The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of
bushfires
A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...
that either ignited or were already burning across the
Australian state
The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereignty, sovereign, administrative divisions that are autonomous administrative division, self-governing polity, ...
of
Victoria. Saturday, 7 February 2009 was one of Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest-ever loss of human life from a bushfire, with 173 fatalities. Many people were left homeless and family-less as a result.
As many as 400 individual fires were recorded on Saturday 7 February; the day has become widely referred to in Australia as Black Saturday.
Then Deputy Prime Minister
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the ...
described Black Saturday as "a tragedy beyond belief, beyond precedent and beyond words … one of the darkest days in Australia’s peacetime history."
The
2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, headed by Justice
Bernard Teague, was held in response to the bushfires.
Background
A week before the fires, a significant heatwave affected southeastern Australia. From 28 to 30 January,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
broke temperature records by experiencing three consecutive days above , with the temperature peaking at on 30 January, the third hottest day in the city's history.
The wave of heat was caused by a slow-moving
high-pressure system that settled over the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...
, with a combination of an intense
tropical low
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...
located off the
North West Australian coast and a
monsoon trough
The monsoon trough is a convergence zone between the wind patterns of the southern and northern hemispheres. It is a portion of the Intertropical Convergence Zone in the Western Pacific,Bin WangThe Asian Monsoon.Retrieved 2008-05-03. and is dep ...
over
northern Australia
The unofficial geographic term Northern Australia includes those parts of Queensland and Western Australia north of latitude 26th parallel south, 26° and all of the Northern Territory. Those local government areas of Western Australia and Q ...
, which produced ideal conditions for hot tropical air to be directed down over southeastern Australia.
The February fires commenced on a day when several localities across the state, including
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, recorded their highest temperatures since records began in 1859.
On 6 February 2009—the day before the fires started—the
Country Fire Authority chief Russell Rees warned "We are in almost uncharted territory" in terms of bushfire conditions. The
Premier of Victoria
The premier of Victoria is the head of government of the state of Victoria in Australia. The premier leads the Cabinet of Victoria and selects its ministers. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, must be a member of the Vic ...
John Brumby issued a warning about the
extreme weather
Extreme weather includes unexpected, unusual, severe weather, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Extreme events are based on a location's recorded weat ...
conditions expected on 7 February: "It's just as bad a day as you can imagine and on top of that the state is just tinder-dry. People need to exercise real common sense tomorrow".
The Premier went on to state that it was expected to be the "worst day
f fire conditionsin the history of the state".
Events of 7 February 2009

More than 19,000 firefighting personnel, mainly from the
Country Fire Authority (CFA) and
Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), were deployed across the state on Friday evening (6 February) in anticipation of the extreme conditions the following day. By mid-morning Saturday, hot northwesterly winds in excess of hit the state, accompanied by extremely high temperatures and extremely low humidity; a total fire ban was declared for the entire state of Victoria.
As the day progressed, the highest-ever temperatures recorded to date were reached. Melbourne hit , the hottest temperature ever recorded for the city and humidity levels dropped to as low as two percent. The
McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index reached unprecedented levels, ranging from 160 to over 200. This was higher than the fire weather conditions experienced on
Black Friday in 1939 and
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...
in 1983.
Around midday, as wind speeds were reaching their peak, an incorrectly rigged '
SWER' (single-wire earth return) mains power cable was ripped down at
Kilmore East. This sparked a bushfire that became the deadliest and most intense firestorm ever recorded in Australia. The overwhelming majority of fire activity occurred between the afternoon of 7 February and 7:00 pm, a period when wind speed and temperature were at their highest, and humidity at its lowest.
Chronology

;Wednesday, 28 January 2009
*Delburn fire commenced in
Central Gippsland;
arson
Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...
suspected.
;Wednesday, 4 February
*
Bunyip State Park blaze commenced.
;Saturday, 7 February (Black Saturday)
*05:00 am – Bunyip State Park fire jumped containment lines; no other major fire activity.
*Late morning – Many fires sprang up as temperatures rose and wind speeds increased.
*11:50 am – Power lines fell in high winds igniting the
Kilmore East fire (
Kinglake/
Whittlesea area). The fire was fanned by winds, entered a
pine plantation
A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest, timber plantation, or tree farm is a forest planted for high volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a monoculture forest. The term ''tree farm'' also is used to ...
, grew in intensity, and rapidly headed southeast through the
Wandong area.
[ ]
*12:30 pm –
Horsham
Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
fire commenced.
*12:30 pm –
ABC Local Radio
ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...
abandoned regular programming to cover the fire situation.
*12:45 pm –
Hume Freeway
The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city National Highway (Australia), national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in ...
was closed after fire crews were unable to contain Kilmore East fire.
*Early afternoon – ABC Local Radio received calls from residents of affected areas supplying immediate up-to-date information on fire activity.
*2:55 pm – Murrindindi Mill fire (
Marysville area) first spotted from
Mt Despair fire tower.
*3:04 pm – temperature in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
peaked at .
*4:20 pm –
Kilmore East fire front arrived at
Strathewen.
*4:20 pm – Murrindindi Mill fire impacted
Narbethong.
*Mid-afternoon – smoke from Kilmore East firestorm prevented planes from mapping the fire edge.
*4:30 pm – number of individual fires across the state increased into the hundreds.
*4:30 pm – fire commenced at
Eaglehawk, near
Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...
.
*4:45 pm – Kilmore East fire front arrived at Kinglake.
*5:00 pm – wind direction changed from northwesterly to southwesterly in Melbourne (see Fawkner Beacon Wind chart for 7 February 2009).
*5:10 pm – air temperature in Melbourne dropped from over to around in fifteen minutes.
*5:30 pm – wind change arrived at Kilmore East and Murrindindi Mill (Kinglake/Marysville) fire fronts.
*5:45 pm – Kilmore East fire front arrived in
Flowerdale.
*6:00 pm –
Beechworth fire commenced.
*6:00 pm – Kilmore East fire smoke plume and pyrocumulus cloud reached high.
*6:45 pm – Murrindindi Mill fire front arrived at Marysville.
*8:30 pm – Victorian Health Emergency Co-ordination Centre notified Melbourne hospitals to prepare for burn victims.
*8:57 pm – CFA chief officer first notified that casualties had been confirmed.
