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101-608: 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, the Christian holy day Ash Wednesday . Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by hot winds of up to 110 km/h (68 mph) caused widespread destruction across the states of Victoria and South Australia. Years of severe drought and extreme weather combined to create one of Australia's worst fire days in

202-556: A "fire danger season" for each local government area, potentially starting in October and finishing at the end of April. The Tasmanian Government declares fire permit periods for local government areas. In 2019 this commenced 31 October. Western Australia requires each local government area to declare its own "restricted burning times" roughly aligned with spring and autumn, and "prohibited burning times" roughly aligned with summer. The Northern Territory defines two broad "fire seasons",

303-596: A 15% decline in late autumn and early winter rainfall and a 25% decline in average rainfall in April and May. Rainfall for January to August 2019 was the lowest on record in the Southern Downs (Queensland) and Northern Tablelands (New South Wales) with some areas 77% below the long term average. In the 2000s, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that ongoing anthropogenic climate change

404-582: A century. The fires were the deadliest in Australian history until the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009. 75 people died as a result of the fires; 47 in Victoria, and 28 in South Australia. This included 14 Country Fire Authority and three Country Fire Service personnel, all 17 were volunteer firefighters . Many fatalities were as a result of firestorm conditions caused by a sudden and violent wind change in

505-471: A default statutory "bush fire danger period" defined in law, from 1 October to 31 March. The state government can then declare different start and end dates for bush fire danger periods for each local government area within the state. In 2019 these started 1 August. Victoria declares a "fire danger period" for each local government area. Victorian fire danger periods typically start in October and finish as late as May. The South Australia Government declares

606-539: A dry cool change and preceded by record temperatures, the dust storm cut visibility in Melbourne to 100 metres, creating near darkness for almost an hour. There was also a dust storm in Adelaide on the day of the bushfires. Wednesday 16 February dawned as another unrelentingly hot, dry day. The weather early on Ash Wednesday was complex and did not signify how the day would develop. A front separated hot, dry air coming in from

707-437: A faster rate. Electric power lines being brought down or arcing in high winds have also caused fires. In recent times most major bush fires have been started in remote areas by dry lightning . Some reports indicate that a changing climate could also be contributing to the ferocity of the 2019–20 fires with hotter, drier conditions making the country's fire season longer and much more dangerous. During periods of drought ,

808-461: A mansion converted to an Anglican theological college and priory in the 1940s, was also burnt in the fires, but not restored and the whole site has since been cleared, leaving only the ruins of the gate house. More than 60 per cent of the houses lost in South Australia were in the Mount Lofty Ranges . Of the 26 people who died in South Australia, 12 were in metropolitan areas, including four in

909-455: A much greater fire fuel hazard. Another factor was the introduction of gamba grass imported into Queensland as a pasture grass in 1942, and planted on a large scale from 1983. This can fuel intense bushfires, leading to loss of tree cover and long-term environmental damage. Australia's hot, arid climate and wind-driven bushfires were a new and frightening phenomenon to the European settlers of

1010-463: A northern fire season, which can run from April to November, and a central Australian fire season, which can run from October to March. The Government also refers to these as "fire danger periods". Bushfire seasons are commonly grouped into years such as " 2019–2020 Australian bushfire season " and typically apply to the season for southern and eastern Australia; from 1 June to 31 May annually. Melbourne dust storm In late 1982 and early 1983,

1111-522: A rapid drop in temperature and a fierce wind change that uprooted trees and damaged houses. Within minutes, visibility in the capital had plunged to 100 metres (330 ft). City workers huddled in doorways, covering their mouths from the choking dust, and traffic came to a standstill. The worst of the storm was over by 4:00pm, when the wind speed dropped. The dust cloud was approximately 320 metres (1,050 ft) high when it struck Melbourne, but in other areas of Victoria it extended thousands of metres into

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1212-632: A series of bushfires tore through the Adelaide Hills , 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of Adelaide , leaving more than 70 buildings destroyed and 75 farms affected by the fires. Three years later on 16 February 1983, about 180 fires in an event known as the Ash Wednesday bushfires caused widespread destruction across parts of South Australia and Victoria , burning an area of 3.74 million acres (1.51 million hectares ; 15,100 square kilometres ; 5,840 square miles ) of bushland and exceeding

1313-532: A series of extreme heatwaves that were accompanied by strong northerly winds, after a very dry six months. Melbourne hit 45.6 °C (114.1 °F) and Adelaide 46.1 °C (115.0 °F). In NSW, Bourke suffered 37 consecutive days above 38 degrees and Menindee hit a record 49.7 °C (121.5 °F) on 10 January. New South Wales also lost hundreds of houses, thousands of stock and poultry, and thousands of hectares of grazing land. By 16 January, disastrous fires were burning in Victoria, New South Wales and

