Black Saturday bushfires

Quick Facts: Who was Black Saturday bushfires?

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Black Saturday bushfires

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The catastrophic 2009 bushfires in Victoria, resulting in Australia's highest-ever fire death toll.

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2Day Chrono-Wiki & Primary Historical Archives

Origins & Early Life

The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday, 7 February 2009, and was 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 without families 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.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

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 43 °C (109 °F), with the temperature peaking at 45.1 °C (113.2 °F) 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.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

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". 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 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) hit the state, accompanied by extremely high temperatures and extremely low humidity; a total fire ban was declared for the entire state of Victoria.

Chronological Milestones & Life Events

1. 1859: 1859 Milestone — The February fires commenced on a day when several localities across the state, including Melbourne, recorded their highest temperatures since records began in 1859.
2. 2009: 2009 Milestone — The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday, 7 February 2009, and was one of Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Black Saturday bushfires

True or False: “The Black Saturday bushfires were primarily caused by a single, massive lightning strike across Victoria.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): While lightning contributed to some fires, the deadliest firestorm on February 7th was ignited by an incorrectly rigged mains power cable.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Aage Bohr — Historical peer (Died in 2009) (2009): Pioneering Danish nuclear physicist, Nobel laureate for atomic structure theory.
• Abdurrahman Wahid — Historical peer (Died in 2009) (2009): Influential Indonesian politician, Islamic leader, and fourth President known for pluralism.
• A. E. Housman — Historical peer (Born in 1859) (1859): English classicist and poet, renowned for his scholarship and melancholic verse.
• Aleksandr Popov (physicist) — Historical peer (Born in 1859) (1859): Pioneering Russian physicist credited with early radio receiving technology.

Frequently Asked Questions about Black Saturday bushfires