*10:00 pm –
Victoria Police
Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''.
, Victor ...
announced an initial estimate of 14 fatalities.
;Sunday, 8 February
*Kilmore East and Murrindindi Mill fires merged to form the Kinglake fire complex.
*
Wilsons Promontory
Wilsons Promontory is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria.
South Point (Wilsons Promontory), South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promon ...
fire ignited by lightning.
*
Victoria Police
Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''.
, Victor ...
increased estimate to 25 fatalities.

;Tuesday, 10 February
*Spot fires from Kinglake complex fires merged to form the Maroondah/Yarra complex.
;Tuesday, 17 February
*Six fires still burned out of control, with another nineteen contained.
*Containment lines surrounded 85 per cent of the Kinglake–Murrindindi complex.
*The Kilmore East – Murrindindi complex south fire burned in Melbourne's
O'Shannassy and
Armstrong Creek water
catchments.
*Bunyip and Beechworth fires almost contained.
;Thursday, 19 February
*Victoria Police increased estimate to 208 fatalities.
;Monday, 23 February
*Temperatures in the mid-30 degrees Celsius (mid-90 degrees Fahrenheit), northerly winds, and a cool change precipitated a flare-up of many of the fires, and ignited several new fires.
*The most significant new fires were in the southern
Dandenong Ranges
The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just the Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges in Victoria, Australia, approximately east of the state capital Melbourne. A minor branch of the Great Dividing Range, the Dandenongs consist mostly of rol ...
near
Upwey, south of
Daylesford (near Hogans Lane,
Musk, Victoria), and in the
Otway Ranges.
*Weather conditions directed previously burning fires in the
Yarra Ranges towards settlements in the upper Yarra Valley, but the fires were of a low intensity and were quickly contained.
;Friday, 27 February
*Bunyip fire still burnt within control lines in the Bunyip State Park and State Forest areas.
*The Kilmore East – Murrindindi complex north fire burned within containment lines on the southeastern flank.
*The Kilmore East – Murrindindi complex south fire activity continued in areas close to several towns in the
Yarra Valley
The Yarra Valley is a region in Victoria, Australia, centred around the Yarra River. Known for its natural beauty, agricultural significance, and as one of Australia's prominent wine-producing areas, the valley stretches from the upper reache ...
near both Yarra Glen and
Warburton.
*The
Wilsons Promontory
Wilsons Promontory is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria.
South Point (Wilsons Promontory), South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promon ...
Cathedral fire had burnt and was still burning.
*The
French Island fire slowly burnt in uninhabited grass and scrub bushland on the northeast end of the island.
;Tuesday, 3 March 2009:
*Extreme bushfire conditions predicted for Monday night and early Tuesday morning, involving very strong northerlies, with a change forecast to arrive by Tuesday morning. Mobile phone companies trialled technology by sending Victorians and
Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
ns three million
SMS
Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...
messages on behalf of
Victoria Police
Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''.
, Victor ...
.
;Wednesday, 4 March
*Cooler conditions and rain from 4–6 March enabled firefighters to control and contain several fires, with the Kilmore East – Murrindindi complex south fire being completely contained.
*Predictions for favourable weather signalled the easing of the threat to settlements from the major fires that had been burning since 7 February.
;Mid-March
*Favourable conditions aided containment efforts and extinguished many of the fires.
Major fires
Kinglake–Marysville fires

The
Kinglake fire complex was named after two earlier fires, the
Kilmore East fire and the
Murrindindi Mill fire, merged following the wind change on the evening of 7 February.
The complex was the largest of the many fires burning on Black Saturday, ultimately destroying over .
It was also the most destructive, with over 1,800 houses destroyed and 159 lives lost in the region.
Kinglake area (Kilmore East fire)
Just before midday on 7 February, high winds felled a section of power lines owned by
SP AusNet in Kilmore East, sparking a fire at approximately 11:45 am in open grasslands that adjoined pine plantations. The fire was fanned by extreme northwesterly winds, and travelled southeast in a narrow fire front through
Wandong and
Clonbinane, into
Kinglake National Park, and then onto the towns of
Humevale,
Kinglake West,
Strathewen and
St Andrews
St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...
.
The cool change passed through the area around 5:30 pm, bringing strong southwesterly winds. The wind change turned the initial long and narrow fire band into a wide firefront that moved in a northeast direction through
Kinglake,
Steels Creek,
Dixons Creek,
Chum Creek,
Toolangi,
Hazeldene,
Broadford and
Flowerdale.
The area became the worst-impacted in the state, with a total of 120 deaths
and more than 1,200 homes destroyed.
The cause of the Kilmore East-Kinglake bushfire was found by the
2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission to be an ageing SP AusNet power line.
[
]
Marysville area (Murrindindi Mill fire)
According to eyewitnesses, the Murrindindi Mill fire started at 2:55 pm, while Victoria Police twice told the Royal Commission that it commenced at "about 2.30 pm". It burned southeast across the Black Range, parallel to the Kilmore fire, towards Narbethong. Experienced Air Attack Coordinator Shaun Lawlor reported flame heights of "at least 100 metres" as the fire traversed the Black Range. At Narbethong, it destroyed 95 per cent of the town's houses. When the southerly change struck, it swept towards the town of Marysville.
Late in the afternoon of 7 February, residents had anticipated that the fire front would bypass Marysville. At about 5:00 pm, power was lost to the town. Around 5:30 pm, the wind died away, however, minutes later it returned from a different direction, bringing the fire up the valley with it.
Afterwards, a police sergeant said that the main street in Marysville had been destroyed: "The motel at one end of it partially exists. The bakery has survived. Don't ask me how. Everything else is just nuked." Reports on 11 February estimated that around 100 of the town's population of approximately 500 were believed to have perished, and that only "a dozen" buildings were left. Premier Brumby described the situation: "There's no activity, there's no people, there's no buildings, there's no birds, there's no animals, everything's just gone. So the fatality rate will be very high."
Eventually 34 fatalities were confirmed in the Marysville area, with all but 14 of over 400 buildings destroyed. Other localities severely affected included Buxton
Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...
and Taggerty.
To the south of the fire complex, visitors and residents were stranded at Yarra Glen when fire surrounded the town on three sides. Houses just to the north of Yarra Glen were destroyed and large areas of grassy paddocks burnt.
