2003 Canberra bushfires
Encyclopedia
The Canberra bushfires of 2003 caused severe damage to the outskirts of Canberra
, the Australia
n capital city. Almost 70% of the Australian Capital Territory
’s pasture, forests (pine plantations) and nature parks were severely damaged, and most of the renowned Mount Stromlo Observatory
was destroyed. After burning for a week around the edges of the ACT, the fires entered the suburbs of Canberra
on 18 January 2003. Over the next ten hours, four people died and more than 500 homes were destroyed or severely damaged, requiring a significant relief and reconstruction effort.
Fires had been burning in the adjoining Brindabella and Namadgi National Parks to the west of the Australian Capital Territory
(ACT) since 8 January 2003 when lightning
strikes had started 160 fires.
On 13 January, a helicopter that had been waterbombing the fires in the forests west of Canberra crashed into Bendora Dam
with one person, the pilot, injured. ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope
and Chief Fire Officer Peter Lucas-Smith were reviewing the fires nearby in the Snowy Hydro Southcare helicopter. The pilot of the Southcare chopper cautiously positioned his aircraft to allow Stanhope, Lucas-Smith and a paramedic onboard to dive into the dam and rescue the injured pilot. All three who rescued the injured pilot and the helicopter pilot later received awards for their bravery.
On 17 January, the ESB released its final media release prior to 18 January at 8:50pm. This media release differed to any previous one in format and content. It also provided several clues that were overlooked in the assessment of the risk Canberra faced. For example, one point of the release stated that bushfire logistical support staging areas were being relocated from Bulls Head and Orroral Valley (far outside urban Canberra) to the North Curtin District Playing Fields (far inside urban Canberra) signalling both a major retreat by fire fighters and pointing to imminent danger to the city itself.
As strong winds and high temperatures around 40 °C (104 °F) continued into the morning of 18 January, residents in rural areas west and north-west of the city were told to prepare for the worst. Two fires continued to burn out of control in the Namadgi National Park
, with the entire park, along with the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
being closed due to the threat. A second fire in the Brindabella Ranges
was threatening to break containment lines.
By 9am on the morning of Saturday 18, burned leaves appeared on lawns in houses in the Weston Creek
, Kambah and Tuggeranong
suburbs bordering the western extremity of Canberra. By 10am news helicopters were overflying Duffy and reporting news of the fires interstate and internationally, but no news was available locally.
Throughout the day, the fires burned closer to the fringes of Canberra's suburbs, and there was no sign of authorities gaining control of the situation. At around 2pm, police evacuated the township of Tharwa to the south of Canberra. Though the town was in very real danger, with the fire front surrounding and severely affecting the township, firefighters under the command of ACT Rural Fire Service Southern Brigades Captain Val Jeffrey were able to prevent the loss of any property other than some minor sheds. By mid-afternoon, it had become apparent that the fires posed an immediate threat to the settlements near Canberra such as Uriarra and Stromlo as well as houses on the city's urban bushland interface. A state of emergency was declared at 2.45pm by the ACT's Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope.
The fires reached the urban area at 3pm The first emergency warning advisories were broadcast shortly after on radio and television, with the advisories updated throughout the day. These advisories, accompanied by the Emergency Warning Signal stated that a significant "deterioration" of the fire situation in the ACT had occurred and placed several suburbs on alert to evacuate. As the day continued, these advisories advised the evacuation of several suburbs (also enforced by Police on the ground) and placed most suburbs of Canberra on some level of alert. Fire was by now on the fringes of many suburbs, was surrounding Tharwa and threatened the historic Lanyon Homestead
which was hosting a wedding and protected by a single fire truck.
By 3.50pm houses were alight in the suburbs of Duffy
and Chapman
, with the loss of a home in Holder
soon after. An ACT Fire Brigade
unit perceiving the fire from a vantage point in Fyshwick, overrode instructions by the radio controller to ignore the signs and remain where they were. The unit headed to Duffy, attempting to alert both controllers and residents to the imminent danger. That unit was caught in a fire front on Warragamba Avenue Duffy at around 4.10pm, after having rescued at least two residents. Both the crew and residents were forced to flee the appliance when the fire struck.
Due to fire damage to infrastructure and extreme winds bringing down powerlines across the area, large parts of the city lost power. Fires also started in Giralang
because of powerline problems. Evacuation centres were set up at four schools – Canberra College, Ginninderra College, Erindale College
and Narrabundah College
. A dark cloud hung over the city, and though it was not in danger, Parliament House
was closed.
