Victorian 2009 Bushfires - Steels Creek 1

The state of Victoria in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

has had a long history of catastrophic

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 ...

. The most deadly of these, the

Black Saturday bushfires The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria. Saturday, 7 February 2009 was one of Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. The fires occurred ...

of 2009 claiming 173 lives. Legislation, planning, management and suppression are the responsibilities of the

Victorian State Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

By number of fires

Lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

- 26% *Deliberate - 25% *Agricultural - 16% *Campfire - 10% *Cigarettes/Matches - 7% *Unknown Causes - 6% *Misc - 5% *Machinery/Exhausts - 3% *Planned burn escapes - 2% *Public Utilities - 1%

By area burnt

- 46% *Public Utilities - 14% *Deliberate - 14% *Misc - 9% *Agricultural - 7% *Planned burn escapes - 5% *Unknown Causes - 3% *Machinery/Exhaust - 2% *Campfire - 1% *Cigarettes/Matches - less than 1%

Major Victorian Bushfires

Most extensive fires

*1851 - 6 February "

Black Thursday Black Thursday is a term used to refer to typically negative, notable events that have occurred on a Thursday. It has been used in the following cases: *6 February 1851 – devastating day of bushfires in Victoria, Australia *21 June 1877 execut ...

" (5 million hectares) *1938-39 - December - January " Black Friday" (2 million hectares) *2020 - 3 January " Victoria/NSW Mega Blaze" (1.5+ million hectares) *2003 - January - March " 2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires" (1.3 million hectares) *2006-07 - 1 December - 6 February " Eastern Victoria Great Divide bushfires" (1.2 -1.3 million hectares) *1944 - January - February (1 million hectares) *1983 - 16 February "

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 ...

" (510,000 hectares) *2009 - 7 February " Black Saturday" (450,000 hectares) *1965 -

Gippsland Gippsland () is a rural region in the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains south of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers an elongated area of east of th ...

(300,000 hectares) *1898 - 1 February " Red Tuesday" (260,000 hectares)

Deadliest fires

*2009 - 7 February - March " Black Saturday" (173 deaths) *1939 - December - January " Black Friday" (71 deaths) *1926 - 14 February - March " Black Sunday" (60 deaths) *1944 - December - February (51 deaths) *1983 - 16 February "

" (47 in Victoria) *1962 - 14–16 January (33 deaths) *1969 - 8 January (23 deaths) *1942 - Western Victoria (20 deaths) *1905 - 1 December (12 deaths) *1898 - 1 February " Red Tuesday" (12 deaths) *1851 - 6 February "

" (12 deaths) *1943 - 22 December (10 deaths) *1952 - January - March, Central Victoria (10 deaths) *1977 - 12 February, Western Victoria (8 deaths) *1965 - 17 January (7 deaths) Longwood, Northern Victoria *1998 - 2 December (5 deaths) Linton, Western Victoria *1985 - 14 January (3 deaths) Avoca, Central Victoria *1997 - 21 January (3 deaths) Dandenong Ranges

References

DSE Major Bushfire in Victoria

External links

State Library of Victoria's Bushfires in Victoria Research Guide
Guide to locating books, government reports, websites, statistics, newspaper reports and images about Victorian bushfires from 1851 to the present.
Country Fire AuthorityDepartment of Environment, Land, Water & Planning: Fire & emergencies VicEmergency (Incidents and warnings)
{{Australian Fire Services Bushfires Environment of Victoria (state)