1414-512: A significant shift away from traditional burning practices. A 2001 study found that the disruption of traditional burning practices and the introduction of unrestrained logging meant that many areas of Australia were now prone to extensive wildfires especially in the dry season. A similar study in 2017 found that the removal of mature trees by Europeans since they began to settle in Australia may have triggered extensive shrub regeneration which presents

1515-534: A strain on firefighting resources. In the 1982/83 season, 3500 fires were reported to the Country Fire Authority in Victoria alone. On 8 February, Melbourne was enveloped by a giant dust storm . The dust cloud was over 300 metres (980 ft) high, 500 kilometres (310 mi) long and was composed of an estimated 50,000 tonnes (49,000 long tons; 55,000 short tons) of topsoil from the drought-ravaged Wimmera and Mallee areas of north-west Victoria. Leading

1616-476: A threat to settlements as they rarely reach the same intensity seen in major firestorms as the land is flat, the fires are easier to map and predict, and the terrain is more accessible for firefighting personnel. Many regions of predominantly flat terrain in Australia have been almost completely deforested for agriculture, reducing the fuel loads which would otherwise facilitate fires in these areas. Australia's climate has warmed by more than one degree Celsius over

1717-400: A total estimated cost of well over A$ 400 million (1983 values) for both states, equivalent to A$ 1.3 billion in 2007. The emergency saw the largest number of volunteers called to duty from across Australia at the same time—an estimated 130,000 firefighters, defence force personnel, relief workers and support crews. On Ash Wednesday in 1980 (20 February) during a virtually rainless summer after

1818-542: A two-month period). Other major conflagrations include the 1851 Black Thursday bushfires , the 2006 December bushfires , the 1974–75 fires that burnt 15% of Australia, and the 2019–20 bushfires . It is estimated that the 2019–2020 bushfires led to the deaths of at least 33 people and over 3 billion animals. The gradual drying of the Australian continent over the last 6000 years has produced an ecology and environment prone to fire, which has resulted in many specialised adaptations amongst flora and fauna . Some of

1919-498: A very wet spring in 1979, bushfires swept through the Adelaide Hills in South Australia, destroying 51 houses. These fires were referred to as "Ash Wednesday" until the 1983 fires, which became notorious nationwide. As 1982 came to a close, large areas of eastern Australia lay devastated by a prolonged drought thought to be caused by the El Niño climatic cycle. In many places, rainfall over winter and spring had been as little as half

2020-446: Is a colloquialism broadly defined by common usage, from when the first uncontrolled fires start any time from June onwards, typically shortened to "bushfire season", and applies mainly to southern and eastern Australia. It can continue through to April. Central and northern Australia have two separately defined fire seasons. The colloquial term is typically used in conjunction with the technical terms when conveying information to

2121-740: Is because the build-up of atmospheric carbon dioxide may become increasingly dependent on fire-driven climate-carbon feedbacks, as highlighted by this event. Bushfires in Australia can occur all year-round, though the severity and the "bushfire season" varies by region. There is no formal definition for a single bushfire season across the whole of Australia. There is no one terminology used for periods of fire activity. The technical terms used for periods of fire risk and fire activity include fire weather season, fire danger season, bush fire danger period, fire danger period, fire permit period, restricted burning times, and, prohibited burning times, and fire season. The term "Australian bushfire season",

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2222-428: Is lined by a number of historic mansions, like Eurilla, Carminow and Mount Lofty House. The flames roared up the tower of Carminow like a chimney, destroying everything, including the gardens. Next door at Eurilla, Kym and Julie Bonython lost all of their worldly possessions, including antiques, paintings and Kym Bonython's extensive jazz record collection. He saved only his favourite motorbike. At this time, this part of

2323-500: Is more than twice the estimate derived by five different fire inventories and broadly consistent with estimates based on a bottom-up bootstrap analysis of this fire episode. Although fires occur regularly in the savannas in northern Australia, the recent episodes were extremely large in scale and intensity, burning unusually large areas of eucalyptus forest in the southeast. The fires were driven partly by climate change, making better-constrained emission estimates particularly important. This

2424-402: The 2019–2020 Australian bushfire season , the forests in Australia were thought to reabsorb all the carbon released in bushfires across the country. This would mean the forests achieved net-zero emissions. However, global warming is making bushfires burn more intensely and frequently and the 2019–2020 bushfires have already emitted 400 megatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to

2525-476: The El Niño weather cycle had brought record drought to almost all of eastern Australia , with Victoria's Mallee and northern Wimmera severely affected. During the morning of Tuesday 8 February 1983, a strong but dry cold front began to cross Victoria, preceded by hot, gusty northerly winds. The loose topsoil in the Mallee and Wimmera was picked up by the wind and collected into a huge cloud of dust that heralded

2626-572: The Great Dividing Range abruptly raise air temperatures in the lee of that mountain range and reduce atmospheric moisture, thus elevating fire danger. This occurs because of the partial orographic obstruction of comparatively damp low-level air and the sinking of drier upper-level air in leeward of the mountains, which is heated because of the adiabatic compression. Large, violent wildfires can generate winds of themselves, called fire whirls . Fire whirls are like tornadoes and result from

