2002–03 Australian bushfire season

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 developing drought in Australia and well below-average rainfall through winter and spring of 2002 established conditions conducive to above-average bushfire potential.

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.

The major fire complexes included: According to the ABS, in their 1301.0 – Year Book Australia, 2004, between 664 and 646 houses were destroyed and 13427 to 14427 stock lost in the 2002-03 bushfire season.

No people died, and stock losses and property damage was kept to a minimum considering the area of land affected by the fires.

Burnt out bushland about a month after the Victorian fires were contained, near Anglers Rest , East Gippsland , one of the worst hit areas
Regrowth on the Bogong High Plains , two years after the 2003 Great Divide Fire Complex
Satellite image of South-eastern Australia, showing the Eastern Victorian alpine fires on 22 January 2003
The intensity of the fires in many areas left a desolate landscape, such as by the Big River , north of Anglers Rest in East Gippsland
Major bushfires in Victoria in the 2000s