2013 Tasmanian Bushfires
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The 2013 Tasmanian 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 ...
which occurred in south-eastern
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 ...
, Australia, between November 2012 and late April 2013. The fires burnt approximately of mixed resident land and native forest. It was predicted early on that the 2012-13 fire season had the potential to be worse than usual. High fuel loads coupled with dry, hot and windy conditions pointed to potential danger. The
Tasmania Fire Service The Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) is the Tasmanian Government agency responsible for fire suppression and control for the state of Tasmania and its surrounding islands. Established on 1 November 1979 as a result of enacting the ''Fire Service Ac ...
implemented a media campaign intended to increase community preparedness and awareness of what to do if bushfires threatened, however, nobody predicted that the fire season would last for almost 6 months, a duration unprecedented in recorded Tasmanian history.


Fire activity


November/December 2012

During November and December 2012, several significant fire incidents took place, including one fire at
Forcett Forcett is a village in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies near the border with County Durham, on the B6274 road about 8 miles south of Staindrop. Nearby villages include Eppleby, Caldwell and Aldbrough. From 1974 to 2023 it wa ...
in the state's south-east. Several firefighters involved in this incident were injured due to a wind change on 29 November 2012. Another major fire in the central lakes region (Interlaken Rd, Steppes) was originally reported on 18 December 2012 and was still burning in mid January. There were other blazes at Glenlusk, on the outskirts of
Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...
, which destroyed several vehicles and some makeshift dwellings or shacks, while another fire at Rhyndaston Road, Rhyndaston, took weeks to control. Extensive efforts were made to control these fires before the expected heat wave at the start of January 2013.


January 2013

During 3 and 4 January 2013, most of the southern and eastern portion of the
Australian continent The continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts as Sahul (), Australia-New Guinea, Australinea, or Meganesia to distinguish it from the country of Australia, is located within the Southern and Eastern hemispheres, near t ...
experienced a
heat wave A heat wave or heatwave, sometimes described as extreme heat, is a period of abnormally hot weather generally considered to be at least ''five consecutive days''. A heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the area and ...
(nicknamed the Angry Summer) which caused a number of fires to spread across the country. The most devastating of these happened in Tasmania, where several large bushfires burnt out of control. The fires were intensified by the heatwave, with Hobart, at 4:05 pm on 4 January, experiencing : the city's highest temperature since records began in 1882. Communities affected by the fires included Bicheno, Boomer Bay, Connelly’s Marsh, Copping, Dunalley,
Eaglehawk Neck Eaglehawk Neck, officially Teralina / Eaglehawk Neck, is a narrow isthmus that connects the Tasman Peninsula with the Forestier Peninsula and hence to the rest of Tasmania, Australia. It is about north-east of the town of Nubeena in the lo ...
,
Forcett Forcett is a village in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies near the border with County Durham, on the B6274 road about 8 miles south of Staindrop. Nearby villages include Eppleby, Caldwell and Aldbrough. From 1974 to 2023 it wa ...
, Murdunna, Primrose Sands, Sommers Bay,
Susan Bay Susan Bay Nimoy (born Susan Linda Bay; March 16, 1943) is an American actress and director. Among her television appearances, she portrayed Admiral Rollman in two episodes of the television series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'': " Past Prologu ...
, and Taranna. By 5 January, up to 40 fires were burning across Tasmania and at least one hundred properties were destroyed. More than of bushland were burnt out and some of the buildings lost included sixty-five in Dunalley (including the police station, primary school and bakery), fifteen in nearby Boomer Bay, twelve in Bicheno, and fourteen in Sommers Bay. Communities on the Tasman and Forestier peninsulas in south-east Tasmania were forced to flee fires coming down from the north, engulfing the only road out of the area and destroying much of Dunalley. A seaborne rescue operation described as "huge" was launched for the thousands of people sheltering on beaches, in boats, and at the
Port Arthur historic site Port Arthur is a town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. It is located approximately southeast of the state capital, Hobart. The site forms part of the Australian Convict Sites, a World Heritage ...
. More than 2,000 people were ferried to safety by police, commercial vessel operators and private volunteers, and another 2,000 took refuge at a community centre at Nubeena. A large fire on the Giblin River in January 2013 was not attended to and burnt much of the
Southwest National Park Southwest National Park is an Australian national park located in the South West Tasmania, south-west of Tasmania, bounded by the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park to the north and the Hartz Mountains National Park to the east. It is a ...
.


