murder of 11 people.
His trial heard the 37-year-old former nurse started the fire as a ploy to distract police and hospital staff from his theft of prescription medication.
Speaking at Friday's reopening, NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said it was important to overcome the "terrible act of evil".
Nurse Caitlin Brigden said 20 former residents would return to the new building, which had three times the communal and leisure space and a memorial garden dedicated to those who were killed.
"It's great that we have the chance to build something so beautiful out of something so tragic," she said.