Investigators initially believed that the cause of the fire that originated near the Murrundindi Mill and swept through Narbethong and Marysville was arson, with several suspects investigated. Later investigations prompted a 2011 declaration that arson had not been responsible.
Beechworth fire
In Beechworth, a fire burnt over and threatened the towns of Yackandandah, Stanley
Stanley may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Film and television
* ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film
* ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy
* ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short
* ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...
, Bruarong, Dederang, Kancoona, Kancoona South, Coralbank, Glen Creek, and Running Creek. The fire ignited from a felled power line at around 6:00 pm on 7 February, south of Beechworth, before being driven south through pine plantations by hot northerly winds.
The fire destroyed an unknown number of buildings at Mudgegonga, southeast of Beechworth, with two residents confirmed dead. Dense smoke and cloud cover had hindered assessment of the Beechworth fire, but as conditions cleared late on 8 February, aerial crews were able to commence surveys of the situation.
Strong winds fuelled the fire on the night of 8 February, and lightning ignited a new fire near Kergunyah
Kergunyah is a locality in north eastern Victoria. The locality is on the Kiewa Valley Highway, north east of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2016 census Kergunyah had a population of 215.
The town is a centre for (mainly) dairy farms an ...
around midday on 9 February. More than 440 personnel worked to contain a separate front that threatened Gundowring and Eskdale, having jumped the Kiewa River. Late on the night of 9 February the greatest threat was to Eskdale, and fires also burnt in pine plantations from the large town of Myrtleford, at the western end of the fire area. While smaller towns to the east, including Gundowring and Kergunyah, remained under threat, the CFA said that there was no immediate danger to the larger towns of Beechworth and Yackandandah on the northern fringe of the fire area.
By 10 February, firefighters had completed a containment line around the Beechworth fire, and sought to construct more, though the fire continued to burn out of control. By that afternoon, threat messages for the area had been downgraded, though firefighters were tackling a separate fire near Koetong, to the east of the main Beechworth fire, of between . Residents of Beechworth and surrounding towns were advised on the evening of 10 February to expect increased smoke cover as 250 firefighters would be undertaking backburning to eliminate fuel within the control lines.
The Beechworth Correctional Centre minimum-security prison offered up to thirty of its inmates to provide assistance to firefighters; a local DSE manager said that though untrained personnel would not be allowed at the fire front, the prisoners would be welcome in support roles.
Bendigo fire
A fire to the west of the city of Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...
burned out . The fire broke out at about 4:30 pm on the afternoon of 7 February, and burned through Long Gully and Eaglehawk, coming within of central Bendigo, before it was brought under control late on 7 February. It destroyed around 61 houses in Bendigo's western suburbs, and damaged an electricity distribution line, resulting in blackouts to substantial parts of the city. One Long Gully resident, ill and confined to his house, was killed in the fire despite the efforts of his neighbours to rescue him. The fire changed direction late on 7 February with the cool change, and headed back towards Eaglehawk; it was contained at 9:52 pm, though it was still burning within containment lines well into the next day.
A relief centre was set up at Kangaroo Flat Senior Citizens Centre. During the fire, residents from Long Gully, Eaglehawk, Maiden Gully, California Gully, and West Bendigo were evacuated and advised to assemble at the centre. A town meeting was held for the affected residents on 8 February. On the same day, Victoria Police
Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''.
, Victor ...
indicated that they were investigating whether arson was the cause of the fire.
The CFA initially suspected that the most likely cause was a cigarette butt discarded from a car or truck along Bracewell Street in Maiden Gully. However, the arson squad and local Bendigo detectives spent 9 February investigating the fire scene, and while they could not determine exactly what had caused the fire as of 10 February, they suspected arson. On 10 June 2009, Victoria Police announced that they were 'completely satisfied' that the fire had been deliberately lit.
On 2 February 2010, police announced that the taskforce investigating the arson had arrested two youths in relation to the Bendigo fires. The youths, aged 14 and 15, were each charged with arson causing death, deliberately lighting a bushfire, lighting of a fire on a day of total fire ban and lighting of a fire in a country area during extreme weather conditions. They were also charged with multiple counts of using telecommunications systems to menace, harass and offend as well as 135 counts each of arson.
On 7 November 2011, the Victorian Supreme Court Justice, Paul Coghlan, on advice from the prosecutor, Steven Milesi, found that the two youths were unfit to stand trial before a jury due to their intellectual disabilities.
Redesdale fire
In Redesdale, southeast of Bendigo, a fire starting west of the town burnt and destroyed twelve houses and various outbuildings. The fire threatened the towns of Baynton and Glenhope. Glenhope was threatened again on 9 February from a smaller fire that broke away from the main front, resulting in extra fire crews being brought in from Bendigo and Kyneton
Kyneton ( ) is a town in the Macedon Ranges region of central Victoria, Australia. The Calder Freeway bypasses Kyneton to the north and east.
The town has three main streets: Mollison Street, Piper Street and High Street. Piper Street has ...
. The fire was contained by 10 February.
Bunyip State Park fire
A fire started at Bunyip Ridge in the Bunyip State Park on 4 February, originating near walking tracks; it was thought to have been deliberately lit. By 6 February, the fire had burned out , and emergency services personnel engaged in fighting the fire feared, despite efforts to establish containment lines in the park, that once the extreme weather conditions of 7 February arrived the fire would escape the confines of the park and threaten surrounding towns.
By the morning of 7 February, the fire had broken through containment lines. According to the DSE incident controller for the fire, the weather conditions deteriorated much more quickly than predicted, stating that "conditions overnight and in the early hours are usually mild, but our firefighters are reporting strong winds and flame heights of five to 10 metres". Ground-based fire crews had to retreat from the fire front as the escalating conditions made firefighting in the bushland terrain impossible. The fire broke out of the park around 4:00 pm, and by 6:00 pm had burnt out of forest and farmland, threatening the towns of Labertouche, Tonimbuk, Jindivick, Drouin, Warragul
Warragul () is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne. Warragul lies between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range to the north. As of the , the town had a population of ...
and Longwarry, and embers were starting spot fires up to to the south.
