The most devastating bush fire event in history. The wind didn't let up. 173 people died with about 120 people being killed by a single firestorm considered by experts to be the perfect firestorm. Melbourne had seen no rain for 35 days—its equal second-longest dry spell on record. Our meteorologists worked closely with emergency managers on Black Saturday, and in the days leading up to it—as they do during and prior to all severe weather events. It didn't take long for Black Saturday's weather to establish itself. The dryness of the landscape is one factor that influences fire danger. An intense cool change later in the day was due to bring relief from the heat, but the wind associated with it would be extremely powerful—and where fires were burning, hugely hazardous. However, unless the old hollow-bearing trees are present in those younger forests, Leadbeater’s possum will not be present. Salvage logging operations move in quickly after fires to recover timber resources before they decay. Where the Black Saturday bushfires burnt and killed stands of old growth mountain ash forests, like the east side of the protected O’Shannassay water catchment, Leadbeater’s possum habitat will be recovering. Future fires in Victoria’s mountain ash forests are inevitable, and likely to be more frequent and higher intensity due to climate change.
By 5 pm, gusts to 115 km/h were recorded at Mt William and Mt Gellibrand, and gusts over 90 km/h were occurring in a number of other places. The 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria caused widespread devastation and the greatest loss of life from fire since colonisation. The loss of hollow-bearing trees was also very significant, with many areas now having no remaining hollow trees. keep your comments on topic and succinct; say why you disagree or agree with someone; comment constructively—in a way that adds value to the discussion. After the fires, most bird species declined significantly.
Zoom in and out using the slider or your scroll mouse. Black Saturday dawned in an extreme heatwave, part of a longstanding and severe drought. On February 7, 2009, a powerline fault in north-eastern Victoria sparked a devastating blaze that engulfed townships and left 119 people dead in hours. This had a catastrophic impact on the fires. The red arrow shows the direction of the wind before the change and the blue arrow shows its direction after the change. They caused the deaths of 173 people and many more suffered the loss of their homes, with entire communities and huge areas of forest ravaged by flames. An all-time Victorian record was set at Hopetoun, in the northwest, where the temperature reached 48.8 °C. The most devastating bush fire event in history. Only flame robins were found to have a positive response immediately after the fires as they are able to take advantage of the influx of insects into fire effected areas.
Map: Rainfall for the 12 years preceding Black Saturday was the lowest on record for large parts of Victoria. The Bushfires History website details major bushfires in Victoria’s history, including the Black Saturday fire (2009), Ash Wednesday fires (1983), and Black Friday fires (1939). The extensive salvage logging operations that took place in the burnt forests for the three years after Black Saturday did widespread damage. The long-term lack of rain was reinforced by very dry weeks leading up to the Black Saturday. In the northeast it had weakened and reached Wangaratta, but it didn't extend to greater altitudes in the alps.
But in the post-fire condition, the new regeneration is highly vulnerable.
A total of 173 people died in the fires and 2029 houses were lost. This image shows the extent of smoke cover over Victoria and even as far a way as New Zealand, some 2162 kilometres (1343 miles) away. (ABC), Black Saturday: The bushfire disaster that shook Australia (BBC), 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission Final Report.
There were two 'pulses' of exceptional high temperatures (28–31 January and 6–8 February). Temperatures were already near 40 °C in many places and relative humidity was below 20 percent. Commenting is available via a Facebook plugin, which can only be accessed by those with Facebook accounts. Over 2,030 houses and 3,500 structures were destroyed with …
A number of locations around Melbourne (including Preston and Ballarat), set new January records for low rainfall. With meteorological records more often broken by tenths of a degree, this was a huge leap from the previous record of 47.2°C (Mildura, 1939). As a ‘hollow-dependent’ species, that relies on the presence of large old trees with hollows for nesting and protection from predators (owls), they have a complex relationship with fire in their habitat. On Black Saturday it took less than five.
The history of large fires in these forests (including major fires in 1851, 1926, 1939, 1983 and 2009), coupled with extensive industrial clearfell logging over many decades, has resulted in a dramatic decrease in old growth mountain ash forest in Victoria. It is time the Victorian Government values the social, economic and environmental values of our amazing mountain ash forests as water catchments, carbon storage, ecosystems, cultural heritage, tourism opportunities and recreation potential. They clear large areas of forest and destroy natural seedling regeneration with a second fire event post-logging.