2727-678: The Mount Stromlo Observatory was destroyed. Fires entered the suburbs of Canberra on 18 January 2003 and, in the following ten hours, four people died and over 490 were injured 470 homes were destroyed or severely damaged. Extreme bushfire conditions—Melbourne's maximum temperature was above 43.0 °C (109.4 °F) for three consecutive days for the first time since records had been kept, accompanied by strong winds on 7 February 2009, later to be known as 'Black Saturday'—precipitated major bushfires throughout Victoria, involving several large fire complexes, which continued to burn across

2828-553: The University of Tasmania warned that so much damage has been done that Australian forests may take more than 100 years to re-absorb the carbon that has been released so far this fire season. In January 2020, the British Met Office said Australia's bushfires in 2019–2020 were expected to contribute 2% to the increase in the atmospheric concentration of major greenhouse gases which are forecast to hit 417 parts per million, one of

2929-414: The "worst bushfires" it had experienced, with thousands of hectares burned and a 72-kilometre (45 mi) fire front driven towards the city by a south westerly gale, destroying pine plantations and many homesteads, and threatening Mount Stromlo Observatory , Government House , and Black Mountain . Large numbers of men were sent to stand by government buildings in the line of fire. The state of Victoria

3030-585: The 20th century. With increasing population and urban spread into bushland came increasing death tolls and property damage during large fires. During the 1925–26 Victorian bushfire season , large areas of Gippsland in Victoria caught fire, leading to the Black Sunday fires on 14 February, when 31 people were killed in Warburton , near Melbourne. These fires remain the fifth most deadly bushfires recorded, with 60 people killed over two months. The 1939 fire season

3131-517: The ACT at the climax of a terrible heatwave. Sydney was ringed to the north, south and west by fires from Palm Beach and Port Hacking to the Blue Mountains . Fires blazing at Castle Hill , Sylvania , Cronulla and French's Forest in the city. Disastrous fires were also reported at Penrose, Wollongong , Nowra , Bathurst , Ulludulla , Mittagong , Trunkey and Nelligen . Meanwhile, Canberra faced

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3232-524: The Adelaide Hills was still not connected to the mains water supply, so all of the houses had only petrol-powered pumps and rainwater tanks. "The petrol in the emergency pump just vaporised with the heat" said Kym Bonython. "We could do nothing except watch the place burn". Across the road at Pine Lodge (formerly the Mt Lofty Tea Rooms), the resident rolled out the property's fire hose, connected it to

3333-638: The Adelaide suburb of Greenhill . The most disastrous factor in the Ash Wednesday fires occurred just before nightfall when a fierce and dry wind change swept across South Australia and Victoria. This abruptly changed the direction and dramatically increased the intensity of the fires. The long corridors of flame that had been driven all day by the strong northerly were suddenly hit by gale-force south-westerly winds and became enormous fire fronts, many kilometres wide, with wind reportedly moving faster than 110 km/h (68 mph). The near-cyclonic strength of

3434-519: The Australian coastline noted extensive bushfire smoke. Abel Janszoon Tasman 's expedition saw smoke drifting over the coast of Tasmania in 1642 and noted blackened trunks and baked earth in the forests. While charting the east coast in 1770, Captain Cook 's crew saw autumn fires in the bush burning on most days of the voyage. The fires would have been caused by both natural phenomenon and human hands. Aboriginal people in many regions set fire to grasslands in

3535-416: The Australian environment. Some plants have evolved a variety of mechanisms to survive or even require bushfires (possessing epicormic shoots or lignotubers that sprout after a fire, or developing fire-resistant or fire-triggered seeds ), or even encourage fire ( eucalypts contain flammable oils in its leaves) as a way to eliminate competition from less fire-tolerant species. Early European explorers of

3636-484: The Copernicus monitoring programme. This is as much as Australia's average annual carbon dioxide emissions in just the past three months. These will increase Australia's annual greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming, and heighten the likelihood of recurring megafires that will release yet more emissions. Until the 2019–2020 Australian bushfire season , the forests in Australia were thought to reabsorb all

3737-570: The Otway Forest. When the wind change happen the fire formed a huge front and headed for the coast. Burning all night, the morning after Ash Wednesday, first light revealed the devastation of the popular coastal towns along the Great Ocean Road such as Aireys Inlet, Anglesea and Lorne resembled barren moonscapes. The fire on the coast had been so intense that firefighters were forced to abandon all control efforts and let it burn until it reached

3838-630: The Queensland border. Fires were approaching towns in the Blue Mountains including Blackheath and in the Shoalhaven, including Ulladulla. Some 20,000 firefighters were deployed against around 800 fires mainly along the coast and ranges. The fires caused mass evacuations, claimed four lives, destroyed some 225 homes and burnt 800,000 hectares (2.0 million acres ; 8,000 square kilometres ; 3,100 square miles ) of bushland. They were met with amongst