The fire destroyed approximately a dozen houses at Labertouche, Tonimbuk, and Drouin West, in addition to various outbuildings and a factory. The progress of the fire had been stopped by the afternoon of 9 February, though it had burned through . DSE crews conducted backburning operations to ensure containment of the fire on 9 February, warning residents of areas between Pakenham and Warragul
Warragul () is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne. Warragul lies between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range to the north. As of the , the town had a population of ...
about smoke from those fires.
The fire was controlled and co-ordinated at the Pakenham ICC in the Combined Emergency Services building, with CFA and DSE personnel running the operation depending on where the fire was at the time. Pakenham VICSES, who shared the building, also provided assistance during the fire operation.
Central Gippsland fires
The Central Gippsland bushfires began in a pine plantation southeast of Churchill at about 1:30 pm on the afternoon of 7 February. Within 30 minutes it had spread to the southeast, threatening Hazelwood South, Jeeralang, and Budgeree East, and by late afternoon the fire was approaching Yarram and Woodside on the south Gippsland coast. The cool change came through the area about 6:00 pm, but the southwesterly winds it brought pushed the fire northeast through Callignee, destroying 57 of its 61 homes. The fire continued on to Koornalla and Traralgon South, and towards Gormandale and Willung South on the Hyland Highway. About 500 evacuees from the area sheltered at an emergency centre established in a theatre in Traralgon
Traralgon ( , ) is a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the ...
.
The fire threatened the Loy Yang Power Station, particularly the station's open-cut coal mine. On the night of 7 February, the fire approached the mine's overburden
In mining, overburden (also called waste or spoil) is the material that lies above an area that lends itself to economical exploitation, such as the rock, soil, and ecosystem that lies above a coal seam or ore body. Overburden is distinct from tai ...
dump, but did not damage any infrastructure, nor did it affect the station's operations. Several small fires broke out in the bunker storing raw coal from the mine, but were contained with no damage. The threat eased by the evening of 8 February as temperatures cooled and some light rain fell. One small spot fire broke out to the south of the power station, but it was contained by water bombing aircraft.
By 9 February, the ''Churchill fire complex'' was still burning out of control, with fronts through the Latrobe Valley
The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical district and urban area of the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria, Australia. The traditional owners are the Brayakaulung of the Gunai nation. The district lies east of Melbourne and nestle ...
and the Strzelecki Ranges. By late that afternoon, the complex had burnt out and had killed eleven people. Wind changes that evening exacerbated parts of the Churchill complex, causing the CFA to issue further warnings to residents at Won Wron and surrounding areas.
Investigators revealed that they strongly believed arson was the most likely cause of the Churchill fire. A man from Churchill, Brendan Sokaluk of Churchill, was arrested by police on 12 February and charged with one count each of arson causing death and intentionally lighting a bushfire. He was convicted of 10 counts of arson causing death and sentenced to 17 years 9 months' imprisonment in April 2012. Sokaluk was released on parole on 30 April 2024 on the condition that he stays at least 80 km away from the town of Churchill.
To also be noted: Mirboo North, known as the Delburn bushfire was lit 7 February 2009. This fire stretch out toward Morwell, devastating the beautiful towns of Mirboo North, Darlimurla, Boolarra and Boolarra South.
Dandenong Ranges fire
In Upper Ferntree Gully
Upper Ferntree Gully is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 32 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Knox and Shire of Yarra Ranges local government areas. Upper Ferntree Gully recorded a pop ...
a fire damaged the rail track and caused the closure of the Belgrave railway line, as well as all major roads. The fire, which was contained by CFA crews within three hours, burned at least along the railway.
In the southern Dandenong Ranges, bushfires ignited around Narre Warren, one of which was caused by sparks from a power tool. Six homes were destroyed in Narre Warren South and three in Narre Warren North.
In the weeks following Black Saturday, fires were started in bushland along Terrys Avenue in Belgrave (which was quickly contained and extinguished by the CFA), and Lysterfield State Forest in Upwey. Amongst the damage was the almost new Upper Ferntree Gully
Upper Ferntree Gully is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 32 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Knox and Shire of Yarra Ranges local government areas. Upper Ferntree Gully recorded a pop ...
CFA Tanker 1.
Wilsons Promontory fire
On 8 February lightning sparked a fire in Wilsons Promontory
Wilsons Promontory is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria.
South Point (Wilsons Promontory), South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promon ...
which burned more than . This fire posed no immediate threat to campers, but due to excessive fuel and inaccessibility authorities chose to evacuate the park, with some campers being evacuated by boat.
At a community meeting on 11 February, DSE and Parks Victoria
Parks Victoria is a government agency of the state of Victoria, Australia.
Parks Victoria was established in December 1996 as a statutory authority, reporting to the Victorian Minister for Environment. The ''Parks Victoria Act 2018'' updates ...
authorities revealed a plan to back-burn across the entrance to the promontory, in order to prevent any possibility of the fire burning out of the park and into farmland and towards the towns of Yanakie and Sandy Point. Crikey
Crikey is an Australian online news outlet founded in 1999. It consists of a website and email newsletter available to subscribers.
History
Crikey was founded by the activist shareholder Stephen Mayne, a journalist and former staffer of the ...
reported that locals were divided on the merits of the plan, some concerned as to why the back-burning had not been carried out earlier, and some worried at the large scale of the proposed burns, which were reported to be larger than both the existing fire as well as the April 2005 fires that affected the park Strong easterly winds on 12 February forced authorities to postpone the proposed burns lest they themselves pose a danger to surrounding communities, though they did proceed with preparatory work.
Maroondah/Yarra fires
The ''Maroondah/Yarra complex'' was a combination of several fires that had earlier been burning to the east of Healesville
Healesville is a town in Victoria, Australia, 64 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Healesville recorded a population of 7,589 in the 2021 census.
H ...
and Toolangi on 10 February, as part of the greater Kilmore East – Murrindindi complex south. By late that morning, the complex had burned out , with 184 personnel and 56 tankers responding to the fires. A CFA spokesperson said that while temperatures had cooled, strong winds were proving problematic, with towns in the area being threatened by ember
An ember, also called a hot coal, is a hot lump of smouldering solid fuel, typically glowing, composed of greatly heated wood, coal, or other carbon-based material. Embers (hot coals) can exist within, remain after, or sometimes precede, a ...
s blown from the fires. Around midday, the immediate threat to property in the areas around Healesville was downgraded, though a DSE spokesperson said that residents should be mindful of localised changes in the weather.
