Victoria Bushfire 2003

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Satellite image: The bushfire on January 22, 2003 in southeastern Australia
Scorched bushland at Anglers Rest on Omeo Highway , one of the most heavily devastated areas, comparable devastation stretched over thousands of km²

The 2003 Victoria bushfires , also known as the Great Divide Fire Complex , were lit as 87 individual bushfires by lightning strikes in northeast Victoria on January 8, 2003. Eight of them could not be extinguished, forming one of the largest bushfires in Victoria since Black Friday 1939 .

The main fire burned an area of ​​over 13,000 km² within 59 days before it could be extinguished on March 7, 2003. 41 houses were destroyed, over 9,000 head of cattle were killed and thousands of kilometers of fences were burned down. This fire was the longest burning bush fire at the time, which was later surpassed by the bush fire in Victoria in 2006/2007 with a duration of 69 days.

In February, at the height of the fire, 3,760 people were affected by the fire, excluding firefighters. A total of 15,725 firefighters and 160 employees of the Australian military, over 300 firefighters from other states of Australia, 33 firefighting experts with alpine experience from New Zealand and 35 from the USA were on duty.

The affected areas were at Mount Buffalo , Mount Bogong , Mount Feathertop , around Bright , Dinner Plain , Benambra , Omeo , Cobrungo , Shannonvale , Bundara , Anglers Rest , Sunnyside , Glen Wills and Dargo .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ dse.vic.gov.au : Department of Sustainability and Environment : Major Bushfires in Victoria, in English, accessed December 8, 2011