 At midday on 31 January, Barr declared a state of emergency for the ACT, the first time such action had occurred since the 2003 fires.The Orroral Valley fire was downgraded to "advice" status on 5 February and declared to be out on 27 February.The Northern Territory went through a relatively average annual bushfire season with respect to area of land burnt, in comparison to the scale of bushfires witnessed in other areas of Australia.