3939-535: The Sydney basin and down the south coast to Batemans Bay . The 800,000 hectares (2.0 million acres ; 8,000 square kilometres ; 3,100 square miles ) spread of fires were generally contained within less than 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the coast, and many burned through rugged and largely uninhabited country in national parks or nature reserves. Dramatic scenes of the city of Sydney shrouded in thick bushfire smoke, and bushland suburbs on fire were broadcast around

4040-673: The Victorian Alps, the towns of Bright , Cudgewa and Corryong were also hit, along with vast areas in the west, in particular Portland, the Otway Ranges and the Grampians. Black Range, Rubicon , Acheron , Noojee , Tanjil Bren , Hill End , Woods Point , Matlock , Erica , Omeo, Toombullup and the Black Forest were also affected. Huge amounts of smoke and ash were generated, with reports of ash falling as far away as New Zealand. After

4141-459: The Victorian fires were thought to have been caused by sparks between short-circuiting power lines, and tree branches connecting with power lines. A systematic review of fire safety was undertaken; areas under high-tension pylons were cleared and local domestic lines considered to be at risk were replaced with insulated three-phase supply lines. In South Australia, an inquest into the fires found that

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4242-501: The atmosphere. It was estimated that about 50,000 tonnes of topsoil were stripped from the Mallee (approximately 1,000 tonnes of it being dumped on the city). The combined effect of drought and dust storm inflicted damage on the land that, according to the then President of the Victorian Farmers and Graziers' Association, would take up to 10 years and tens of millions of dollars to repair. The exact weather pattern that had caused

4343-464: The atmosphere. However, existing emission estimates based on fire inventories are uncertain and vary by up to a factor of four for this event. Emission estimates are constrained with the help of satellite observations of carbon monoxide, an analytical Bayesian inversion and observed ratios between emitted carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. It is estimated emissions of carbon dioxide to be 715 teragrams (range 517–867) from November 2019 to January 2020. This

4444-444: The average summer temperatures have increased leading to record-breaking hot weather, with the early summer of 2019 the hottest on record. 2019 was also Australia's driest ever year since 1900 with rainfall 40% lower than average. Heatwaves and droughts dry out the undergrowth and create conditions that increase the risk of bushfires. This has become worse in the last 30 years. Since the mid-1990s, southeast Australia has experienced

4545-556: The blazes: small mammals, birds, lizards, and insects. Bushfires in Australia are generally described as uncontrolled, non-structural fires burning in a grass, scrub , bush, or forested area. The nature of the fire depends somewhat on local topography . Hilly/mountainous fires burn in areas which are usually densely forested. The land is less accessible and not conducive to agriculture, thus many of these densely forested areas have been saved from deforestation and are protected by national, state and other parks. The steep terrain increases

4646-539: The bushfires, Victoria convened a Royal Commission . Judge Leonard Stretton was instructed to enquire into the causes of the fires, and consider the measures taken to prevent the fires and to protect life and property. He made seven major recommendations to improve forest and fire management, and planned burning became an official fire management practice. In the summer of 1967, Tasmania suffered its most destructive fire season , and Australia's fourth most deadly on record. A verdant spring had added higher than usual fuel to

4747-594: The carbon released in bushfires across the country. This would mean the forests achieved net-zero emissions. However, scientists now say that global warming is making bushfires burn more intensely and frequently and believe the 2019–2020 fires have already released approximately 350 million tonnes (390 million short tons) of carbon dioxide – as much as two-thirds of Australia's average annual carbon dioxide emissions (530 million tonnes (580 million short tons) in 2017) between October and December 2019. David Bowman, professor of pyrogeography and fire science at

4848-512: The colonial era. The devastating Victorian bushfires of 1851, remembered as the Black Thursday bushfires , burned in a chain from Portland to Gippsland , and sent smoke billowing across the Bass Strait to north west Tasmania, where terrified settlers huddled around candles in their huts under a blackened afternoon sky. The fires covered five million hectares around one quarter of what is now

4949-520: The communication systems used by the Country Fire Service were inadequate and, as a result, the government radio network was installed, although this did not happen until almost 20 years later. Improvements in weather forecasting, with particular reference to wind changes and fronts, was undertaken by the Bureau of Meteorology . An emergency disaster plan, known as Displan, was also legislated. Many of

5050-464: The conflagration. It was found that delaying evacuation until the last minute was a common failing. Until the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires , Ash Wednesday had the highest-recorded death toll for a bushfire disaster, with 75 deaths. For the next quarter century, Ash Wednesday was used as the measure for all bushfire emergencies in Australia; though since 2009, that has supplemented by the lessons learned from Black Saturday. It remains well known as one of

5151-505: The cool change. At Horsham in western Victoria, raised dust was observed by 11:00am. Within an hour, it had obscured the sky. Fed by the strong northerly, the temperature in Melbourne rose quickly and by 2:35pm it had reached 43.2 °C (109.8 °F), at that time a record February maximum. Around the same time, a dramatic red-brown cloud could be seen approaching the city. The dust storm hit Melbourne just before 3:00pm, accompanied by

