Deadly bushfires in Victoria State, Australia, in 2009
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 and family-less 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.
Then Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard described Black Saturday as "a tragedy beyond belief, beyond precedent and beyond words … one of the darkest days in Australia’s peacetime history."
The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, headed by Justice Bernard Teague, was held in response to the bushfires.
Background.
A week before the fires, a significant heatwave affected southeastern Australia. From 28 to 30 January, Melbourne broke temperature records by experiencing three consecutive days above , with the temperature peaking at on 30 January, the third hottest day in the city's history.
The wave of heat was caused by a slow-moving high-pressure system that settled over the Tasman Sea, with a combination of an intense tropical low located off the North West Australian coast and a monsoon trough over northern Australia, which produced ideal conditions for hot tropical air to be directed down over southeastern Australia.
The February fires commenced on a day when several localities across the state, including Melbourne, recorded their highest temperatures since records began in 1859. On 6 February 2009—the day before the fires started—the Country Fire Authority chief Russell Rees warned "We are in almost uncharted territory" in terms of bushfire conditions. The Premier of Victoria John Brumby issued a warning about the extreme weather conditions expected on 7 February: "It's just as bad a day as you can imagine and on top of that the state is just tinder-dry. People need to exercise real common sense tomorrow". The Premier went on to state that it was expected to be the "worst day [of fire conditions] in the history of the state".
Events of 7 February 2009.
More than 19,000 firefighting personnel, mainly from the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), were deployed across the state on Friday evening (6 February) in anticipation of the extreme conditions the following day. By mid-morning Saturday, hot northwesterly winds in excess of hit the state, accompanied by extremely high temperatures and extremely low humidity; a total fire ban was declared for the entire state of Victoria.
As the day progressed, the highest-ever temperatures recorded to date were reached. Melbourne hit , the hottest temperature ever recorded for the city and humidity levels dropped to as low as two percent. The McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index reached unprecedented levels, ranging from 160 to over 200. This was higher than the fire weather conditions experienced on Black Friday in 1939 and Ash Wednesday in 1983.
Around midday, as wind speeds were reaching their peak, an incorrectly rigged 'SWER' (single-wire earth return) mains power cable was ripped down at Kilmore East. This sparked a bushfire that became the deadliest and most intense firestorm ever recorded in Australia. The overwhelming majority of fire activity occurred between the afternoon of 7 February and 7:00 pm, a period when wind speed and temperature were at their highest, and humidity at its lowest.
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 . It was also the most destructive, with over 1,800 houses destroyed and 159 lives lost in the region.
Kinglake area (Kilmore East fire).
Just before midday on 7 February, high winds felled a section of power lines owned by SP AusNet in Kilmore East, sparking a fire at approximately 11:45 am in open grasslands that adjoined pine plantations. The fire was fanned by extreme northwesterly winds, and travelled southeast in a narrow fire front through Wandong and Clonbinane, into Kinglake National Park, and then onto the towns of Humevale, Kinglake West, Strathewen and St Andrews.
The cool change passed through the area around 5:30 pm, bringing strong southwesterly winds. The wind change turned the initial long and narrow fire band into a wide firefront that moved in a northeast direction through Kinglake, Steels Creek, Dixons Creek, Chum Creek, Toolangi, Hazeldene, Broadford and Flowerdale.
The area became the worst-impacted in the state, with a total of 120 deaths and more than 1,200 homes destroyed.
The cause of the Kilmore East-Kinglake bushfire was found by the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission to be an ageing SP AusNet power line.
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. Later investigations prompted a 2011 declaration that arson had not been responsible.
Beechworth fire.
In Beechworth, a fire burnt over and threatened the towns of Yackandandah, Stanley, Bruarong, Dederang, Kancoona, Kancoona South, Coralbank, Glen Creek, and Running Creek. The fire ignited from a felled power line at around 6:00 pm on 7 February, south of Beechworth, before being driven south through pine plantations by hot northerly winds.
The fire destroyed an unknown number of buildings at Mudgegonga, southeast of Beechworth, with two residents confirmed dead. Dense smoke and cloud cover had hindered assessment of the Beechworth fire, but as conditions cleared late on 8 February, aerial crews were able to commence surveys of the situation.
