 By 11 January three fires had mergedthe Dunns Road fire, the East Ournie Creek, and the Riverina's Green Valley fireand had created a "mega-fire", burning south of the Snowy Mountains.On 23 January 2020, a Lockheed C-130 Hercules large air tanker crashed near Cooma while waterbombing a blaze, resulting in the death of the three American crew members on board.On 1 February 2020, emergency warnings were issued for the Orroral fire and the Clear Range fire threatening Bredbo north of Cooma.