Horsham fire
The Horsham
Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
fire burnt , including the golf club and eight homes. Two firefighters from the Dimboola brigade narrowly escaped when their ute
Ute or UTE may refer to:
* Ute people, a Native American people of the Great Basin
* Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah
* Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah
* Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern ...
was engulfed by fire.
The fire was ignited at 12:30 pm on 7 February when strong winds initiated the failure of a 40-year-old tie wire, felling a power line at Remlaw, west of the city. The fire spread southwest and then southeast, across the Wimmera Highway and Wimmera River
The Wimmera River, an inland intermittent river of the Wimmera catchment, is located in the Grampians and Wimmera regions of the Australian state of Victoria. Rising in the Pyrenees, on the northern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, the Wimm ...
, to the Horsham Golf Course, and then to Haven, south of the city. Firefighters managed to save the general store, town hall and school at Haven, though flames came within metres of those buildings. Winds of up to changed direction three times throughout the day, producing conditions described by the local CFA incident controller as the worst he had ever seen. To the southwest of Horsham an 82-year-old woman in a wheelchair and her daughter were collected from her house by a taxi when the fire was no more than away; the house was alight as the taxi drove off, and burned down within minutes.
At 3:00 pm more than 400 personnel were engaged in fighting the fire, as well as two water-bombing aircraft, 54 CFA tankers, and 35 DSE units. By 6:00 pm the front had moved east, and a wind change then pushed it northeast across the Western Highway to Drung, east of Horsham.
Coleraine fire
Shortly before 12:30 pm on 7 February 2009 a fire started on farmland, northwest of Coleraine
Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...
in western Victoria. In gusting winds, a corroded tie wire holding a 48-year-old single wire earth return (SWER) conductor to an insulator failed due to metal fatigue. The insulator was atop Pole 3 on the 12,700-volt Colfitz North spur line. The galvanised steel conductor swung free in the wind, suspended by poles 2 and 4, a span of . It is not believed to have touched the ground, but was pushed into a nearby eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...
tree by the strong prevailing wind.
Burning gumleaves fell to the ground and ignited grass, from which the fire grew extremely rapidly in the hot, dry and windy conditions. Over 230 firefighters, with 43 appliances and two water bombing aircraft, worked to contain the fire which burnt . The fire destroyed one house, two haysheds, three tractors, the Coleraine Avenue of Honour, and of fences, as well as injuring livestock, but firefighters were able to save six other homes, including that of the parents of Victorian Premier John Brumby.
The fire threatened to burn through the township, but a wind change around 2:00 pm pushed the fire to the northeast instead. The regional CFA operations officer said of the wind change that " l that happened within about an hour and we were lucky; we thought it would go through Coleraine, but it headed off at the last minute." At about 6:00 pm the fire was controlled.
A local man was badly burned while helping a farmer move livestock out of harm's way; the man was caught when the same wind change that saved the town pushed the fire in his direction, and he suffered burns to 50% of his body, but recovered.
Weerite fire
At Weerite, east of Camperdown, a fire burnt , and damaged the rail line between Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...
and Warrnambool
Warrnambool (; Eastern Maar, Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the Census in Australia#2021, 2021 census, Warrnambool had a populati ...
. Approximately 3,000 sleepers were burnt across a section of track. The rail line was re-opened by 16 February.
The fire caused unquantified losses of stock, and destroyed several outbuildings, but all houses under threat were saved by CFA firefighters. The fire is thought to have been started by sparking from felled power lines along the Princes Highway
Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...
, which carried restricted speeds for a short time due to the heavy smoke in the area.
Investigations
Investigations began almost immediately following the fires to determine a wide variety of things, including identification of victims, cause of ignition sources, and assessments of authority responses. A Royal Commission
A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...
into the Black Saturday bushfires was conducted, a process that was intended to determine the true nature of the background causes, preparation of responsible agencies, circumstances on the day, chronology, and impacts of the events in question.
Forensic
Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Christine Nixon, formed a taskforce to assist in identifying victims, coordinated by Inspector Greg Hough. Around forty police from interstate and overseas assisted with Disaster Victim Identification (DVI). The police were sourced from the Australian Federal Police, Tasmania, New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia. New Zealand police also provided four victim identification dogs and handlers.
Criminal
Arson
Some of the fires were suspected to have been deliberately lit by arsonists
Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...
. Chief Commissioner Nixon stated on 9 February 2009 that all fire sites would be treated as crime scene
A crime scene is any location that may be associated with a committed crime. Crime scenes contain physical evidence that is pertinent to a criminal investigation. This evidence is collected by crime scene investigators (CSI) and law enforcement. ...
s.
On 9 February a man was arrested in connection with the fires at Narre Warren; it was alleged by police that he had been operating a power tool, sparks from which ignited a grass fire, destroying two houses. On 12 February, two people were arrested in connection with the fires, having been observed by members of the public acting suspiciously in areas between Yea and Seymour; however, they were subsequently released without charges being laid.
A man from Churchill, Brendan Sokaluk, was arrested by police on 12 February, in relation to the Churchill fires, and was questioned at the Morwell police station, before being charged on 13 February with one count each of arson causing death, intentionally lighting a bushfire, and possession of child pornography
Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...
. At a file hearing in the Magistrates' Court
A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several Jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings.
Courts
* Magistrates' court (England and Wales) ...
in Melbourne on 16 February the man was remanded in custody ahead of a committal hearing scheduled for 26 May. Following the hearing, a suppression order
A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed on to any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...
on the 42-year-old man's identity was lifted, though the order remained in force with respect to publishing his address or any images of him. Despite the order, several members of the public obtained his photograph from his MySpace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
profile and published it on the social networking
A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...
website Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
along with his home address, and others made threats of violence against him. The man's lawyer said that, as a consequence of that information being published, threats were made against the man's family. The man's ex-girlfriend and her family were also harassed after the Herald Sun
The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...
newspaper published a photograph and a story about her. On 17 February, after requests from Victoria Police, the man's MySpace profile was removed; Facebook commenced deleting postings containing threats, and deleted a photo from one group.