Strong winds fuelled the fire on the night of 8 February, and lightning ignited a new fire near Kergunyah around midday on 9 February. More than 440 personnel worked to contain a separate front that threatened Gundowring and Eskdale, having jumped the Kiewa River. Late on the night of 9 February the greatest threat was to Eskdale, and fires also burnt in pine plantations from the large town of Myrtleford, at the western end of the fire area. While smaller towns to the east, including Gundowring and Kergunyah, remained under threat, the CFA said that there was no immediate danger to the larger towns of Beechworth and Yackandandah on the northern fringe of the fire area.
By 10 February, firefighters had completed a containment line around the Beechworth fire, and sought to construct more, though the fire continued to burn out of control. By that afternoon, threat messages for the area had been downgraded, though firefighters were tackling a separate fire near Koetong, to the east of the main Beechworth fire, of between . Residents of Beechworth and surrounding towns were advised on the evening of 10 February to expect increased smoke cover as 250 firefighters would be undertaking backburning to eliminate fuel within the control lines.
The Beechworth Correctional Centre minimum-security prison offered up to thirty of its inmates to provide assistance to firefighters; a local DSE manager said that though untrained personnel would not be allowed at the fire front, the prisoners would be welcome in support roles.
Bendigo fire.
A fire to the west of the city of Bendigo burned out . The fire broke out at about 4:30 pm on the afternoon of 7 February, and burned through Long Gully and Eaglehawk, coming within of central Bendigo, before it was brought under control late on 7 February. It destroyed around 61 houses in Bendigo's western suburbs, and damaged an electricity distribution line, resulting in blackouts to substantial parts of the city. One Long Gully resident, ill and confined to his house, was killed in the fire despite the efforts of his neighbours to rescue him. The fire changed direction late on 7 February with the cool change, and headed back towards Eaglehawk; it was contained at 9:52 pm, though it was still burning within containment lines well into the next day.
A relief centre was set up at Kangaroo Flat Senior Citizens Centre. During the fire, residents from Long Gully, Eaglehawk, Maiden Gully, California Gully, and West Bendigo were evacuated and advised to assemble at the centre. A town meeting was held for the affected residents on 8 February. On the same day, Victoria Police indicated that they were investigating whether arson was the cause of the fire.
The CFA initially suspected that the most likely cause was a cigarette butt discarded from a car or truck along Bracewell Street in Maiden Gully. However, the arson squad and local Bendigo detectives spent 9 February investigating the fire scene, and while they could not determine exactly what had caused the fire as of 10 February, they suspected arson. On 10 June 2009, Victoria Police announced that they were 'completely satisfied' that the fire had been deliberately lit.
On 2 February 2010, police announced that the taskforce investigating the arson had arrested two youths in relation to the Bendigo fires. The youths, aged 14 and 15, were each charged with arson causing death, deliberately lighting a bushfire, lighting of a fire on a day of total fire ban and lighting of a fire in a country area during extreme weather conditions. They were also charged with multiple counts of using telecommunications systems to menace, harass and offend as well as 135 counts each of arson.
On 7 November 2011, the Victorian Supreme Court Justice, Paul Coghlan, on advice from the prosecutor, Steven Milesi, found that the two youths were unfit to stand trial before a jury due to their intellectual disabilities.
Redesdale fire.
In Redesdale, southeast of Bendigo, a fire starting west of the town burnt and destroyed twelve houses and various outbuildings. The fire threatened the towns of Baynton and Glenhope. Glenhope was threatened again on 9 February from a smaller fire that broke away from the main front, resulting in extra fire crews being brought in from Bendigo and Kyneton. The fire was contained by 10 February.
Bunyip State Park fire.
A fire started at Bunyip Ridge in the Bunyip State Park on 4 February, originating near walking tracks; it was thought to have been deliberately lit. By 6 February, the fire had burned out , and emergency services personnel engaged in fighting the fire feared, despite efforts to establish containment lines in the park, that once the extreme weather conditions of 7 February arrived the fire would escape the confines of the park and threaten surrounding towns.
By the morning of 7 February, the fire had broken through containment lines. According to the DSE incident controller for the fire, the weather conditions deteriorated much more quickly than predicted, stating that "conditions overnight