Case Study- Black Saturday
1. When was the Black Saturday Bushfires?
7 February 2009
2. What weather conditions impacted/ intensified the fires?
Temperatures reached 46 degrees Celsius with winds in excess of 100km per hour. Leading up to the disastrous conditions was 2 months of extremely low rainfall and hot dry conditions
3. Where were the fires?
Victoria, Australia
4. How many fires where there?
400
5. What were some of the impacts of the fire?
The Black Saturday Bushfires killed 173 people, injured 414 people, destroyed 2,100 homes and displaced 7,562 people.
120 people were killed by a single fire in the Kinglake Area alone.
It is estimated the energy released by the Black Saturday Bushfires, was the equivalent of 1,500 Hiroshima atomic bombs. In total 1,100,000 acres were burnt.
On the morning of 7th of February, 3,582 firefighters were put on standby for the predicted weather conditions, with over 5,000 firefighters in total used to fight the fires. These firefighters came from over Australia, New Zealand and the United States. 1 Australian firefighter was killed when a burnt out tree fell on him
7 February 2009
2. What weather conditions impacted/ intensified the fires?
Temperatures reached 46 degrees Celsius with winds in excess of 100km per hour. Leading up to the disastrous conditions was 2 months of extremely low rainfall and hot dry conditions
3. Where were the fires?
Victoria, Australia
4. How many fires where there?
400
5. What were some of the impacts of the fire?
The Black Saturday Bushfires killed 173 people, injured 414 people, destroyed 2,100 homes and displaced 7,562 people.
120 people were killed by a single fire in the Kinglake Area alone.
It is estimated the energy released by the Black Saturday Bushfires, was the equivalent of 1,500 Hiroshima atomic bombs. In total 1,100,000 acres were burnt.
On the morning of 7th of February, 3,582 firefighters were put on standby for the predicted weather conditions, with over 5,000 firefighters in total used to fight the fires. These firefighters came from over Australia, New Zealand and the United States. 1 Australian firefighter was killed when a burnt out tree fell on him