By 5pm, houses were reported destroyed in Duffy, Chapman, Kambah, Holder and Rivett
, as well as houses in the small forestry settlement of Uriarra
. It was later found that the first casualty of the fires, an elderly woman named Dorothy McGrath, died at the nearby Stromlo Forestry Settlement. Escape for residents was hampered by poor warning and the location of the settlement in the pine forest. Fires in the Michelago area forced the closure of the Monaro Highway
into Canberra. Fires spread through the Kambah Pool area and into the suburb of Kambah causing damage to many homes and one of the ACT's primary Urban and Rural fire stations.
Fire spread through parkland, crossing the Tuggeranong Parkway
, Athllon Drive and finally engulfing Mount Taylor
. Within an hour, houses were also burning in Torrens
on the slopes of Mount Taylor and Weston
. The fires by now had inflicted severe damage to the city's infrastructure. Power supplies were cut to several suburbs. These outages affected the Emergency Services Bureau's own headquarters in Curtin and the Canberra Hospital (running on back-up generators) which was under intense pressure from people suffering burns and smoke inhalation. In Curtin, the ESA headquarters was in danger from the fires. With back-up power only available to the Communications Centre, many personnel were forced to work on tables outside as Army Reserve personnel hosed down the building. It was later noted that the ESB could have moved its operations away from danger to other emergency service locations such as the AFP
Winchester Centre or Tuggeranong Police Station. Water, gas, sewerage and communications were heavily affected. Water, gas and landline communications was unavailable to several suburbs due to damage to supply lines and city reservoirs. Mobile telecommunications were severally affected due to increased traffic, causing serious disruption to mobile phone networks and the ESA's own radio and dispatch networks.
The fires impacted part of the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre
(LMWQCC), responsible for treating the city's sewage and waste water before release into the Molonglo River. The plant's operations were disrupted due to fire damage, causing concern about the possible release of sewage into the Molonglo River as the plant's reserve storage could only hold one day of surplus. However, the lack of resources and equipment failures for crews protecting the plant could have led to a catastrophe, as detailed in Mr Danny Camilleri's testimony in Coroner Maria Doogan's subsequent inquest into the fires. Mr Camilleri testified that his crews arrived to find much of the area around the plant on fire, with a significant risk of the fire endangering dangerous substances stored at the plant to treat waste, including chlorine. He stated that if the fire had affected the chlorine tanks causing a breach, it "would create a poisonous cloud that would blow toward Canberra necessitating mass evacuations".
By 10pm, one of the four evacuation centres in Canberra was completely full, and others were filling up quickly. Reports of looting also began to arrive from the damaged areas. Both the Prime Minister John Howard
and Governor General Peter Hollingworth
changed their plans in order to return to Canberra as soon as was possible. While the very worst of the fires had passed, the situation was still far from stable, and going into Sunday 19 January, houses were still ablaze across numerous suburbs.
By the evening of 19 January, it was clear that the worst hit suburb was Duffy (where 200 plus residences were destroyed) and that four people had died – they were Alison Tener, 38, Peter Brooke, 74, and Douglas Fraser, 60, all of Duffy, and Dorothy McGrath, 76, of the Mount Stromlo Forestry Settlement. The loss of life and damage to property and the destruction of forests to the west of the city caused not just economic loss but significant social impacts. Many people were affected by depression, particularly those who had lost their homes in the fires. The community questioned the lack of preparation for the fires and the total confusion at the time.
In the weeks after 18 January, the impact of the fires was studied in detail in order to determine how the damage had been done, and how to better work against such natural disaster
s in future. The Cities Project compiled information on as many as 431 damaged properties, stratified into the groups of "destroyed", "heavy damage", "medium damage", "light damage", and "superficial damage". This data was split by suburb to form a table which illustrated which areas had taken the most damage. The data allowed them to conclude that the high levels of "destroyed" property (91%) indicated the high speed with which the fire had moved. It was also concluded that once the establishments had caught fire, there was little chance of their being put out. In addition, the study showed that it was not only the fire which caused damage, but also the fierce winds recorded on the day, which were strong enough to uproot some small trees. It is believed that with the aid of this information, better policies and regulations have been formulated, which may help to reduce the destruction by future bushfires in Canberra, as well as in other locales.
Bushfires severely harmed the vegetation of the Cotter River Catchment and caused water quality problems in the three dams in the catchment, Corin, Bendora and Cotter Dams. For quite some time after the fires however, turbidity in the water due to silt and ash from surrounding burnt out forests meant Canberra had to rely on Googong Dam on the Queanbeyan River, which was not affected by the fires. Given the drought and existing water shortages, this effectively reduced Canberra's water reserves to around 15% for some time. An upgrade to the Stromlo Water Treatment Plant was subsequently required to allow extra filtration of water to cope with the diminished quality in the future.
