2006–07 Australian bushfire season

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.

2006–07 Australian bushfire season
NASA MODIS burned area detections from June 2006 to May 2007
Date(s)Winter 2006 – autumn 2007 (southern hemisphere)
LocationAustralia
Statistics
Burned area>1,360,000 ha (3,400,000 acres)
Impacts
Deaths5 total
  • 1 Forestry Tasmania employee
  • 4 other
Non-fatal injuries1,400
Structures destroyed100+ total
  • 83 houses
  • Numerous non-residential structures
Ignition
CauseVarious

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.

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