Looting
By the morning of 11 February 2009, reports of looting
Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...
had been posted. Witnesses reported seeing acts of looting occurring at a property at Heathcote Junction, shortly after the removal of the body of a victim from the property. That evening, via a report on ABC Local Radio
ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...
, a number of residents of Kinglake who had been allowed back into the area to inspect the damage, revealed that a "Looters Will Be Shot" sign had been posted in the town, after a number of suspicious people and vehicles were seen moving through the town. On 12 February, a small number of arrests were made, and charges laid against people in relation to "looting offences", as announced by the Victoria Police chief commissioner, Christine Nixon.
Royal commission
The Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, announced in April 2009 that a royal commission into the fires would be held which would examine "all aspects of the government's bushfire strategy".
Casualties
A total of 173 people were confirmed to have died as a result of the fires. The figure was originally estimated at 14 on the night of 7 February, and steadily increased over the following two weeks to 210. It was feared that it could rise as high as 240–280, but these figures were later revised down to 173 after further forensic examinations of remains, and after several missing people were located.
A temporary morgue was established at the Coronial Services Centre at Southbank, capable of holding up to three hundred bodies. The Victorian Coroner compared this to a similar facility established after the July 2005 London bombings. By the morning of 10 February 101 bodies had been transported to the temporary morgue. The Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine stated that it could be impossible to positively identify many of the remains.
On 11 February, fire authorities estimated that as many as 100 of Marysville's 519 residents could have perished. By 16 February, over 150 forensic investigators were engaged in searching the ruins of Marysville. A senior lecturer in fire ecology from the University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
estimated that the fires may have been burning at temperatures of , and concluded that, as a result, the remains of some people caught in the fires may have been obliterated. The final death toll for Marysville was later downgraded to 34 after a large group of residents who remained unaccounted for were officially located.
Among the dead in the Kinglake West area were former Seven Network
Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
and Nine Network
Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
news anchor Brian Naylor, and his wife Moiree. Veteran TV actor Reg Evans and his partner, artist Angela Brunton, residing on a small farm in the St Andrews
St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...
area, also died in the Kinglake area fire. Ornithologist Richard Zann perished in the Kinglake fire, together with his wife Eileen and daughter Eva.
Fatalities
General statistics
*164 people died in the fires themselves, 12 died later in hospital, and 4 died from other causes including car crashes
*Out of the 173 deaths, 100 were male, 73 were female.
*There were 164 Australians, 9 foreign nationals,[Victoria Police, Press conference: Bushfires death toll revised to 173, Release date: Mon 30 March 2009 http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?Document_ID=20350 ] killed in the bushfires. The foreign nationals comprised citizens of:
**Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
(2)
**Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
(2)
**Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
(2)
**Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
(1)
**New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
(1)
**United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
(1)
*7 of the deaths occurred in bunkers of both fire-specific and non-fire-specific design.
*1 firefighter, David Balfour, 47, from Gilmore, ACT, was killed near Cambarville on the night of 17 February, when a burnt-out tree fell on him as he attached a hose to a fire tanker.
Location of deaths:
*Inside houses (113)
*Outside houses (27)
*In vehicles (11)
*In garages (6)
*Near vehicles (5)
*On roadways (5)
*Attributed to or associated with the fire but not within fire location (4)
*On reserves (1)
*In sheds (1)
Locality of deaths:
; Kinglake/Whittlesea Area (120)
* Kinglake (38)
* Strathewen (27)
*St Andrews
St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...
(12)
* Steels Creek (10)
* Hazeldene (10)
* Humevale (6)
* Kinglake West (4)
* Flowerdale (2)
* Whittlesea (2)
* Toolangi (2)
* Arthurs Creek (2)
* Clonbinane (1)
* Heathcote Junction (1)
* Strath Creek (1)
*Upper Plenty (1)
* Yarra Glen (1)
; Marysville Area (39)
* Marysville (34)
* Narbethong (4)
* Cambarville (ACT firefighter) (1)
; Central Gippsland (11)
* Callignee (4)
*Koornalla (4)
* Churchill (2)
*Jeerralang Junction (1)
; Beechworth (2)
* Mudgegonga (2)
; Bendigo (1)
* Eaglehawk (1)
; Total: 173
Injuries
A total of 414 people were injured during the Black Saturday bushfires. Due to the intensity and speed of the fires, most casualties of the bushfires either died, or survived with minor injuries. There were significantly fewer major burns than in previous bushfires, such as Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...
. Of the people who presented to medical treatment centres and hospitals, there were 22 with serious burns and 390 with minor burns and other bushfire-related injuries.[Australian Medical Journal](_blank)
article abstract
National and statewide burns disaster plans were activated. Twenty-two patients with major burns presented to the state's burns referral centres, of which eighteen were adults. One patient admitted to the Royal Children's Hospital
The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH), colloquially referred to as the Royal Children's, is a major children's hospital in Parkville, Victoria, Parkville, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Regarded as one of the great C ...
and two at The Alfred Hospital died from their injuries. Adult burns patients at The Alfred spent 48.7 hours in theatre in the first 72 hours. There were a further 390 bushfire-related presentations across the state in the first 72 hours. Most patients with serious burns were triage
In medicine, triage (, ; ) is a process by which care providers such as Health professional, medical professionals and those with first aid knowledge determine the order of priority for providing treatment to injured individuals and/or inform th ...
d to, and managed at, burns referral centres. Throughout the disaster, burns referral centres continued to have substantial surge capacity.
Overall statistics
It was estimated that the amount of energy released during the firestorm in the Kinglake-Marysville area was equivalent to the amount of energy that would be released by 1,500 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs.