As with any bushfire, the environment will take significant time to regenerate. Regeneration of vegetation was delayed by an ongoing drought
in the region.
Perhaps the most notable cultural and scientific loss caused by the fires was the damage to the scenic and renowned Mount Stromlo Observatory
(headquarters of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics of the Australian National University
) which is estimated to be the source of a third of Australia's astronomical research. Five historically significant telescopes were destroyed. Instrumentation and engineering workshops, the observatory's library and the main administration buildings were consumed. The insurance payment sought by the Australian National University, amounting to 75 million Australian dollars, could become the largest claim in Australian history.
Amazingly, the visitors center or "Exploratory" housing public exhibits and cafe escaped the fires unscathed, despite being on the edge of a steep gradient which fires roared up and being only meters from the 74 inches (1.9 m) telescope which was completely destroyed.
Canberra artist Tim Wetherell was commissioned by ANU to produce a sculpture from the ruins of the Mount Stromlo telescopes. "The Astronomer" is one of these and is installed outside Questacon in the Parliamentary Triangle.
operational response to the bushfires. The Inquiry was headed by Ron McLeod, a former Commonwealth Ombudsman. The Inquiry handed down its findings on 1 August 2003.
The inquiry found that:
The Inquiry recommended there should be increased emphasis given to controlled burning as a fuel-reduction strategy. That access to and training of emergency personnel in remote areas need to be improved. That a number of changes be made to the emergency services and the policies that govern their operations, including a greater emphasis on provision of information to the public.
's inquiry commenced in January 2003, and hearing officially opened on 16 June 2003. The Coroner's Court of the Australian Capital Territory
conducted an inquiry into the cause, origin and circumstances of the 2003 bushfires and inquests into the four deaths associated with those fires. The inquiry is under the provisions of the ACT Coroners Act 1997.
The inquiry has been marked by controversy and in February 2005 the ACT Supreme Court
heard an application that the coroner be disqualified due to bias. The inquiry into the fires was on hold until August 2005 until the Full Bench of the Supreme Court delivered its decision http://www.courts.act.gov.au/supreme/judgments/doogan1.htm that Coroner Maria Doogan should not be disqualified on the ground of a reasonable apprehension of bias. The inquiry reconvened on 17 August 2005.
After hearing over 90 days of evidence the inquiry wrapped up on 25 October 2005. Although the inquiry was supposed to be completed in early 2006, submissions continued in to mid 2006 with the Coroner delivering her findings "The Canberra Firestorm" in December 2006.
established a Select Committee to inquire into the recent Australian bushfires, including the Canberra bushfire. The committee tabled the report of its inquiry on 5 November 2003 and the Australian government presented its response to the report on 15 September 2005.
On 18 January 2006, three years after the day of the bushfires, a bushfire memorial was opened on land which had been affected by the fires in Stromlo forest.
The ACT Bushfire Memorial was commissioned by the ACT government to acknowledge the impact of the fires, and thank the many organisations and individuals who played crucial roles in the fire fighting and recovery efforts.
The memorial was designed by Canberra artists Tess Horwitz, Tony Steel and Martyn Jolly and incorporates elements requested by the ACT community. It is a journey from the day of the fire through the process of recovery, to the honouring of memory.
The entrance memorial walls are made from the community's salvaged and inscribed bricks which contain messages of grief and gratitude. Beyond the walls, a site framed by a grove of casuarina
s contains red glass and metal forms that refer to the force of the firestorm and the lightning strikes that sparked the main fires. An avenue leads to an amphitheatre enclosing a pond and bubbling spring. Glass columns bordering the pond contain details from photos provided by the community which speak of memory and human resilience.
On 18 February 2006, an independent group of fire victims installed a plaque to honour the four people who died in the fires and the volunteer firefighters who fought so hard. The plaque is located at the end of the walkway to the memorial immediately before the memorial walls. Fire victims and residents held a simple ceremony to mark the occasion.
As of early March 2006, the memorial is not quite finished. Apart from the immature casuarina trees, which will take time to grow to full height, there remains landscaping
and plumbing
work yet to be completed. The area where the memorial is located is undergoing significant redevelopment for recreational purposes, and will not be replanted with pine forest. (Some strategies that have been put in place so this disaster will not occur again are: land management practices, the urban perimeter, the role of Government and community responsibility in bushfire management, urban design and vegetation and housing design.)
