Black+Saturday+Information

=** BLACK SATURDAY INFORMATION **=

The **Black Saturday bushfires**[|[11]] were a series of [|bushfires] that ignited or were burning across the [|Australian] [|state] of [|Victoria] on and around Saturday 7 February 2009 during extreme bushfire-weather conditions, resulting in Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire.[|[12]] 173 people died as a result of the fires[|[8]][|[13]] and 414 were injured. As many as 400 individual fires were recorded on 7 February. Following the events of 7 February 2009, that date has since been referred to as [|Black Saturday]

The majority of the fires ignited and spread on a day of some of the worst bushfire-weather conditions ever recorded. Temperatures in the mid to high 40s (°C, approx. 110–120°F) and wind speeds in excess of 100 kilometres per hour (62 [|mph]), precipitated by an [|intense heat wave], fanned the fires over large distances and areas, creating several large firestorms and [|pyrocumulus systems], particularly north-east of Melbourne, where a single firestorm accounted for 120 of the 173 deaths. A cool change hit the state in the early evening, bringing with it gale-force south-westerly winds in excess of 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph). This change in wind direction caused the long eastern flanks of the fires to become massive fire fronts that burned with incredible speed and ferocity towards towns that had earlier escaped the fires
 * Conditions **

The fires destroyed over 2,030 houses, 3,500+ structures in total[|[14]] and damaged thousands more. Many towns north-east of the state capital [|Melbourne] were badly damaged or almost completely destroyed, including [|Kinglake], [|Marysville], [|Narbethong], [|Strathewen] and [|Flowerdale].[|[15]][|[16]] Many houses in the towns of [|Steels Creek], [|Humevale], [|Wandong], [|St Andrews], [|Callignee], [|Taggerty] and [|Koornalla] were also destroyed or severely damaged, with several fatalities recorded at each location. The fires affected 78 individual townships in total and displaced an estimated 7,562 people,[|[14]] many of whom sought temporary accommodation, much of it donated in the form of spare rooms, caravans, tents and beds in community relief centres.
 * Effects **

Causes
The majority of the fires were ignited by fallen or clashing power lines or were deliberately lit.[|[4]] Other suspected ignition sources include [|lightning],[|[5]] cigarette butts,[|[17]] and sparks from a power tool.[|[7]] More distantly implicated was a major [|drought] that has persisted for more than a decade, as well as a domestic 50-year warming trend that has been linked to human-induced [|climate change].[|[18]][|[19]] By early-mid March, favourable conditions aided containment efforts and extinguished the fires. [[|edit]] Events of Saturday 7 February Melbourne air temperature on 7 February 2009 and the preceding and following days. 3582 firefighting personnel were deployed across the state on the morning of 7 February in anticipation of the extreme conditions. By mid-morning, hot northwesterly winds in excess of 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) hit the state, accompanied by extremely high temperatures and extremely low humidity. Also a total fire ban for the entire state was declared. As the day progressed, all-time record temperatures were being reached, 46.4 °C (115.5 °F) in Melbourne, the hottest temperature ever recorded in an Australian capital city[|[21]] and humidity levels dropped to as low as 6%. The [|McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index] reached unprecedented levels, ranging from 120 to over 200. This was higher than the fire weather conditions experienced on [|Black Friday] in 1939 and [|Ash Wednesday] in 1983.[|[23]] By midday, windspeeds were reaching their peak and by 12:30pm, powerlines were felled in Kilmore East by the high winds, sparking a bushfire that would later generate extensive [|pyrocumulus] cloud and become the largest, deadliest and most intense firestorm ever experienced in Australia's post-European history. The overwhelming majority of fire activity occurred between midday and 7pm, when windspeed and temperature were at their highest and humidity at its lowest.

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