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)

(Yarra Glen, Victoria)

#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.

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 330,000 ha (820,000 acres). It was also the most destructive, with over 1,800 houses destroyed and 159 lives lost in the region.

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 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. On 1 April 2009, Victoria Police reaffirmed their view that the cause was arson. However, in June 2011, Victoria Police announced that they now believed the cause of the fire was not arson.

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