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n capital city. Almost 70% of the Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
’s pasture, forests (pine plantations) and nature parks were severely damaged, and most of the renowned Mount Stromlo Observatory
Mount Stromlo Observatory
Mount Stromlo Observatory located just outside of Canberra, Australia, is part of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University .-History:...
was destroyed. After burning for a week around the edges of the ACT, the fires entered the suburbs of Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
on 18 January 2003. Over the next ten hours, four people died and more than 500 homes were destroyed or severely damaged, requiring a significant relief and reconstruction effort.
Origin of the fires
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
(ACT) since 8 January 2003 when lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
strikes had started 160 fires.
On 13 January, a helicopter that had been waterbombing the fires in the forests west of Canberra crashed into Bendora Dam
Cotter River
The Cotter River is a fresh water river in the Australian Capital Territory. It is a tributary of the Murrumbidgee River and part of Murray-Darling Basin. The Cotter River is one of two rivers—the Queanbeyan River is the other—that meet the water supply needs of the Canberra and...
with one person, the pilot, injured. ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope
Jon Stanhope
Jonathan Ronald Stanhope is a former Australian politician who was Labor Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory from 2001 to 2011. Stanhope represented the Ginninderra electorate in the ACT Legislative Assembly from 1998 until 2011. He resigned as Chief Minister on 12 May 2011 and as...
and Chief Fire Officer Peter Lucas-Smith were reviewing the fires nearby in the Snowy Hydro Southcare helicopter. The pilot of the Southcare chopper cautiously positioned his aircraft to allow Stanhope, Lucas-Smith and a paramedic onboard to dive into the dam and rescue the injured pilot. All three who rescued the injured pilot and the helicopter pilot later received awards for their bravery.
On 17 January, the ESB released its final media release prior to 18 January at 8:50pm. This media release differed to any previous one in format and content. It also provided several clues that were overlooked in the assessment of the risk Canberra faced. For example, one point of the release stated that bushfire logistical support staging areas were being relocated from Bulls Head and Orroral Valley (far outside urban Canberra) to the North Curtin District Playing Fields (far inside urban Canberra) signalling both a major retreat by fire fighters and pointing to imminent danger to the city itself.
18 January
Namadgi National Park
Namadgi National Park is located in the southwestern part of the Australian Capital Territory, bordering Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. It lies approximately 40 km southwest of Canberra, and makes up approximately 46% of the ACT's land area....
, with the entire park, along with the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, on the fringe of Namadgi National Park, is a short drive from the city of Canberra, Australia. The reserve covers an area of approximately 54.50 km² and consists of a large valley floor, the Tidbinbilla Mountain and the Gibraltar range...
being closed due to the threat. A second fire in the Brindabella Ranges
Brindabella Ranges
The Brindabella Range is a mountain range located on the border between New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The ranges rise to the west of Canberra, the capital city of Australia, and include the Namadgi National Park in the A.C.T. and Bimberi Nature Reserve and...
was threatening to break containment lines.
By 9am on the morning of Saturday 18, burned leaves appeared on lawns in houses in the Weston Creek
Weston Creek
Weston Creek is a residential district of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, situated to the west of the Woden Valley district and approximately 13 km southwest of the Canberra city centre...
, Kambah and Tuggeranong
Tuggeranong
Tuggeranong is the southernmost town centre of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. It comprises 19 suburbs with a total of 31,819 dwellings, housing 87,119 people of the 324,034 people in the Australian Capital Territory . The district occupies 117 square kilometres to the east of the...
suburbs bordering the western extremity of Canberra. By 10am news helicopters were overflying Duffy and reporting news of the fires interstate and internationally, but no news was available locally.
Throughout the day, the fires burned closer to the fringes of Canberra's suburbs, and there was no sign of authorities gaining control of the situation. At around 2pm, police evacuated the township of Tharwa to the south of Canberra. Though the town was in very real danger, with the fire front surrounding and severely affecting the township, firefighters under the command of ACT Rural Fire Service Southern Brigades Captain Val Jeffrey were able to prevent the loss of any property other than some minor sheds. By mid-afternoon, it had become apparent that the fires posed an immediate threat to the settlements near Canberra such as Uriarra and Stromlo as well as houses on the city's urban bushland interface. A state of emergency was declared at 2.45pm by the ACT's Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope.