Melbourne had seen no rain for 35 days—its equal second-longest dry spell on record. Historically, its estimated that old growth comprised 30-60 per cent of the ecosystem, but now there is only 1.16 per cent left. Contact our social media team at socialmedia@bom.gov.au, Social > Remembering Black Saturday: the extraordinary weather behind Victoria's 2009 bushfires. Stimulated by the fire and the opening up of the forest to light, a new generation of eucalypt and wattle trees have sprung up and are already nearly 20 metres tall. View Larger Map. Premier John Brumby warned that this would be, 'the worst day in the history of the state', with conditions even worse than those that preceded the terrible fires of Ash Wednesday (1983) and Black Friday (1939). This was remarkable heat, with many records set for high day- and night-time temperatures as well as for the duration of the heat. They have more eucalypt seedlings come up after fire, and the ferns and tree ferns recover quickly, benefitting from the increase light due to the loss of tree canopy.
After the fires, most bird species declined significantly. Red lines on a fire perimeter map turning into black lines Saturday symbolized progress was made in containing the Mullen Fire burning about 40 … Creating the Great Forest National Park would support the protection of all of these values to the benefit of all Victorians. This history of disturbance has been recognized by the IUCN Red List with their listing of the mountain ash ecosystem as critically endangered. These were the ideal conditions for hot air from the tropics to be directed to the south. Across this long-term dry landscape rolled a long, blistering heatwave.
They lost 45 per cent of their forest habitat in this single fire event. The extensive salvage logging operations that took place in the burnt forests for the three years after Black Saturday did widespread damage to the regenerating forests, with the localized losses of many species. The reason for the heat was the combined effect of three meteorological features happening at once: a slow-moving high pressure system in the Tasman Sea, an intense tropical low off the northwest coast of Western Australia and an active monsoon in the north. This is an arial view that shows the devastation that was left after the black saturday bush fires. Temperatures in between those dates were slightly lower near the coast, but still very high inland. Victoria’s critically endangered state faunal emblem, Leadbeater’s possum, was severely impacted in the Black Saturday bushfires.
The Black Saturday fires caused Australia’s highest ever loss of life from a bush-fire event.
Did you like reading this article? Google Map of Victoria above. Interestingly, the two most common species of small mammals, agile antechinus and bush rats, recovered after the fire within two generations. Thunderstorms formed with the change as it rolled through, but also in the smoke plumes above fires east and northeast of Melbourne. The heatwave culminated in record high temperatures across most (more than 87 per cent) of Victoria on 7 February, before the high in the Tasman Sea moved away the next day. Long-term ecological research in the mountain ash forests, led by Professor David Lindenmayer and his team at the Australian National University (ANU), monitored these forests for 25 years before Black Saturday, and has continued in the ten years since.
To have a chance of preserving Victoria’s mountain ash forests, and the myriad of plants and animals that rely on them, we must protect all large old trees from avoidable impacts. The northwesterly wind ahead of the change drove fires ahead of it, and the southwesterly wind behind the change hit those relatively long and narrow bands of flame broadside on, opening up massively wide fire fronts on their eastern flanks that moved at terrifying speed. By 11 pm the change had moved out of Victoria in far east Gippsland. However, due to climate change, the interval between fires is decreasing, and with the added impact of over a century of logging, the forests are now younger and more vulnerable than they have ever been. There was very strong to gale-force wind all day on Black Saturday, both ahead of the change and behind it. Geelong (47.4 °C) and Wilsons Promontory (42 °C) were among long-term sites that broke all-time records which had been set only the previous week. Eight other sites, in the Mallee, Wimmera and in the area immediately west of Melbourne, also broke records. However, this particular change moved unusually quickly. In Melbourne, winds had become light and variable, and temperatures rose slightly again—not what you’d usually see at that time of night and after this type of change. That is not to say it must be old growth; they are actually most commonly found in younger regrowth forest. Racehorses tear up Belfast Coastal Reserve.
Over 2,030 houses and 3,500 structures were destroyed with thousands more suffering damage. Click on the mouse and move to pan north, south, east, or west. Google Map of Victoria above. Fire danger remained extreme (it didn’t drop until up to an hour after the change in parts of central Victoria). Old growth areas of mountain ash forests have the greatest abundance of hollow-bearing trees which are a critical habitat resource for many species of possums, gliders and forest birds. However, unless the old hollow-bearing trees are present in those younger forests, Leadbeater’s possum will not be present. Find out more here. Users are fully responsible for the content they submit.
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