A brief report on the 2003 Australian Alps bushfires

In the summer of 2003, the Australian Alps experienced their largest bushfires in over 60 years, with an estimated 1.73 million hectares burning. The bushfires burnt across Victoria, New South Wales (NSW), and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) during a drought that ranks as one of the worst in 103 years of official Australian weather records. The Australian Alps are found in southeastern Australia along the Great Dividing Range. They are the highest parts of Australia but are typically more rounded than jagged. They span two Australian states and a territory and are found to the north and east of Melbourne and to the south and west of Sydney. Canberra, Australia's capital city, is nestled immediately on the northern and eastern flank of the Alps. Some 1,657,570 hectares of the Alps have been permanently reserved in nine contiguous protected areas and include Kosciuszko National Park (NSW), Namadgi National Park (ACT), and the Victorian Alpine National Park.