The fires reached the urban area at 3pm The first emergency warning advisories were broadcast shortly after on radio and television, with the advisories updated throughout the day. These advisories, accompanied by the Emergency Warning Signal stated that a significant "deterioration" of the fire situation in the ACT had occurred and placed several suburbs on alert to evacuate. As the day continued, these advisories advised the evacuation of several suburbs (also enforced by Police on the ground) and placed most suburbs of Canberra on some level of alert. Fire was by now on the fringes of many suburbs, was surrounding Tharwa and threatened the historic Lanyon Homestead
Lanyon Homestead
Lanyon is an historic homestead and grazing property located on the southern outskirts of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.-History:...
which was hosting a wedding and protected by a single fire truck.
By 3.50pm houses were alight in the suburbs of Duffy
Duffy, Australian Capital Territory
Duffy is a suburb in the Canberra district of Weston Creek. On Census night 2006, Duffy had a population of 2,942 people. Duffy was named in honour of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, KCMG the 8th Premier of Victoria. Streets in the suburb of Duffy are named after Australian dams and reservoirs...
and Chapman
Chapman, Australian Capital Territory
Chapman is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. It is located in the Weston Creek area.The suburb is named after Sir Austin Chapman , Member for Eden-Monaro...
, with the loss of a home in Holder
Holder, Australian Capital Territory
The suburb of Holder is a part of the Weston Creek District of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, and is located 13 km to the southwest of the Canberra city centre...
soon after. An ACT Fire Brigade
Australian Capital Territory Fire Brigade
The ACT Fire and Rescue is the urban fire and rescue service for the Australian Capital Territory. It along with the ACT Ambulance Service, ACT State Emergency Service and ACT Rural Fire Service are part of the Australian Capital Territory Emergency Services Agency .- Stations, vehicles and special...
unit perceiving the fire from a vantage point in Fyshwick, overrode instructions by the radio controller to ignore the signs and remain where they were. The unit headed to Duffy, attempting to alert both controllers and residents to the imminent danger. That unit was caught in a fire front on Warragamba Avenue Duffy at around 4.10pm, after having rescued at least two residents. Both the crew and residents were forced to flee the appliance when the fire struck.
Due to fire damage to infrastructure and extreme winds bringing down powerlines across the area, large parts of the city lost power. Fires also started in Giralang
Giralang, Australian Capital Territory
Giralang is a suburb of Canberra, Australia in the district of Belconnen. The suburb is named after the word in the language of the Wiradhuri Aboriginal tribe of the Central West of New South Wales, meaning star. The suburb name was gazetted on 15 January 1974...
because of powerline problems. Evacuation centres were set up at four schools – Canberra College, Ginninderra College, Erindale College
Erindale College
Erindale College may refer to:* Erindale College, a secondary college located in Wanniassa, Australian Capital Territory* Erindale College, an alternate name for the University of Toronto Mississauga...
and Narrabundah College
Narrabundah College
Narrabundah College is a government college that teaches the last two years of secondary education in the Australian Capital Territory. It was the first school in Australia to offer the International Baccalaureate, starting the programme in February 1978....
. A dark cloud hung over the city, and though it was not in danger, Parliament House
Parliament House, Canberra
Parliament House is the meeting facility of the Parliament of Australia located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. The building was designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Architects and opened on 1988 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia...
was closed.
By 5pm, houses were reported destroyed in Duffy, Chapman, Kambah, Holder and Rivett
Rivett, Australian Capital Territory
Rivett is a residential suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, established in the late 1960s. On Census night 2006, Rivett had a population of 3,069 people...
, as well as houses in the small forestry settlement of Uriarra
Uriarra, Australian Capital Territory
Uriarra is a settlement in the Australian Capital Territory. It had been a forestry settlement from the 1920s to the 1980s.The 2003 bushfires destroyed 16 houses in Uriarra, with only 6 houses still standing afterwards...
. It was later found that the first casualty of the fires, an elderly woman named Dorothy McGrath, died at the nearby Stromlo Forestry Settlement. Escape for residents was hampered by poor warning and the location of the settlement in the pine forest. Fires in the Michelago area forced the closure of the Monaro Highway
Monaro Highway
The Monaro Highway is a state highway in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, Australia. The Victorian section was formerly known as the Cann Valley Highway until the 1980s....
into Canberra. Fires spread through the Kambah Pool area and into the suburb of Kambah causing damage to many homes and one of the ACT's primary Urban and Rural fire stations.
Fire spread through parkland, crossing the Tuggeranong Parkway
Tuggeranong Parkway
The Tuggeranong Parkway is a major dual carriageway link in Canberra, Australia. Often referred to as "The Parkway" by locals, the Tuggeranong Parkway links Civic to the southern Canberra metro district of Tuggeranong, and is a bypass road to the Woden Valley-Weston Creek district of Canberra...
