Wells Geo: El Nino Fact Sheet

The Black Saturday Bush fires were a series of bush fires which occurred in Victoria on & around 7th February 2009. The Kingslake area was hit the hardest with 120 deaths & more then 1,200 homes destroyed. The location of the fires were widespread, they weren’t situated in one area they were spread across the state making the job of emergency service crew very difficult.

The weather patterns which make a bush fire are usually dry hot conditions often associated with drought. El Nino effects the weather patterns of Australia causing wet conditions to turn into pro-longed drought periods and scorching temperature. Bush fires also count on the humidity being low and that most natural vegetation is stone dry.

A staggering fact is that 94% of bush fires are started by humans: arson, camp fires, power lines, mechanical tools & spot fires which get out of hand and cigarette buts being thrown away.

Winds also contribute as to how devastating a bush fire is. If the winds are strong and the direction of the wind is towards a town it is likely the fire will travel in that direction and destroy the town. The winds pro-pell the fire onwards with some fire balls reaching 120 kmh

The estimated total damage bill of the Black Saturday bush fires was estimated to be at $ 5 billion dollars.

The Black Saturday Bush Fires effected all levels of government. At the local level, they were mainly in charge of making sure people got evacuated and that volunteers were counted for. The State Government was involved in tracking and maintaing the warnings for the bush fire to the public. Premier John Brumby was giving hourly updates to the public briefing on the extent of damage and the tragic fatalities caused by the fires. At the national level, the government was involved in providing Australian Defence Force personnel to help with the clean up and resurrection of towns. They were also involved in communicating to foreign powers who offered their expert fire fighters to help deal with the devastating fires.

There were 173 tragic deaths resulting from the bush fires and another 400 + people injured in many ways.

The emergency services in my opinion responded well, the volunteer fire fighters were risking their own lives to save properties of people they had never met before. However there have been many inquires into the effectiveness of the response by the emergency services. Many people who were in charge of the emergency response co-ordination have had to step down due to allegations they were responsible for the slow reaction of emergency services. However overall the emergency services tried their best and risked their lives to save lives & homes of people they didn’t know, this show true courage & bravery.

Wells Geo