Black Saturday bushfires
Deadly bushfires in Victoria State, Australia, in 2009 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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,[10] with 173 fatalities.[11] Many people were left homeless as a result.
Black Saturday Bushfires | |
---|---|
Date(s) | 7 February – 14 March 2009 |
Location | Victoria, Australia |
Statistics | |
Burned area | 450,000 hectares (1,100,000 acres)[1] |
Land use | Urban/Rural Fringe Areas, Farmland, and Forest Reserves/National Parks |
Impacts | |
Deaths | 173[2][3][4] |
Non-fatal injuries | 414[5] |
Structures destroyed | 3,500+ (2,029 houses) |
Ignition | |
Cause | Various confirmed sources including: |
As many as 400 individual fires were recorded on Saturday 7 February; the day has become widely referred to in Australia as Black Saturday
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."[12]
The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, headed by Justice Bernard Teague, was held in response to the bushfires.