, Athllon Drive and finally engulfing Mount Taylor
Mount Taylor
Mount Taylor is a stratovolcano in northwest New Mexico, northeast of the town of Grants. It is the high point of the San Mateo MountainsThere are two small ranges in New Mexico called the San Mateo Mountains; this is the northern one. The other range is near the Plains of San Agustin. and the...
. Within an hour, houses were also burning in Torrens
Torrens, Australian Capital Territory
Torrens is a suburb in the Woden Valley district of Canberra, Australia. It is located along the district's southern edge. The suburb is named after Sir Robert Torrens, a former Premier of South Australia. The suburb was gazetted on 12 May 1966. Streets in Torrens are named after South Australian...
on the slopes of Mount Taylor and Weston
Weston, Australian Capital Territory
Weston is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. On Census night 2006, Weston had a population of 3,176 people....
. The fires by now had inflicted severe damage to the city's infrastructure. Power supplies were cut to several suburbs. These outages affected the Emergency Services Bureau's own headquarters in Curtin and the Canberra Hospital (running on back-up generators) which was under intense pressure from people suffering burns and smoke inhalation. In Curtin, the ESA headquarters was in danger from the fires. With back-up power only available to the Communications Centre, many personnel were forced to work on tables outside as Army Reserve personnel hosed down the building. It was later noted that the ESB could have moved its operations away from danger to other emergency service locations such as the AFP
Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
Winchester Centre or Tuggeranong Police Station. Water, gas, sewerage and communications were heavily affected. Water, gas and landline communications was unavailable to several suburbs due to damage to supply lines and city reservoirs. Mobile telecommunications were severally affected due to increased traffic, causing serious disruption to mobile phone networks and the ESA's own radio and dispatch networks.
The fires impacted part of the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre
Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre
The Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre is a sewerage and waste water treatment facility in the Australian Capital Territory, owned and operated by ACTEW Corporation....
(LMWQCC), responsible for treating the city's sewage and waste water before release into the Molonglo River. The plant's operations were disrupted due to fire damage, causing concern about the possible release of sewage into the Molonglo River as the plant's reserve storage could only hold one day of surplus. However, the lack of resources and equipment failures for crews protecting the plant could have led to a catastrophe, as detailed in Mr Danny Camilleri's testimony in Coroner Maria Doogan's subsequent inquest into the fires. Mr Camilleri testified that his crews arrived to find much of the area around the plant on fire, with a significant risk of the fire endangering dangerous substances stored at the plant to treat waste, including chlorine. He stated that if the fire had affected the chlorine tanks causing a breach, it "would create a poisonous cloud that would blow toward Canberra necessitating mass evacuations".
By 10pm, one of the four evacuation centres in Canberra was completely full, and others were filling up quickly. Reports of looting also began to arrive from the damaged areas. Both the Prime Minister John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
and Governor General Peter Hollingworth
Peter Hollingworth
Peter John Hollingworth AC, OBE is an Australian Anglican bishop. He served as the Archbishop of Brisbane for 11 years before becoming the 23rd Governor-General of Australia from 2001 until 2003....
changed their plans in order to return to Canberra as soon as was possible. While the very worst of the fires had passed, the situation was still far from stable, and going into Sunday 19 January, houses were still ablaze across numerous suburbs.
Aftermath
Natural disaster
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard . It leads to financial, environmental or human losses...
s in future. The Cities Project compiled information on as many as 431 damaged properties, stratified into the groups of "destroyed", "heavy damage", "medium damage", "light damage", and "superficial damage". This data was split by suburb to form a table which illustrated which areas had taken the most damage. The data allowed them to conclude that the high levels of "destroyed" property (91%) indicated the high speed with which the fire had moved. It was also concluded that once the establishments had caught fire, there was little chance of their being put out. In addition, the study showed that it was not only the fire which caused damage, but also the fierce winds recorded on the day, which were strong enough to uproot some small trees. It is believed that with the aid of this information, better policies and regulations have been formulated, which may help to reduce the destruction by future bushfires in Canberra, as well as in other locales.
Bushfires severely harmed the vegetation of the Cotter River Catchment and caused water quality problems in the three dams in the catchment, Corin, Bendora and Cotter Dams. For quite some time after the fires however, turbidity in the water due to silt and ash from surrounding burnt out forests meant Canberra had to rely on Googong Dam on the Queanbeyan River, which was not affected by the fires. Given the drought and existing water shortages, this effectively reduced Canberra's water reserves to around 15% for some time. An upgrade to the Stromlo Water Treatment Plant was subsequently required to allow extra filtration of water to cope with the diminished quality in the future.
