Black Saturday - Victorian Bushfires
Black Saturday's Tragedy
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of devastating bushfires that raged across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday 7 February 2009. .
The fires occurred during extreme bushfire-weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire.
173 people died and 414 were injured as a result.
Temperatures in the mid- to high 40 degrees Celsius (approx. 110-120 °F), and wind speeds in excess of 100 km/h (62 mph), precipitated by an intense heat wave, and almost two months of little or no rain, fanned the fires over large distances and areas..
As many as 400 individual fires were recorded, which were largely sparked from fallen power lines and embers from existing fires burning.
Following the events of 7 February 2009 and its aftermath, that day has become widely referred to as Black Saturday.
My Story
My Vivid Memories
The sweltering summer of 2009 was absolutely terrifying for me personally.
I am a proud Australian, I live in Melbourne and luckily was not directly affected by the fires.
But, I will never forget they way I felt when I found out about the devastation.
I was home with my two young children, with my air conditioner struggling to keep us cool in the 48 degree heat and I had caught the breaking news on my muted television. All I could see was raging fires and that the town Marysville was written on the screen.
Marysville is such a beautiful picturesque town and from the mere thought of fires raging through it, bought instant tears to my eyes.
I rummaged down the side of my couch for my now missing remote to un-mute the tv, thinking how good it was that my unaware Children were happily playing in another room.
Standing in front of the television, tears rolling, witnessing total devastation only 40 minutes drive from me, I was terrified for my Father who lived in the mountains only about 20 minutes drive from other separate fires burning our gorgeous land nearby.
I went into my bedroom, turned on my clock radio and tuned into our local radio station.
I needed to be more informed about the happenings in my Dad's local area, all the while, only to find out, that there was now a raging fire only 3 minutes drive from me.
With the force of our winds, this could quickly be very threatening to us!
Very aware that I live in a built up suburban area and the fire won't travel as fast as in the mountainous areas, I was able to keep calm.
I stepped outside into the thick heat of the day, to judge the direction of the powerful winds and it was wildly blowing in the complete opposite direction to our house. I called my husband who was at work and he had just gotten off the phone to his cousin.
His cousins', cousin in law, who lives 3 minutes away from me, was faced with the un-imaginable.
The fire was in her street, on the opposite side of the road, behind the houses is an empty paddock of dry, drought stricken long grass. The fire took with it, so luckily, her front garden only, but the nasty Black Saturday fires destroyed six houses in her street.
This fire was put out by our local CFA (Country Fire Authority) before it could create any more heartache.
But.....our beautiful state was on fire and eventually, in it's path of destruction, destroyed 78 individual townships in total and displaced an estimated 7562 people.
This fire was very small in comparison to what the CFA were to deal with over the next few days.
FireStorm
Black Saturdays Tragedy
This book reveals real life stories of heroism, duty, care, survival, selflessness, gutsy life and death decisions and incredible photographs of Black Saturday, 7th February 2009
Hard case cover with dust jacket
240 colour pages
Large format (297 x 237mm)
Professional design and print
Fascinating feature pages
Covers all Black Saturday fires
Gripping stories and first hand accounts
Before, during and after photos
Informative statistics
Fire in Narre Warren South 7th of February 2009 - 3 minutes from where I live
CLIMATE CHANGE?!?
An exceptional heatwave affected southeastern Australia one week prior. From 28-30 January, Melbourne broke records by sweltering through three consecutive days above 43 °C (109 °F), peaking at 45.1 °C (113.2 °F) on 30 January, the third hottest day in our city's history.
It was claimed that 950 local parks, 70 national parks and reserves, and over 600 cultural sites and historic places were impacted or destroyed
Photos and video of some of the devastation throughout Victoria - Please note that some images can be disturbing for some, but nothing graphic.
Song - Arms Wide Open
Artist - Creed
The RSPCA estimated that over a million animals perished in the bushfires
Red Cross to the rescue
Over 500,000 people made donations and corporate Australia as well as governments raised over $220 million.
Not to mention the numerous volunteers who worked around the clock to help those affected by the bushfires.
More than 1,000 Red Cross people worked in relief and recovery centres. They were registering the names of people who were safe so that worried families and friends would know that they were ok.
Red Cross Volunteers also provided comfort and support, ensuring people had a place to sleep and plenty to eat.
The community spirit that emerged in response to the bushfires was overwhelming.
More than $210 million has been donated to an appeal fund established by the State and Federal Governments in partnership with Red Cross.
Bruno's Art and Sculpture Gallery
Just so beautiful....and now is only a memory.
My Family and I visited Bruno's Art and Sculpture Gallery in Marysville, about 2 years prior to the bushfires.
These beautifully manicured and decorated bushland gardens were so awe inspiring to visit, it just took your breath away!
It really saddens me to this day how this whole amazing garden and majority of the original artifacts were destroyed by the fires on February 7th 2009.
Three years after Black Saturday
