The Victorian Bushfires (7-8 Feb 2009) (Black Saturday)

On 7 February 2009 as many as 400 fires were recorded across Victoria. Before the fire started heatwaves and extreme heat was felt all over Victoria. There were 78 communities affected, 173 lives lost and 2029 homes destroyed. Twelve major fires and many more minor fires burned over 450,000 hectares of land and affected at least 78 communities. The Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission was established on 16 February 2009 to investigate the causes of and responses to the bushfires with the final report released and published in July 2010. The Insurance Council of Australia estimated the 2009 damage at $1070 million. This major fire was nicked named ‘Black Saturday’ because the fire started early Saturday (07/02/2009). The fires that broke out on Black Saturday spread quickly and soon were out of control and so people had to evacuate and leave their properties. The fire brigade only can maintain the fire and could not stop it completely. The fire spread quickly because of the low rainfall in the months following the fires and the dried eucalyptus provided a good fuel for the fire to spread even quicker than it was expected to.



The sea level pressure on the 7/2/09 1100 am



This is a diagram of the rainfall on the 7/2/09