The January 2003 Bushfires affected just over half of the Kosciusko National Park in what was described as a 1 in 100 year event. Lightning strikes started a series of fires on the 8th January. High temperatures and winds spread the devastation across several hundreds of kilometres bringing a number of small towns and Snowy Hydro assets (power stations, pipelines, aqueducts and communication facilities) under threat. 

There were issues raised with respect to the contamination of Murray 1 and Tumut 1 Power Stations and Jindabyne Pumping Station with smoke from Bushfires. There was damage to the 330kV power lines and the 11kV power reticulation system. Scope of work involved determining the nature and extent of damage and future risk of failure.