February 2013

Firefighters in the southern half of the state were concerned that a return of the hot weather from the mainland in early February would see a return to elevated fire danger. Attempts were made to ensure that the community understood that the fire season was not yet over. There was concern about a possible repeat of conditions similar to those during the 1967 fires, or the 1933–34 season. On 6 February 2013, a significant fire started on Glen Dhu Road in the Molesworth area and spread rapidly, with swirling winds causing unusual and unpredictable fire behaviour. Due to the rugged nature of the terrain, water-bombing helicopters were used extensively, despite significant dangers posed by high-power transmission lines and smoke. One helicopter (a Firebird 427) crashed while fighting the blaze, though the pilot survived. At least two other major blazes were fought on the same date, with blazes at
Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...
in the Huon Valley, and Lefroy, near Georgetown.


March and April 2013

Several fires occurred in early March, including one at Risdon Vale, an eastern shore suburb of Hobart. Starting on rugged terrain on 6 March 2013, this fast-moving fire directly threatened homes almost immediately. At least 20 crews from the Tasmania Fire Service responded. The fire spread to the south and east of Risdon Vale, eventually threatening homes on Richmond Road and Cambridge a week later. The fires continued to burn until a major spate of fires occurred on 27 April 2013, the most dangerous of which was at Tea Tree Road, Tea Tree, and which spread into the Coal River Valley, threatening Richmond before it was brought under control by Tasmania Fire Service crews.


Response

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 ...
toured Sorell and Dunalley on 7 January. New Zealand sent twelve of its firefighters on a sixteen-day mission to help battle the blazes. One New Zealand firefighter said the conditions were considerably different from what they were used to at home, and that burnt-out falling trees were a real threat to safety. Firefighters and incident managers from Victoria were also deployed. On 13 January, a Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment firefighter, Peter Cramer, 61, died of natural causes while carrying out a reconnaissance on the southern edge of the Forcett fire near the hamlet of Taranna. His body was found about from the southern edge fire front. On the same day, the
Arthur Highway The Arthur Highway (A9) is a Tasmanian highway which runs from Sorell in the near south to Port Arthur in the far south-east. Route description From a roundabout with the Tasman Highway outside Sorell the highway runs northeast to another rou ...
on the Tasman Peninsula was reopened after the fire that started on 3 January had burnt out an area of over .


Assistance to victims

On 6 January, the Minister for Emergency Management
Nicola Roxon Nicola Louise Roxon (born 1 April 1967) is an Australian former politician. After politics, she has worked as a company director and academic. Roxon represented the lower house seat of Gellibrand in Victoria for the Australian Labor Party; ...
announced that the
Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...
would grant A$1,000 to Tasmanians affected by the bushfire. The
Australian Red Cross Australian Red Cross, formally Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1914 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, Australian Red Cross Society is ...
established a specific fund to assist victims and affected communities.


Reactions

On 6 January,
Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II (1926–2022; ), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms * Queen B ...
sent a message expressing her concern for the victims of the bushfires in Tasmania. The message was passed on by Tasmanian Governor
Peter Underwood Peter George Underwood, (10 October 1937 – 7 July 2014) was an Australian jurist and the Governor of Tasmania from 2008 until his death in 2014. He was the Chief Justice of Tasmania from 2004 to 2008, having been a judge of the Supreme Cour ...
, and read; The Catholic Archbishop of Hobart, The Most Reverend Adrian Doyle, received a message from
Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
saying that the Pope was saddened about the widespread destruction and thanking firefighters and emergency workers.


See also

*
2016 Tasmanian bushfires The 2016 Tasmanian Bushfires were a large series of Bushfires in Australia, bushfires in Tasmania which started in January 2016 throughout the state, and continued into February 2016, with considerable damage to fire sensitive areas in the Centra ...


References


Further reading

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External links


Photo gallery of the fires

Tasmanian Fire Service – Incident Map
{{Bushfires in Australia Tasmanian bushfires Tasmanian bushfires 2013 Tasmanian 2010s in Tasmania