As with any bushfire, the environment will take significant time to regenerate. Regeneration of vegetation was delayed by an ongoing drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
in the region.
Mount Stromlo
Mount Stromlo Observatory
Mount Stromlo Observatory located just outside of Canberra, Australia, is part of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University .-History:...
(headquarters of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics of the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
) which is estimated to be the source of a third of Australia's astronomical research. Five historically significant telescopes were destroyed. Instrumentation and engineering workshops, the observatory's library and the main administration buildings were consumed. The insurance payment sought by the Australian National University, amounting to 75 million Australian dollars, could become the largest claim in Australian history.
Amazingly, the visitors center or "Exploratory" housing public exhibits and cafe escaped the fires unscathed, despite being on the edge of a steep gradient which fires roared up and being only meters from the 74 inches (1.9 m) telescope which was completely destroyed.
Canberra artist Tim Wetherell was commissioned by ANU to produce a sculpture from the ruins of the Mount Stromlo telescopes. "The Astronomer" is one of these and is installed outside Questacon in the Parliamentary Triangle.
Official responses
Following the 2003 bushfires, the ACT and New South Wales and Australian governments initiated community and official responses to the fire.Bushfire Recovery Taskforce
The Bushfire Recovery Taskforce was established to advise the ACT Government, provide leadership for the recovery and act as a bridge between Government agencies and the community.McLeod Inquiry
The ACT Government established the McLeod Inquiry to examine and report on theoperational response to the bushfires. The Inquiry was headed by Ron McLeod, a former Commonwealth Ombudsman. The Inquiry handed down its findings on 1 August 2003.
The inquiry found that:
- The fires, started by lightningLightningLightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
strikes, might have been contained, had they been attacked more aggressively in the 24 hours after they broke out. Large stretches of dry droughtDroughtA drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
affected vegetation and weather conditions that were extremely conducive to fire, and meant that once the fires reached a certain size, they were very difficult to control. - That management of fuel load in parks and access to remote area was lacking.
- Emergency serviceEmergency serviceEmergency services are organizations which ensure public safety and health by addressing different emergencies. Some agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies whilst others deal with ad hoc emergencies as part of their normal responsibilities...
personnel performed creditably, but they were overwhelmed by the intensity of the fires and the unexpected speed of their advance on 18 January. - A Comprehensive ACT emergency plan was in place at the time of the fire, it worked particularly in recovery after the fires in dealing with the large number of people who needed temporary shelter and assistance as a consequence of the fires.
- That inadequacies in the physical construction and layout of the Emergency Services Bureau centre in CurtinCurtin, Australian Capital TerritoryCurtin is a suburb in the Canberra, Australia district of Woden. The postcode is 2605.It is next to the suburbs of Yarralumla, Deakin, Hughes, Lyons and Weston...
were a hindrance. The centre was unable to handle efficiently the large amount of data and communications traffic into and out of the centre at the height of the crisis. - That there were some equipment and resourcing deficiencies within the ACT's emergency service organisations.
- That information and advice given to the community about the progress of the fires, the seriousness of the threat and the preparations the public should be making was seriously inadequate. There was also confusion as to whether homes should be evacuated.
The Inquiry recommended there should be increased emphasis given to controlled burning as a fuel-reduction strategy. That access to and training of emergency personnel in remote areas need to be improved. That a number of changes be made to the emergency services and the policies that govern their operations, including a greater emphasis on provision of information to the public.
ACT Coroner's Bushfire Inquiry
The CoronerCoroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
's inquiry commenced in January 2003, and hearing officially opened on 16 June 2003. The Coroner's Court of the Australian Capital Territory
Coroner's Court of the Australian Capital Territory
The Coroner's Court of the Australian Capital Territory is a court which has exclusive jurisdiction over the remains of a person and the power to make findings in respect of the cause of death of a person or fire in Australian Capital Territory, a territory of Australia.-History:The office of...
conducted an inquiry into the cause, origin and circumstances of the 2003 bushfires and inquests into the four deaths associated with those fires. The inquiry is under the provisions of the ACT Coroners Act 1997.