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5252-428: The country's flora has evolved to rely on bushfires for reproduction. Aboriginal Australians used to use fire to clear grasslands for hunting and to clear tracks through dense vegetation, and European settlers have also had to adapt to using fire to enhance agriculture and forest management since the 19th century. According to Tim Flannery ( The Future Eaters ), fire is one of the most important forces at work in

5353-401: The course of agricultural clearing, grinding and welding activities, campfires, cigarettes and dropped matches, sparks from machinery, and controlled burn escapes. They spread based on the type and quantity of fuel that is available. Fuel can include everything from trees, underbrush and dry grassy fields to homes. Wind supplies the fire with additional oxygen pushing the fire across the land at

5454-428: The current extremes and anthropogenic climate change is scientifically indisputable". In 2020, an international team of scientists found the hot and dry conditions that helped drive Australia's 2019–2020 bushfire crisis would be eight times more likely to happen if the earth warms by 2.0 °C (3.6 °F). The bushfires have not only been made more likely and intense by climate change, but they also add to it. Until

5555-599: The day on which they peaked, including the five most deadly blazes: Black Saturday 2009 in Victoria (173 people killed, 2,000 homes lost); Ash Wednesday 1983 in Victoria and South Australia (75 dead, nearly 1,900 homes); Black Friday 1939 in Victoria (71 dead, 650 houses destroyed), Black Tuesday 1967 in Tasmania (62 people and almost 1,300 homes); and the Gippsland fires and Black Sunday of 1926 in Victoria (60 people killed over

5656-495: The entire Melbourne metropolitan area was encircled by an arc of fire. Property loss began early in the afternoon, particularly in the Adelaide Hills , east of Adelaide and the Dandenong Ranges , east of Melbourne. Murray Nicoll , a journalist from radio station 5DN and resident of the Adelaide Hills, reported live from his local area where five people died: At the moment, I'm watching my house burn down. I'm sitting out on

5757-415: The evening which rapidly changed the direction and size of the fire front. The speed and ferocity of the flames, aided by abundant fuels and a landscape immersed in smoke, made fire suppression and containment impossible. In many cases, residents fended for themselves as fires broke communications, cut off escape routes and severed electricity and water supplies. Up to 8,000 people were evacuated in Victoria at

5858-501: The final fire was extinguished, Australia had one of the worst bushfire seasons in its recorded history. 2019 had been the hottest record year for Australia, with the bushfire season starting in June 2019. This caused massive damage throughout the country, with fires in each state and territory. The east coast experienced widespread destruction from mega-blazes, such as the Currowan bushfire , which

5959-487: The fires, with museums hosting exhibits inviting survivors to tell their stories. Bushfires in Australia Bushfires in Australia are a widespread and regular occurrence that have contributed significantly to shaping the nature of the continent over millions of years. Eastern Australia is one of the most fire-prone regions of the world, and its predominant eucalyptus forests have evolved to thrive on

6060-551: The football field at the Central Coast Leagues Club, after the evacuation of Kariong , Woy Woy , Umina , Ettalong and Brisbane Waters. Much of Gosford , Kariong and Somersby had been evacuated, along with Terry Hill. Homes at Menai , Sutherland , Chatswood , Lindfield , Turramurra, Macquarie Park and Sydney's northern beaches had been lost. 60 fires were burning on the north coast, as firefighters battled infernos over 30 hectares (74 acres) from Coffs Harbour to

6161-494: The forested upland areas surrounding the Victorian and South Australian capitals of Melbourne and Adelaide . Victorian Government firefighting agencies employed extra staff and organised for extra equipment and aircraft to be ready for firefighting over the summer. The first big bushfire occurred on 25 November 1982 and was followed by large fires on 3 and 13 December 1982. Even before 16 February, fires were already causing destruction in Victoria. An ongoing fire near Cann River in

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6262-419: The fuel for wildfires is greater than normal, and bushfires combine to become megafires, generating their own weather and spreading fire further. Strong winds also promote the rapid spread of fires by lifting burning embers into the air. This is known as spotting and can start a new fire up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) downwind from the fire front. In New South Wales , dry Föhn-like winds originating from

6363-564: The heat of the fires after the change rose to 2,000 °C (3,630 °F), exceeding that recorded during the Allied bombing of Dresden in World War II . In fact, the Ash Wednesday fires were measured at around 60,000 kilowatts of heat energy per metre, leading to similarities with the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima . Whole townships were obliterated in minutes. In the Dandenong Ranges,

6464-502: The height of the crisis and a state of disaster was declared for the first time in South Australia's history. A 2001 report found Ash Wednesday to be one of Australia's worst fires. More than 3,700 buildings were destroyed or damaged and 2,545 individuals and families lost their homes. Livestock losses were very high, with more than 340,000 sheep, 18,000 cattle and numerous native animals either dead or later destroyed. A total of 4,540 insurance claims were paid totalling A$ 176 million with

6565-455: The hope of producing lusher grass to fatten kangaroos and other game and, at certain times of year, burned fire breaks as a precaution against bushfire. Fire-stick farming was also used to facilitate hunting and to promote the growth of bush potatoes and other edible ground-level plants. In central Australia, they used fire in this way to manage their country for thousands of years. Flannery writes that "The use of fire by Aboriginal people

6666-457: The interior to the north, from cooler air moving eastwards from the Southern Ocean. Ahead of the front were hot, turbulent, gale-force northerly winds. Temperatures around Melbourne and Adelaide quickly rose above 43 °C (109 °F), with winds gusting up to 100 km/h (62 mph) and relative humidity plunging to as low as 6 per cent. From mid-morning, McArthur's fire danger index

6767-408: The largest annual increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide on record. Climate studies show that conditions which promote extreme bushfires in Australia will only get worse as more greenhouse gases are added to the atmosphere. Southeast Australia experienced intensive and geographically extensive wildfires during the 2019–2020 summer season. The fires released substantial amounts of carbon dioxide into

6868-550: The largest firefighting efforts in Australian history. A lengthy Coronial inquest followed the fires, leading to the formation of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service . The Rural Fires Act 1997 was proclaimed on 1 September 1997. During 18–22 January 2003, almost 70% of the Australian Capital Territory 's (ACT) pastures, pine plantations, and nature parks were severely damaged, and most of

6969-525: The lessons learned in building better homes for fire survival, bush management and emergency response efficiency in analysis of the fires conducted by the CSIRO were to prove vital in later crises, including the 1994 Eastern seaboard and 2003 Canberra fire outbreaks. A study was conducted into the 32 fatalities (excluding firefighters) that occurred in Victoria. It revealed that 25 were outside their homes, several of whom died in vehicles while attempting to escape

7070-426: The local school and kindergarten. "Three quarters of an hour later the roof was burning", said Mr Morgan. Flames across the road and road blocks prevented the family from returning to the house, until it was burnt to the ground. "It's worth nothing now", said Mr Morgan. All of these houses have since been restored and are privately owned. Mount Lofty House has since been turned into a boutique hotel. St Michael's House ,

7171-429: The loss of 75 people. The bushfires, caused by years of severe drought and extreme weather, were amongst the deadliest bushfires in Australian history during the late 20th century. From 27 December 1993 to 16 January 1994, over 800 severe fires burned along the coastal areas of New South Wales, affecting the state's most populous regions. Blazes emerged from the Queensland border down the north and central coast, through

7272-579: The ocean, destroying everything in its path. Residents were forced down to the water edge of beaches in the areas to escape the flames. In Victoria, over 16,000 firefighters combatted the blaze, including staff and works crews from the Forests Commission Victoria , National Park Service, and volunteers from the Country Fire Authority and State Emergency Service. Also involved were over 1,000 Victoria Police, 500 Australian Defence Force personnel and hundreds of local residents. A variety of equipment

7373-401: The past century, causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of heatwaves and droughts. Eight of Australia's ten warmest years on record have occurred since 2005. A study in 2018 conducted at Melbourne University found that the major droughts of the late 20th century and early 21st century in southern Australia are "likely without precedent over the past 400 years". Across the country,

7474-625: The path of the fire. With the Prime Minister Paul Keating on leave, Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe , ordered 100 soldiers to join firefighting efforts and placed a further 100 on standby. On 8 January, the Royal National Park fire swept into the southern Sydney suburbs of Como and Jannali where many homes would be destroyed, along with two schools a church and a kindergarten. The Como/Jannali fire burnt 476 hectares (1,180 acres) and destroyed 101 houses – more than half of

7575-518: The phenomenon of bushfire . However, the fires can cause significant property damage and loss of both human and animal life. Bushfires have killed approximately 800 people in Australia since 1851, and billions of animals. The most destructive fires are usually preceded by extreme high temperatures, low relative humidity and strong winds, which combine to create ideal conditions for the rapid spread of fire. Severe fire storms are often named according to

7676-559: The previous record low in a record dating back to the 1870s and severe water restrictions were imposed in Melbourne in November. On 24 November, the earliest Total Fire Ban in forty years was proclaimed in Victoria. By February 1983, summer rainfall for Victoria was up to 75% less than in previous years. The first week of February was punctuated by intense heat, with record-high temperatures experienced on 1 and 8 February. This combination further destabilised an already volatile fire situation in

7777-525: The public. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology defines five "fire danger seasons", being times of peak bushfire activity, roughly corresponding to broad bands of latitude across the Australian continent including winter and spring, across the most northern parts of Australia; spring; spring and summer; summer; and summer and autumn, across the most southern parts of Australia. Each Australian state and territory jurisdiction defines periods of peak fire risk or fire activity differently. New South Wales has

7878-456: The road in front of my own house where I've lived for 13 or 14 years and it's going down in front of me. And the flames are in the roof and—Oh, God damn it. It's just beyond belief—my own house. And everything around it is black. There are fires burning all around me. All around me. And the front section of my house is blazing. The roof has fallen in. My water tanks are useless. There is absolutely nothing I can do about it. Mount Lofty Summit Road

7979-417: The soil, their upper surfaces flush with the ground, were burnt through... Where the fire was most intense the soil was burnt to such a depth that it may be many years before it shall have been restored... The townships of Warrandyte , Yarra Glen , Omeo and Pomonal were badly damaged, and fires burned to the urban fringe of Melbourne, affecting towns including Toolangi , Warburton and Thomson Valley. In

8080-445: The speed and intensity of a firestorm. Where settlements are located in hilly or mountainous areas, bushfires can pose a threat to both life and property. Flat/grassland fires burn along flat plains or areas of small undulation, predominantly covered in grasses or scrubland. These fires can move quickly, fanned by high winds in flat topography, and they quickly consume the small amounts of fuel/vegetation available. These fires pose less of

8181-526: The state for around one month. 173 people died in these fires and 414 were injured. 3,500+ buildings were destroyed, including 2,029 houses, and 7,562 people displaced. In terms of loss of life and property damage, the Black Saturday fires rank as the most devastating in Australian history. The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission was called to investigate the Victorian government's strategy regarding bushfires. From September 2019 until March 2020, when

8282-533: The state into midday blackness. The Stretton Royal Commission later wrote: On [13 January] it appeared that the whole State was alight. At midday, in many places, it was dark as night. Men carrying hurricane lamps, worked to make safe their families and belongings. Travellers on the highways were trapped by fires or blazing fallen trees, and perished. Throughout the land, there was daytime darkness... Steel girders and machinery were twisted by heat as if they had been of fine wire. Sleepers of heavy durable timber, set in

8383-942: The state of Victoria. Portland, Plenty Ranges, Westernport, the Wimmera and Dandenong districts were badly hit, and around twelve lives were recorded lost, along with one million sheep and thousands of cattle. New arrivals from the wetter climes of Britain and Ireland learned painful lessons in fire management and the European farmers slowly began to adapt – growing green crops around their haystacks and burning fire breaks around their pastures, and becoming cautious about burn offs of wheatfield stubble and ringbarked trees. But major fire events persisted, including South Gippsland's 1898 Red Tuesday bushfires that burned 260,000 hectares (640,000 acres) and claimed twelve lives and more than 2,000 buildings. A map of 19th century Australian bushfires shows over 7,000 bushfires reported in contemporary Australian newspapers. Large bushfires continued throughout

8484-473: The state's east had been burning uncontrolled for almost a month. Prior to that, a major bushfire on 8 January had taken hold north of Bacchus Marsh in the Wombat State Forest where two Forest Commission workers lost their lives defending Greendale . On 1 February 1983, a fire burnt the north face of Mount Macedon and areas of state forest. Fifty houses were destroyed. These fires were already creating

8585-782: The state's forest floors, and strong northerly winds and high temperatures drove at least 80 different fires across the south-east, burning to within 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) of the centre of Hobart, the state capital. The infernos killed 62 people and destroyed almost 1,300 homes. In the summer of 1974-1975 (southern hemisphere), Australia suffered its worst recorded bushfire, when 15% of Australia's land mass suffered "extensive fire damage". Fires that summer burnt an estimated 117 million hectares (290 million acres ; 1,170,000 square kilometres ; 450,000 square miles ). The fires killed six people, approximately 57,000 farm animals, farmers' crops, and destroyed nearly 10,200 kilometres (6,300 mi) of fencing. On 20 February 1980,

8686-598: The total homes lost in New South Wales during the January emergency period. Also on 8 January, fires had reached to within 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) of Gosford city centre, and some 5,000 people had been evacuated over that weekend with homes destroyed at Somersby and Peats Ridge. By 9 January, more than 16,000 people were on standby for evacuation from the Lower Blue Mountains. Thousands of people were sleeping on

8787-585: The villages of Cockatoo and Upper Beaconsfield were devastated, with twelve volunteer firefighters losing their lives after being trapped by a wall of flame when the wind change struck, while parts of Belgrave Heights (where this fire started) and Belgrave South suffered large areas of property loss. Most of Macedon and much of historic Mount Macedon to the north-west of Melbourne was razed, including many heritage-listed 19th-century mansions and famed gardens. A fire that started in Deans Marsh raced into

8888-574: The vortices created by the fire's heat. When these vortices are tilted from horizontal to vertical, this creates fire whirls. These whirls have been known to hurl flaming logs and burning debris over considerable distances. In the Northern Territory, fires can also be spread by black kites , whistling kites and brown falcons . These birds have been spotted picking up burning twigs, flying to areas of unburned grass and dropping them to start new fires there. This exposes their prey attempting to flee

