INTERNATIONAL WILDFIRES (21ST CENTURY)

2009

ECOCIDE
noun
destruction of the natural environment,
especially when deliberate.

INTERNATIONAL WILDFIRES

(Largest Fires of the 21st Century)

Australian Black Saturday
Bushfires (2009)

(Northeast of Melbourne, Victoria, Satellite)

(Original Image)

#5

LARGEST FIRE OF THE 21ST CENTURY

The Official Story

BLACK SATURDAY BUSHFIRES
(5th Largest Fire of the 21st Century)

The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009, and were 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 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.

The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, headed by Justice Bernard Teague, was held in response to the bushfires.

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:

450,000 ha (1,100,000 acres) 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

25,600 tonnes (25,200 long tons; 28,200 short tons) of stored fodder and grain

32,000 tonnes (31,000 long tons; 35,000 short tons) of hay and silage

190 ha (470 acres) of standing crops

62,000 ha (150,000 acres) of pasture

735 ha (1,820 acres) of fruit trees, olives and vines

Over 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) of boundary and internal fencing destroyed or damaged

7,000 ha (17,000 acres) of plantation timber

98,932 ha (244,470 acres) of parks damaged, 90 per cent 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

3,921 ha (9,690 acres) 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

Source: Wikipedia

2009 Black Saturday Bushfires Statistics

Dates(s):	7 February – 14 March 2009
Burned Area:	450,000 hectares (1,100,000 acres)
Cause:	Various confirmed sources including: Power lines, Arson, Lightning, Machinery
Buildings Destroyed:	3,500+ (2,029 houses)
Deaths:	173
Non-fatal injuries:	414