Black Saturday Bushfires of Australia (2009)
In Victoria, the Southernmost region of Australia, one of the most lethal fires in the country's history scorched the surface during the late summer of 2009. Over 400 fires burned to create a massive fire complex that affected 78 communities in the form of fatality and property damage (AIDR, 2014). Those communities that were affected most significantly included Beechworth, Bunyip, Churchill, Kinglake, Narre Warren, and Redesdale, all of which were either included in or reside nearby a national park or reserve (AIDR, 2014). As one of the deadliest, most damaging, and most expensive wildfire complexes the country has ever experienced, it only increases curiosity of how these fires will continue to grow and get worse at climate change continues to impact the planet.
Image 1. This image shows an Australian fire vehicle racing away from smoke and flames in Northeastern Victoria (The Advertiser).
On February 7th, 2009, a fire complex arguably worse than the infamous Ash Wednesday fires of Australia's past ignited the landscape. Leading up to Saturday the 7th, the country had been experiencing an intense and widespread heatwave, producing fuel that had been allowed 2 months to heat and dry out. This heatwave included some of the hottest days Australia had experienced at that point in time, as well (National Museum of Australia, 2020). As the sun rose on the morning of the 7th, north westerly winds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour covered the state with hot and dry air from central Australia. While the wind helped create the conditions for the "perfect fire" to ignite, it also forced powerlines to collapse that actually sparked the flame (National Museum of Australia, 2020). This fire of origin from Kilmore finally blew its way across the freeway just before 2 p.m., and moved Southeast to encompass the remaining victim communities of the bushfires. Before 7 p.m., over 400 fires were inflamed (National Museum of Australia, 2020). Many of these fires even saw instances of flames soaring 20 to 30 meters high (National Museum of Australia, 2020). Directly or indirectly, 173 Australians lost their lives during this period, and over 2,000 homes were completely destroyed (AIDR, 2014). Human casualty and property loss were extremely widespread during this summer, but many wildlife experts in Australia estimated that wildlife loss was even more disastrous. Going off of basic assumptions and predictions, experts estimate that over a million individual animals may have died, as well. Some of these include organisms that reside within the boundaries of state, national, or wild sanctuaries, reserves, or parks (Encyclopedia Brittanica, 2009).
Image 2. This map displays an area of reference for where the occurrence of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires took place (Encyclopedia Brittanica).
To battle the seemingly endless fires that scoured the state, the Australian government deployed over 19,000 County Fire Authority personnel in either incident control, or other various roles (AIDR, 2014). By the end of February, over $30 million was allocated by the Australian Government Disaster Recovery, including payments of $10,000 to bereaved families, $7,500 to the severely injured, and $5,000 to those who lost homes (AIDR, 2014). By April, Australia also received $379 million from a bushfire appeal fund established by the Victorian and Commonwealth Governments in collaboration with the Australian Red Cross (AIDR, 2014). The Insurance Council of Australia calculated the cost of damages in Victoria reached $1,070,000,000 by the end of 2009, but eventually creeped up higher all the way to $1,266,000,000 by the end of 2011 (AIDR, 2014). The state government issued the State Health Emergency Response Plan was activated at 8:00 a.m. on the morning of February 7th. This emergency response plan was set into place to plan, mitigate, pre-deploy essential resources, and utilize other agencies (Cameron, 2009). While the Australian government pleaded that they did everything in their power to prevent, mitigate, and recover, a Royal Commission assigned to investigate the governmental emergency response was savagely critical of Victoria's response agencies. The report indicated that warnings given out to at-risk communities were either severely inadequate or even non-existent. Warnings were failed to be issued by those responsible, communities were alerted and left their homes to only see fires at their front steps, poor decision making all led to the confusion and chaos that was the result (Stewart, 2009). This report also distinguished that of the 173 humans that lost their lives, 113 of them died in their homes that were deemed "undefendable from fire" (Stewart, 2009). If the preparation and response to the fires themselves went extremely poorly, so would be that of the recovery. Hospitals were completely unprepared and inept to handle the amount of burn patients or other victims during a period of declared heat/fire emergency by the Australian government. The Alfred Emergency and Trauma Center (E&TC), a major hospital in Victoria, had 3 emergency physicians, two advanced trainees in medicine, two hospital medical officers, and one intern on duty. There were also 17 nurses on staff, 8 of which being effectively trained in critical care and only 3 with expertise in burns and intensive care (Cameron, 2009). Overall, it is believed that the medical response to the bushfires were "acute" at best (Cameron, 2009).
Image 3. This image shows the results of a forest affected by the bushfires of 2009 in Victoria (BBC News).
Personally, it is seemingly simple and easy to see where the Australian government fell short on their emergency response. Officials responsible for notification of warnings were not good enough or able to do their jobs and were never held liable, the government as a whole acted extremely lacklusterly, and the hospitals that were closest to the events were incredibly unprepared to handle a natural disaster that is becoming ever so increasingly common in Australia.
Sources:
Black Saturday bushfires. (2020, September 09). Retrieved November 28, 2020, from https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/black-saturday-bushfires
Black Saturday: The bushfire disaster that shook Australia. (2019, February 07). Retrieved November 30, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47038202
Bushfire - Black Saturday, Victoria, 2009: Australian Disaster Resilience Knowledge Hub. (2014). Retrieved November 30, 2020, from https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/bushfire-black- saturday-victoria-2009/
Cameron, P. (2009, July 06). Black Saturday: The immediate impact of the February 2009 bushfires in Victoria, Australia. Retrieved November 30, 2020, from https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2009/191/1/black-saturday-immediate-impact-february-2009- bushfires-victoria-australia
Stewart, C. (2009). The Australian "Black Saturday" Bushfires of 2009. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/the-australian-black-saturday-bushfires- of-2009
Victoria Remembers Black Saturday devestation. (2020). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/victoria-remembers-black-saturday- devastation/video/7d2d89b4b075ffff6dcfebc22329bb31
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