Ash Wednesday fires

This article is about the Australian natural disaster. For other uses of this term, see Ash Wednesday (disambiguation).

The Ash Wednesday fires were an Australian natural disaster which occurred on February 16, 1983. The fires affected much of Victoria, including the Dandenong Ranges, as well as the Otway Ranges in the south west. They also affected much of South Australia, mainly the Adelaide Hills, but also the Clare Valley and the pine forests of the state's south east. The Ash Wednesday fires are widely considered the worst bushfire disaster in Australia's history.

The fire was so severe that firefighters were unable to stop it, and the fire only came to an end when it reached the ocean on Victoria's south coast. Melbourne was encircled by fires and remained covered in smoke for weeks, requiring drivers to use their headlights in the city during the day time. Outer metropolitan areas of both Melbourne and Adelaide were threatened, particularly those suburbs located towards the Dandenongs in Melbourne. The smoke reached as far north as Batemans Bay, New South Wales. Much of Mount Macedon to the north west of Melbourne was devastated.

Prior to these events south eastern Australia had experienced a prolonged drought caused by the El Niño climate events. Another precipitating factor was an ongoing fire in eastern Victoria that went uncontrolled for almost a month.

The human loss was 75 lives: 47 in Victoria and 28 in South Australia. In the Dandenong Ranges, 17 firefighters also lost their lives while they were fighting the fires, on account of an abrupt change in wind direction. The Ash Wednesday fires were unusual in other ways too—a mattress was seen flying out of control in the Otways. 2,545 individuals and families lost their homes. At the height of the blaze there were reports that fire fronts moved faster than 100kmh^-1.[1]

The total land burnt was approximately 2,100km² (518,921 acres) in Victoria and 2,080km² (513,979 acres) in South Australia. The summer bushfires of 1982/1983 razed approximately 5,200 km² (1,284,000 acres).

In Victoria many fires were thought to have been caused by sparks between shorting power lines and or tree branches connecting with power lines. A systematic review of fire safety was undertaken: areas were cleared under high tension pylons and local domestic lines considered to be at risk were replaced with insulated 3 phase supply lines.

Areas affected in Victoria

Area/Town	Size (ha)	Fatalities	Buildings destroyed
Cudgee & Ballangeich	50,000	9	872
East Trentham & Mount Macedon	29,500	7	628
Otway Ranges	41,000	3	782
Belgrave Heights & Upper Beaconsfield	9,200	21	238
Cockatoo	1,800	6	307
Moniaive	3,181	0	many (total not known)
Branxholme	200	1	10
Warburton	40,000	0	57

Source: Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment

In South Australia, an inquest into the fires found that the communication systems used by the Country Fire Service were inadequate, and as a result, the Government radio network was installed (although this didn't happen until almost 20 years later)

See also

*List of disasters in Australia by death toll
*Country Fire Service (South Australia)
*Country Fire Authority (Victoria)
*Mount Lofty (South Australia, location of one of the SA fires)

External links

*An inquiry about the specific fire weather event.
*Further information from the Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment
*Photographs of Ash Wednesday from the Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment