The 2006–07 bushfire season was one of the most extensive bushfire seasons in Australia's history. Victoria experienced the longest continuously burning bushfire complex in Australia's history, with fires in the Victorian Alps and Gippsland burning over 1 million hectares of land over the course of 69 days. See Bushfires in Australia for an explanation of regional seasons.
The 2006–07 season included the Victorian Alpine Fire Complex which was the longest running collection of bushfires in Victoria's history. On 1 December 2006, more than 70 fires were caused by lightning strikes in the Victorian Alps, many of which eventually merged to become the Great Divide Complex, which burned for 69 days across about a million hectares.
Despite the length of the season and amount of land burnt, the fires were contained to mostly unoccupied regions such as the Victorian Alps, national parks and remnant bushland. Evacuation plans were implemented in many small towns in these areas, a combination of these factors resulted in only one fatality as a result of the fires.
Timeline
Major bushfires in Victoria in the 2000s, showing the 2006–07 fires in blue
January 2006
Three deaths and multimillion-dollar livestock and property losses in ten days of bushfires in Victoria. Fires occurred in the Stawell (Deep Lead) area in early January, and in the Yea, Moondarra,
Grampians, Kinglake and Anakie regions in mid-late January.[1]
Declarations under Section 44 of the Rural Fires Act, 1997 were issued by the New South Wales Rural Fire Service for the Newcastle, Hawkesbury/Baulkham, Redhead (Lake Macquarie), Shoalhaven and Wollondilly bushfires, enabling the "Commissioner is to take charge of bush fire fighting operations and bush fire prevention measures and to take such measures as the Commissioner considers necessary to control or suppress any bush fire in any part of the State...."[2] Seven (7) houses were burned out, four at Picton, and also Thirlmere, and Oakdale. The wind was from the west and north-west and fed the fire conditions, hampering firefighting by the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.[3][4]
October 2006
On 12 October 2006, bushfires burned through parts of Hobart's eastern shore, encouraged by strong winds and unusually high temperatures. No lives or homes were lost.[5][6]
November 2006
In late November Sydney was covered in smoke after raging fires in the Blue Mountains. One of the major fires was lit by a lightning strike near Burra Korain Head inside the Blue Mountains National Park on 13 November. Some people have suggested that the Blue Gum Forest in the Grose River valley was severely damaged by backburning, though this remains to be ascertained scientifically.[7][8]
On 28 November 2006, lightning strikes started 15 fires in the Riverina with the major fires west of Narrandera at Morundah and Tubbo Station were about 10 km2 of private property was burnt and Northeast of Narrandera at Colinroobie Ranges over 12 km2 of private property and bush land was burnt.[9][10]
Large bushfires burnt across the Pilbara for over a week forcing the closure of Karijini National Park. Over 150,000 hectares (370,658 acres) were burned out close to the National Park, the Auski Roadhouse and around Mulga Downs Station.[11]
December 2006
Satellite image of smoke from fires in the Victorian Alps and Gippsland, 8 December 2006The city of Melbourne swathed in smoke during the 2006–2007 bushfire seasonThe Bolte Bridge surrounded by a thick sky during the bushfires. This photograph was taken in late afternoon.
On 1 December 2006, over 70 fires were caused by lightning strikes in the Victorian Alps, many of which eventually merged to become the Great Divide Fire Complex, which burned from December 2006 to February 2007 (69 days) across approximately 1 million hectares. Fifty-one houses were ultimately lost in the fires. One man died in a vehicle accident while assisting a property owner to prepare for fire impact.
By 7 February, more than 1,400 firefighters had been injured (including bruises, cuts, blisters, burns, dehydration, broken limbs and spider bites). More than 400 St John Ambulance volunteers, including doctors, nurses and first aid officers provided first aid. On 16 December, eleven New Zealand firefighters were injured while fighting the fire in the Howqua Valley in north-east Victoria.
In New South Wales, a fire near Tumut has burned over 130 km2 of pine plantation in the Bondo, Billapaloola and Buccleuch State Forests.[21][22][23]
On 3 December, up to 4,000 people were evacuated from Whiteman Park near Perth after a bushfire burnt through about 1 km2 of the park.[24]
On 12 December, a man in Western Australia was charged with lighting a fire in the Perth Hills. A home in Kalamunda was completely gutted and several were damaged by flying embers.[25]
January 2007
Looking towards Swifts Creek, 14 December 2006 at 4:00 pm daylight saving timeLooking towards Swifts Creek, 14 December 2006 at 4:00 pm daylight saving time
In January 2007, several new bushfires were burning in the Gippsland region of Victoria. By 18 January, the fires had been burning across Victoria for 48 days and over 10,000 km2 had been burnt. Homes and other property and stock was lost.[26]
An arsonist lit at least thirteen fires in the eastern hills near Harrogate, but most were contained with minimal damage to property.[28]
On the 16th a bushfire burning out of control near the town of Benalla in Victoria's North East caused power to be cut to much of the state when ash and smoke severed major transmission powerlines connecting Victoria to the national power grid. The 40 °C temperature caused a huge demand for power which, when paired with the severing of the line, forced power company's to impose rolling blackouts across the state, including power loss to parts of Melbourne which resulted in traffic problems across the city. Full power was restored at approximately 12:30 am the following day.[29][30]
On 17 January, fires crossed the Murray River into New South Wales and threatened Thredbo. With the fire 12 km from the town, 700 tourists were evacuated.[31]
On 21 January, a large fire began near the F3 Freeway (Freeway which connects Central Coast to Sydney), this resulted in its closure due to the intensity of the flames and smoke levels.
On 22 January, the fire broke containment lines and headed north thanks to wind levels and hot conditions, the fire also caused the closure of the Pacific Highway and train line. The suburb of Berowra also came under direct threat with residents urged at the time to prepare their properties. The railway station and a train that had stopped there came perilously close to being consumed by the bushfire. Later on 22 January, the fire front was slowly contained, allowing all three avenues to re-open by nightfall.
February 2007
By the morning of 7 February, the fire complex in eastern Victoria was declared contained. Lasting 69 days and having merged to burn a total of 1,154,828 hectares,[32] the bushfires were the longest in Victoria's history.[33]
