Source: OCSE

3. Bushfires in the ACT


3.2 The 2019-20 bushfire season

This section focuses on the 2019-20 bushfire season, also known as Black Summer. In particular, it explores the impacts of the 2020 Orroral Valley bushfire on the ACT’s environment and community.

You can see some of the main impacts of the Orroral Valley bushfires in the video below.

Australia’s Black Summer

The 2019–20 bushfire season was one of the worst on record for much of Southeast Australia. The fires were influenced by climate change, which is contributing to more severe fire seasons that are starting earlier and lasting longer.

This map shows how widespread the Southeast Australia bushfires were in 2019-20.

Data sourced from: Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate.

Over Black Summer, 24.3 million hectares were burnt across Australia. This resulted in the loss of lives, property and cultural heritage sites, as well as severely impacting the health and wellbeing of people across the country. The fires had a devastating impact on Australia’s environment, with extreme impacts on vegetation and ecosystems, and the death or displacement of billions of animals. Recovery from the 2019–20 bushfire season will take decades.

ACT’s 2020 Orroral Valley bushfire

In January and February 2020, around 40% of the ACT (nearly 90,000 hectares) was burnt by the Beard and Orroral Valley bushfires. These bushfires were the largest and most severe since the devastating 2003 fires, which burnt 70% of the ACT (164,000 hectares).

Conditions ripe for fire

The extreme temperatures of the 2019-20 summer influenced the size and severity of the ACT’s bushfires (see Climate change). On 4 January 2020, the ACT experienced its hottest day on record at 44°C. The mean maximum and minimum temperatures over the summer were the third warmest on record. In addition, the ACT, along with much of NSW, was experiencing the lowest rainfall on record for much of 2019.

This combination of extreme temperatures and low rainfall created ideal conditions for the bushfires.

Fire on the horizon in Namadgi National Park. Source: James Walsh.

The most significant 2020 bushfire in the ACT was the Orroral Valley fire. Key dates in the Orroral Valley fire were:

27 January 2020

The fire was started by the landing light of an Australian Army helicopter in Namadgi National Park.

27 January 2020

28 January 2020

Driven by hot and dry weather conditions, the fire had grown to 2,575 hectares by the morning of 28 January. An emergency warning was issued for residents in Tharwa and the southern suburbs of Canberra, including Banks, Gordon and Condor.

28 January 2020

28 to 31 January 2020

The fire grew about 4,500 to 8,000 hectares per day, extending to remote and inaccessible wilderness within Namadgi National Park.

28 to 31 January 2020

31 January 2020

A state of emergency was declared for the ACT — the first time this has happened since the 2003 fires.

31 January 2020

1 February 2020

The fire more than doubled in size within the ACT.

1 February 2020

5 February 2020

The fire was downgraded to ‘advice’ status.

5 February 2020

27 February 2020

The fire was finally contained at around 88,000 hectares and declared extinguished.

27 February 2020

This map shows the spread of the 2020 Orroral Valley bushfire from the 27th of January (the day the fire started) to the 6th of February. The most the fire spread in a single day was on the 1st of February, shown on the second map in dark orange.

Data sourced from: Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate.