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The 2003 Canberra bushfires caused severe damage to the suburbs and outer areas of Canberra, the capital city of Australia, during 18–22 January 2003.Almost 70% of the Australian Capital Territory's (ACT) pastures, pine plantations, and nature parks were severely damaged, [1] and most of the Mount Stromlo Observatory was destroyed.
The fires destroyed 80 bridges, 4800 sections of power lines, 1500 motor vehicles and over 100 other structures. It was estimated that at least 62,000 farm animals were killed. The total damage amounted to $40,000,000 in 1967 Australian dollar values. [5] The resulting insurance payout was the then largest in Australian history. [6]
According to Tim Flannery (The Future Eaters), fire is one of the most important forces at work in the Australian environment.Some plants have evolved a variety of mechanisms to survive or even require bushfires (possessing epicormic shoots or lignotubers that sprout after a fire, or developing fire-resistant or fire-triggered seeds), or even encourage fire (eucalypts contain flammable oils in ...
The largest known area burnt was between 100–117 million hectares (250–290 million acres), impacting approximately 15 per cent of Australia's physical land mass, during the 1974–75 Australian bushfire season. [4] The highest number of homes destroyed was approximately 3,700 dwellings, attributed to Victoria's 1939 Black Friday bushfires. [5]
However, if food supplies are good and there’s plenty of cover for hiding, you can have 10 or more chipmunks per acre! Only the eastern chipmunk ( Tamias striatus ) lives in the Southeast.
Ninety percent of Namadgi National Park was burnt (much of it severely) and severe fire damage occurred to the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, the Murrumbidgee River Corridor, the Stromlo Pine plantation and pine plantation west of the Murrumbidgee River. The fires also effected the ACT water catchment, and as a result Canberra's water supply. [28]
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 .
There was a significant fire in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia, near the towns of Kangarilla and Echunga, the Mount Bold Reservoir, and in parts of Kuitpo Forest. [27] See : Mount Bold Fire. An arsonist lit at least thirteen fires in the eastern hills near Harrogate, but most were contained with minimal damage to property. [28]