Beyond the casualty list detailed above, physical damage caused by the bushfires included:
* burnt
* 7,562 people displaced
* Over 3,500 structures destroyed, including:
**2,029+ houses
**59 commercial properties (shops, pubs, service stations, golf clubs, etc.)
**12 community buildings (including 2 police stations, 3 schools, 3 churches, 1 fire station)
**399 machinery sheds, 363 hay sheds, 19 dairies, 26 woolsheds, 729 other farm buildings
*Agricultural and horticultural losses:
** Over 11,800 head of livestock, consisting of 2,150 sheep, 1,207 cattle, and an unknown number of horses, goats, alpacas, poultry, and pigs
** of stored fodder and grain
** of hay and silage
** of standing crops
** of pasture
** of fruit trees, olives and vines
** Over of boundary and internal fencing destroyed or damaged[Northern Daily Leader, 18 May 2009, "Steady progress on bushfire clean-up", p. 8]
** of plantation timber
* of parks damaged, 90 percent of which was national park. It was claimed that 950 local parks, 70 national parks and reserves, and over 600 cultural sites and historic places were impacted or destroyed
* of private bushland
* Over 55 businesses destroyed
* Electricity supply was disrupted to 60,000 residents
* Several mobile phone base stations and telephone exchanges damaged or destroyed
Damage by locality
Responses
Responses to the Black Saturday bushfires included immediate community response, donations, and international aid efforts. Later responses included Government inquiries including a Royal Commission, and recommendations and discussions from a wide variety of bodies, organisations, authorities and communities.
In September 2009 it was announced that Australia's most prominent fire ecologist, Kevin Tolhurst, was developing a new course for the University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
on fire behaviour. Later that month the City of Manningham announced it was developing the state's first integrated fire management plan in conjunction with the interim findings of the Royal Commission. It is expected that eventually all Victorian councils responsible for both urban and rural land will need to develop such plans, which define fire risks in open space areas, along major roads, and in parkland.
In September/October 2009, it was announced that a new fire hazard system would replace the previous one. The new system involves a six-tier scale to indicating such things as the level of risk and activity of the fire. This standardised '' Fire Danger Rating'' (FDR) was subsequently adopted by all Australian states in late 2009. Every day during the fire season the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecasts an outlook of the ''Fire Danger Index'' (FDI) by considering the predicted weather including temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and dryness of vegetation. On the highest risk days, residents are advised to leave the potentially affected areas.
The RSPCA estimated that over a million animals perished in the bushfires. Additionally, many of the surviving wildlife
Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...
suffered from severe burns. For example, large numbers of kangaroo
Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
s were afflicted with burned feet due to territorial instincts that drew them back to their recently burned and smouldering home ranges. The affected area, particularly around Marysville, contains the only known habitat of Leadbeater's possum
Leadbeater's possum (''Gymnobelideus leadbeateri'') is a critically endangered Phalangeriformes, possum largely restricted to small pockets of Eucalyptus delegatensis, alpine ash, Eucalyptus regnans, mountain ash, and Eucalyptus pauciflora, sno ...
, Victoria's faunal emblem, putting this species under further threat.
Forested catchment areas supplying five of Melbourne's nine major dams were affected by the fires, with the worst affected being the Maroondah Reservoir and O'Shannassy Reservoir. As of 17 February 2009, over ten billion litres of water had been shifted out of affected dams into others.
In early March 2009, smoke from the fires was discovered in the atmosphere over Antarctica at record altitudes.
Economic impact
The Bushfires Royal Commission gave a "conservative" estimate of the total cost of the Black Saturday bushfires of $4.4 billion. This figure included a value of $645 million placed on the 173 lives lost using an accepted method the government uses to value lives, however did not include any assessment of the cost of the injuries received.
The largest contributor to the total cost was insurance claims, which the Insurance Council of Australia reported as $1.2 billion as of August 2010. This figure was composed of 84 per cent for property or contents, and 16 per cent for vehicles. However, the report also estimated that up to 13 per cent of residential properties destroyed may have had no insurance, with many more under-insured, thus suggesting that the actual cost of asset damage in the bushfires was considerably higher than that recorded. The report from the commission said that: "... the level of insurance claims is likely to underestimate the true extent of property losses, but it is unable to calculate the extent of this underestimation".
Also omitted from the $4.4 billion figure were the agricultural losses sustained in the fires, and the ongoing impacts on agriculture in following seasons. The Victorian Department of Primary Industries estimated losses shortly after the fires as 11,800 head of livestock, of grazing pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing.
Types of pasture
Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...
, and of hay and silage
Silage is fodder made from green foliage crops which have been preserved by fermentation (food), fermentation to the point of souring. It is fed to cattle, sheep and other ruminants. The fermentation and storage process is called ''ensilage'', ' ...
.
As of February 2011, two years after the fires, the ''Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority'' stated that based on figures from the end of 2010, permits had been issued for the rebuilding of only 731 of the 1,795, or 41 per cent of the principal places of residence destroyed in the fires.
Lawsuits
A class action
A class action is a form of lawsuit.
Class Action may also refer to:
* ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
* Class Action (band), a garage house band
* "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...
lawsuit was initiated in the Supreme Court of Victoria
The Supreme Court of Victoria is the highest court in the Australian state of Victoria. Founded in 1852, it is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited and inherent jurisdiction within the state.
The Supreme Court compri ...
on 13 February 2009 by Slidders Lawyers against electricity distribution company SP AusNet, in relation to the Kilmore East fire that became part of the Kinglake complex, and the Beechworth fires. A partner at the firm indicated that the claim would centre on alleged negligence
Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances.
Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...
by SP AusNet in its management of electricity infrastructure. On 12 February police had taken away a section of power line as well as a power pole from near Kilmore East, part of a two-kilometre section of line that fell on the morning of 7 February and was believed to have started the fire there. The class action was ultimately run by law firm Maurice Blackburn. The action alleged the power company failed to fit a $10 protective device on the power line, which contributed to it breaking and starting the devastating Kilmore East/Kinglake fire. The case settled in December 2014 with a settlement of $494.67 million, the country's largest class action settlement, approved by the Supreme Court of Victoria
The Supreme Court of Victoria is the highest court in the Australian state of Victoria. Founded in 1852, it is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited and inherent jurisdiction within the state.
The Supreme Court compri ...
. (The previous highest payout was $200 Million in ''Kirby v Centro Properties Limited (No 6)'' 012 012 may refer to:
* Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car
* The dialing code for Pretoria
Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive br ...
FCA 650 (19 June 2012).)
