INTERNATIONAL WILDFIRES (21ST CENTURY)

2002

ECOCIDE
noun
destruction of the natural environment,
especially when deliberate.

INTERNATIONAL WILDFIRES

(Largest Fires of the 21st Century)

Australian Bushfire
Season (2002-03)

(Anglers Rest, Victoria)

(Original Image)

#1

LARGEST FIRE OF THE 21ST CENTURY

The Official Story

2002–03 AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRE SEASON
(The Largest Fire of the 21st Century)

A particularly extensive bushfire season in Australia, ran predominantly from December 2002 to March 2003 and involved over 3,000 separate fires in Victoria alone. The 2003 Canberra bushfires were also particularly severe.

The developing drought in Australia and well below-average rainfall through winter and spring of 2002 established conditions conducive to above-average bushfire potential. During the 2002–03 season, there were 5,999 bushfires attended by the relevant agency Australia-wide and 7 fatalities, 4 of those from the January Canberra fires.Perhaps the most well known fire of the season was the Eastern

Victorian alpine bushfires that burnt in north-eastern Victoria, the Victorian Alps and Gippsland. This fire was ignited in several locations by multiple lightning strikes and burnt 1.12 million hectares of land over the course of 2 months. Over 15,000 personnel were directly engaged with this fire complex.

2003 Eastern Victorian Alpine Bushfires

The Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires were a series of bushfires in 2003 that burnt in the Alpine National Park and Mount Buffalo National Park in north-eastern Victoria, Australia. The bushfire started with eighty-seven fires that were started by lightning in the north east of Victoria on 8 January 2003. Eight of these fires were unable to be contained and joined to form the largest fire in Victoria since the 1939 “Black Friday” bushfires.

The main fire burnt over 1,300,000 hectares (3,200,000 acres) over 59 days before it was contained on 7 March 2003. 41 homes and 213 other structures were destroyed, along with tree bridges, and 10,000 livestock were killed. Thousands of kilometres of fencing was also destroyed. This was the longest running fire until the 2006-07 Great Divide fires.

In early February, at the peak of the fires, around 3,760 people were involved in the fire effort, excluding local Country Fire Authority brigades. This figure includes 160 Australian Defence Force staff, over 300 interstate firefighters, 33 alpine firefighting specialists from New Zealand and 35 personnel from the United States. In total, 15,725 personnel were directly engaged on fighting these bushfires.

The areas affected included, Mount Buffalo, Mount Bogong, Mount Feathertop, Bright, Dinner Plain, Benambra, Omeo, Cobungra, Shannonvale, Bundara, Anglers Rest, Sunnyside, Glen Wills, and Dargo.

Source: Wikipedia

2002–03 Australian Bushfire Season Statistics

Dates(s):	Winter 2002 – Spring 2003
Burned Area:	540,000 square kilometres (21,241,000 ha)
Cost:	$350+ million AUD
Cause:	Various, predominantly lightning
Buildings Destroyed:	646+ houses, 213 other structures, 3 bridges
Deaths:	7 humans (and ~15,000 livestock)
Non-fatal injuries:	490