8989-469: The wind change created an unstoppable firestorm that produced tornado-like fire whirls and fireballs of eucalyptus gas measuring over three metres across. Survivors reported that the roar of the fire front was similar to that of a jet engine, though multiplied fifty, a hundred times. The change in temperature and air pressure was so savage that houses were seen exploding before fire could touch them. A resident of Aireys Inlet , on Victoria's western coast,

9090-422: The working diesel pump, only to find that embers were already burning numerous holes in the hose, rendering it useless. Down the road at Mount Lofty House, Mr and Mrs James Morgan lost $ 150,000 worth of furniture and artwork, which they had moved into the huge house only a fortnight before the fires, when they purchased the property. At 3:15 pm on Wednesday, Mr and Mrs Morgan went to pick up their children from

9191-626: The world. On 29 December, the Department of Bushfire Services was monitoring more than a dozen fires around the state, and homes were threatened in Turramurra by a fire in the Lane Cove River reserve, and a scrub fire had briefly cut off the holiday village of Bundeena in the Royal National Park , south of Sydney. The Age reported on 7 January that one-quarter of NSW was under threat in

9292-487: The worst fires seen in the state for nearly fifty years, as hundreds of firefighters from interstate joined 4,000 NSW firefighters battling blazes from Batemans Bay to Grafton . Fires in the Lane Cove River area at Marsfield , Turramurra, West Pymble and Macquarie Park were threatening hundreds of homes, and the fire in the Royal National Park raged toward Bundeena , where rescue boats evacuated 3,100 people caught in

9393-495: The worst natural disasters in Australia's history. Many psychological studies were undertaken in the months and years after the fire and found that the events left many in the affected communities with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder , even 20 years after the disaster in 2003. The lasting impact of Ash Wednesday was highlighted in 2008, when its 25th anniversary received much public and media attention. Commemoration sites have been set up in areas that were hit worst by

9494-424: Was hardest hit, with an area of almost two million 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres ; 20,000 square kilometres ; 7,700 square miles ) burned, 71 people killed, and whole townships wiped out, along with many sawmills and thousands of sheep, cattle and horses around Black Friday . Fires had been burning through December, but linked up with devastating force on Friday 13 January, plunging many areas of

9595-501: Was in excess of 100 in several places in Victoria and South Australia. It would be one of the worst fire weather days in south-east Australia since the disastrous Black Friday bushfires in 1939. The first fire was reported at 11:30 am at McLaren Flat , south of Adelaide. Within hours, multiple reports of breaking fires quickly began to deluge Victoria's and South Australia's emergency services. In Victoria alone, 180 fires were reported, eight of which became major fires. At one stage,

9696-554: Was just one of many catastrophic bushfires during the 2019–2020 season. In terms of the area of land burnt, wildlife deaths, and damage to the environment, some of its permanent damage, such as the burning of remnant rainforest, the 2019–2020 fires were the worst in Australian history. Many fires are as a result of either deliberate arson or carelessness, however these fires normally happen in readily accessible areas and are rapidly brought under control. Man-made events include arcing from overhead power lines, arson, accidental ignition in

9797-422: Was one of the worst on record for Australia, peaking with Victoria's devastating Black Friday bushfires of 13 January, but enduring for the full summer, with fires burning the urban fringes of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, and ash falling as far away as New Zealand . The Black Friday fires were the third deadliest on record, with some 71 people killed and 650 houses destroyed. They followed years of drought and

9898-498: Was quoted: It was just this bloody great force. It wasn't fire by itself. It wasn't just the wind. It was something different to that ... a monster. Unusual phenomena arising from the extreme conditions were reported. One survivor was startled to see a burning mattress hurtling through the air. Others noted road surfaces that bubbled and caught fire. CSIRO Tooltip Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation experts later reported that, from evidence of melted metal,

9999-456: Was so widespread and constant that virtually every early explorer in Australia makes mention of it. It was Aboriginal fire that prompted James Cook to call Australia 'This continent of smoke'." However, he goes on to say: "When control was wrested from the Aborigines and placed in the hands of Europeans, disaster resulted." Fire suppression became the dominant paradigm in fire management leading to

10100-416: Was used, including 400 vehicles (fire-trucks, water tankers and dozers), 11 helicopters and 14 fixed wing aircraft. The total land area burnt was approximately 2,100 km (520,000 acres; 210,000 hectares) in Victoria and 2,080 km (510,000 acres; 208,000 hectares) in South Australia. The summer bushfires of 1982/1983 razed approximately 5,200 km (1.3 million acres; 520,000 hectares). Many of

10201-593: Was virtually certain to increase in intensity and frequency of fires in Australia – a conclusion that has been endorsed in numerous reports since. In November 2019, the Australian Climate Council published a report titled This is Not Normal which also found the catastrophic bushfire conditions affecting NSW and Queensland in late 2019 have been aggravated by climate change. According to Nerilie Abram writing in Scientific American "the link between

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