The inquiry has been marked by controversy and in February 2005 the ACT Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory
The Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory is the superior court for the ACT. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the territory in civil matters , and hears the most serious criminal matters...
heard an application that the coroner be disqualified due to bias. The inquiry into the fires was on hold until August 2005 until the Full Bench of the Supreme Court delivered its decision http://www.courts.act.gov.au/supreme/judgments/doogan1.htm that Coroner Maria Doogan should not be disqualified on the ground of a reasonable apprehension of bias. The inquiry reconvened on 17 August 2005.
After hearing over 90 days of evidence the inquiry wrapped up on 25 October 2005. Although the inquiry was supposed to be completed in early 2006, submissions continued in to mid 2006 with the Coroner delivering her findings "The Canberra Firestorm" in December 2006.
House Select Committee on the recent Australian bushfires
On 26 March 2003 the House of RepresentativesAustralian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
established a Select Committee to inquire into the recent Australian bushfires, including the Canberra bushfire. The committee tabled the report of its inquiry on 5 November 2003 and the Australian government presented its response to the report on 15 September 2005.
Bushfire memorial
The ACT Bushfire Memorial was commissioned by the ACT government to acknowledge the impact of the fires, and thank the many organisations and individuals who played crucial roles in the fire fighting and recovery efforts.
The memorial was designed by Canberra artists Tess Horwitz, Tony Steel and Martyn Jolly and incorporates elements requested by the ACT community. It is a journey from the day of the fire through the process of recovery, to the honouring of memory.
The entrance memorial walls are made from the community's salvaged and inscribed bricks which contain messages of grief and gratitude. Beyond the walls, a site framed by a grove of casuarina
Casuarina
Casuarina is a genus of 17 species in the family Casuarinaceae, native to Australasia, southeast Asia, and islands of the western Pacific Ocean. It was once treated as the sole genus in the family, but has been split into three genera .They are evergreen shrubs and trees growing to 35 m tall...
s contains red glass and metal forms that refer to the force of the firestorm and the lightning strikes that sparked the main fires. An avenue leads to an amphitheatre enclosing a pond and bubbling spring. Glass columns bordering the pond contain details from photos provided by the community which speak of memory and human resilience.
On 18 February 2006, an independent group of fire victims installed a plaque to honour the four people who died in the fires and the volunteer firefighters who fought so hard. The plaque is located at the end of the walkway to the memorial immediately before the memorial walls. Fire victims and residents held a simple ceremony to mark the occasion.
As of early March 2006, the memorial is not quite finished. Apart from the immature casuarina trees, which will take time to grow to full height, there remains landscaping
Landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
and plumbing
Plumbing
Plumbing is the system of pipes and drains installed in a building for the distribution of potable drinking water and the removal of waterborne wastes, and the skilled trade of working with pipes, tubing and plumbing fixtures in such systems. A plumber is someone who installs or repairs piping...
work yet to be completed. The area where the memorial is located is undergoing significant redevelopment for recreational purposes, and will not be replanted with pine forest. (Some strategies that have been put in place so this disaster will not occur again are: land management practices, the urban perimeter, the role of Government and community responsibility in bushfire management, urban design and vegetation and housing design.)
External links
- Mount Stromlo Fire of 18 January 2003 - official RSAA ANU photos, articles, accounts and reconstruction details
- Media footage and images of the 2003 Canberra firestorm
- Bushfires, Canberra, A.C.T., January 2003 - Australian Internet Sites – websites in the PANDORA archive
- ACT CORONER’S BUSHFIRE INQUIRY web page
- Canberra Bushfires at Geoscience Australia
- Sydney Morning Herald report on the findings of the New South Wales Deputy Coroner
- Article in The Age February 2005 concerning the delay in the coronial inquiry
- Bushfire coronial website – Dedicated to bringing evidence directly from witnesses to the public.
- Opinion piece by Jack Waterford, editor of The Canberra Times on the outcomes of the coronial inquiry
- Dealing with Disaster – Using new Networking Technology for Emergency Coordination Some of the Satellite Technology Used for Mapping the Fires Image galleries
- Fighting bushfires on the Mount Franklin Road, Brindabella Ranges, on the night of 11/12 January 2003 / David Tunbridge
- Canberra fire damage, 18 January to 14 February 2003 / Damian McDonald, Greg Power and Loui Seselja.
- Canberra bushfires, 18 January to 14 February 2003 / Tony Miller
- Canberra bushfires, 2003 / Christine Thomas and Simon Mockler
- Canberra Bushfires 2003 / Peter Dey
- ABC News report on 18 February 2006 memorial gathering
- Canberra Fire Museum "EXTREME: Canberra Fires 2003"
- Canberrafires gallery and stories