In February 2014 a class action trial against SP AusNet by victims of the Marysville blaze was begun in the Supreme Court. It was alleged that the fire was caused by a "break in an electrical conductor on a power pole near the Murrindindi Saw Mill". A$300 million settlement was announced before the trial began. The class action by Murrindindi/Marysville victims was settled in February 2015 for $300 million.[
A total of nearly $700 million (after legal expenses) was shared among the claimants of the two highly complex class actions, which were presided over by Justices Jack Forrest and John Dixon. Various other claimants by communities around Coleraine, Horsham, Weerite-Pomborneit, and Beechworth-Mudgegonga also had lawsuits managed by the Supreme Court.][
]
Fire policy
In the wake of the fires and the mounting casualty toll, there was debate about policies for dealing with bushfires and the management practices that may have contributed to them. Naomi Brown, chief executive of the Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council, argued that the high number of fatalities in these fires, as opposed to earlier fires such as the Ash Wednesday fires
The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia in 1983 on 16 February. Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by hot winds of up to caus ...
, was partly attributable to increased population densities on Melbourne's fringes. David Packham, bushfire expert and research fellow at Monash University
Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...
, argued that high fuel loads in bushland led to the destructive intensity of the fires, saying that "There has been total mismanagement of the Australian forest environment."
In announcing that the fires would be investigated by a Royal Commission
A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...
, the Premier of Victoria
The premier of Victoria is the head of government of the state of Victoria in Australia. The premier leads the Cabinet of Victoria and selects its ministers. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, must be a member of the Vic ...
, John Brumby, suggested that the long-standing "stay-and-defend-or-leave-early" policy would be reviewed, saying that while it had proven reliable during normal conditions, the conditions on 7 February had been exceptional. Brumby said that "There were many people who had done all of the preparations, had the best fire plans in the world and tragically it didn't save them."
Commissioner Nixon, however, defended the policy, saying that it was "well thought of and well based and has stood the test of time and we support it". Similarly, Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons, said that "Decades of science, practice and history show that a well-prepared home provides the best refuge in the event of fire". Nixon also dismissed potential policies involving forced evacuations, saying "There used to be policies where you could make people leave but we're talking about adults." A former Victorian police minister, Pat McNamara, argued that forced evacuations could have worsened the death toll, as many of the dead appeared to have been killed while attempting to evacuate the fire areas by car.
Building codes
In response to the Black Saturday bushfires new building regulations for Victorian bushfire-prone areas were fast tracked by Standards Australia. Through the ''Department of Planning and Community Development'' the Victorian government has published a range of new guidelines and standards for bushfire planning and building.
Based on this information, the ''Building Commission Victoria'' has released a range of publications to assist with people returning to properties, moving into temporary dwellings, retrofitting
Retrofitting is the addition of new technology or features to older systems. Retrofits can happen for a number of reasons, for example with big capital expenditures like naval vessels, military equipment or manufacturing plants, businesses or go ...
existing dwellings, and building new dwellings in bushfire areas. The new standard states that all properties (not just those in bushfire areas) will now require a "bushfire attack assessment", and will be given a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) rating that outlines the type of construction required. The BAL takes into consideration such factors as the Fire Danger Index, the slope, and surrounding vegetation. BALs range from "BAL-LOW", for properties with no specific construction requirements such as suburban buildings, to "BAL-FZ" for properties in the fire zone likely to experience direct exposure to the fire front, as well as high heat flux and ember attacks.
While a draft national building code for bushfire-prone areas proposed using as the standard for the assumed temperature to which houses are subject when hit by bushfire, fire engineers argued that standards should be based on a temperature. This was in line with existing New South Wales building laws for bushfire-prone areas, although the temperature of fires can actually peak at approximately . The ''Australian Building Codes Board
The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) is a body that writes Australia's standardized building requirements, including the National Construction Code (NCC), WaterMark, and CodeMark. The ABCB is part of a joint endeavour by the Australian Gov ...
'' incorporated the temperature in the standard, with the support of the CFA and Australasian Fire Authorities Council.
Banning housing in highest risk areas
As part of the building codes debate, an expert panel recommended in 2010 that the state government ban housing in the highest fire risk areas, which are some of the most dangerous in the world. Michael Buxton, a professor at RMIT University
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...
, said that after the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires the government bought back tens of thousands of lots across the Dandenong Ranges
The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just the Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges in Victoria, Australia, approximately east of the state capital Melbourne. A minor branch of the Great Dividing Range, the Dandenongs consist mostly of rol ...
because they were in extremely high fire risk areas; he backed another similar large-scale buyback scheme to move people away from unacceptably high risk areas.
Another member of the panel, international planning expert Roz Hansen, said that she was "disappointed and alarmed" about the decision to rebuild Marysville, stating that it was unlikely that a new development would have been permitted in the area. She went on to say that in parts of Asia, people had been forcibly moved out of unacceptably high risk cyclone and flooding areas in the public interest despite the difficulties this involved.
See also
*Ash Wednesday bushfires
The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a Bushfires in Australia, series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia in 1983 on 16 February. Within twelve hours, more than 180 bushfires, fires f ...
* Black Friday (1939)
* Black Saturday firestorm (Wildfire case study)
* Utility-caused wildfires
* List of disasters in Australia by death toll
* List of major bushfires in Australia
* List of wildfires
* Recloser
* Sam the Koala
*1967 Tasmanian fires
The 1967 Tasmanian fires were an Australian natural disaster which occurred on 7 February 1967, an event which came to be known as the Black Tuesday bushfires. They were the most deadly Bushfires in Australia, bushfires that Tasmania has ever e ...
* 2008–09 Australian bushfire season
*2019–20 Australian bushfire season
The 201920 Australian bushfire season commenced with serious uncontrolled fires in June 2019.
, fires this season have burned an estimated , destroyed over 5,900 buildings (including 2,779 homes) and killed at least 34 people. An estimated o ...
References
Further reading
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External links
2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission website with transcripts exhibits submissions etc
(very large file)
Black Saturday bushfires
on YouTube
CFA Black Saturday video footage
on YouTube
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State Library of Victoria's Bushfires in Victoria Research Guide
Guide to locating books, government reports, websites, statistics, newspaper reports and images about the Black Saturday fires.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Saturday Bushfires
2009 disasters in Australia
Arson in Australia
2009 wildfires
Bushfires in Victoria (state)
Forests of Victoria (state)
2009 in Victoria (state)
February 2009 in Australia
2009 murders in Australia
Arson in 2009
February 2009 crimes in Oceania
Wildfires caused by arson
Mass murder in 2009
21st-century mass murder in Australia
2000s fires in Oceania
Industrial fires and explosions in Australia
2009 industrial disasters