2002–03 Australian bushfire season

The first fires of the 2002–03 season were reported in September 2002 in Victoria. Ongoing drought and lack of spring rain led to the Bureau of Meteorology predicting conditions comparable to that of the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires, and Fire Authorities were subsequently placed on high alert.[1]

On 17 December, multiple lightning strikes in the Big Desert Wilderness Park ignited vegetation, creating a fire complex within the park south of Murrayville and burning until 25 December.[1] The Big Desert Fire was, at the time, the biggest fire in Victoria in 20 years, affecting 181,400 hectares of predominantly public land and requiring significant resources to contain.[1]

Satellite image of South-eastern Australia, showing the Eastern Victorian alpine fires on 22 January 2003

On 6 January, lightning ignited a fire near Yambulla, north west of Genoa in East Gippsland. The fire was seen as posing a major threat, requiring significant firefighting resources. At the time the main fires started on 8 January, a total of 180 DSE firefighters were allocated to the Yambulla fire, supported by bulldozers and firebombing aircraft. The fire was contained within a few days. This level of resourcing did, however, decrease the local resources available to fight the multiple outbreaks that followed.[1]

On 7 January, multiple lightning strikes in north-east Victoria and Gippsland started hundreds of fires in Victoria that would remain uncontained until 7 March, a full 2 months later. In early February, at the peak of the fires, around 3,760 people were involved in the fire effort, excluding local CFA brigades. This figure includes 160 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 the Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires.[1]

• General:
  • Over 3,000 fires burned from December to March.
  • Firefighters worked on the ground for over 70 days.
  • Over 1.12 million hectares were affected in Victoria's North East and Gippsland.
  • Over 181,400 hectares were affected in the Big Desert.
  • A total of 1.3 million hectares burnt throughout the season.
  • No lives were lost as a direct result of these fires.
  • Over 35 agencies were involved in fighting the fires and support roles, as well as interstate, New Zealand and US firefighters.
  • The total personnel directly engaged on the North East and Gippsland fires was 15,725. A peak of over 3,760 personnel were involved at any one time. 8,595 were volunteers, more than half.
  • 8,500 people attended over 250 community briefings.
• Structures:
  • 41 houses were lost
  • 1,000 houses were protected within the perimeter of the fires
  • 7,000 houses were at risk within 5 km from the fire perimeter
  • 12,000 houses were at risk within 10 km of the fire perimeter