7 February – lessons from two historic fires

7 February is the anniversary of two significant bushfires that have shaped Australian emergency management. 

2009 was Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires. 173 people were killed, more than 2,000 homes were destroyed, and communities in the affected areas were changed forever. In the immediate aftermath, our predecessor the Bushfire CRC conducted detailed research, providing all fire and land management agencies in Australia with an independent analysis of the factors surrounding the fires. The research considered which fires were ordinary or extreme and which were extraordinary; that is, exhibiting fire behaviour outside known experience. Three research teams looked at the impacts of a selected sample of fires in order to gain a broader understanding of all the fires.

More than 1,300 homes were assessed, over 600 residents interviewed and more than 21,000 photographs recorded. Teams examined fire behaviour, human behaviour/community safety and infrastructure and planning, with the researchers comprising expertise in building analysis, human behaviour, community education, bushfire behaviour, fire weather and fire investigation.

Find all the reports about Black Saturday at www.bushfirecrc.com/research/vicfires-taskforce

Fifty years ago today was Tasmania’s Black Tuesday, which at the time were Australia’s worst bushfires. In just five hours 62 people would lose their lives, as 100 separate fires ravaged Tasmania, destroying 1,293 homes. These fires came within two kilometres of central Hobart, killing 20 people and destroying 432 houses.

The documentary Black Tuesday – 1967 Tasmania bushfires relates the incredible stories of the fires, developed by the Bushfire CRC in 2005 with the support of the Tasmania Fire Service. You can watch the documentary in full below, which recounts four people's experience on that day, including a then 14 year old boy, John Gledhill, who went on the become the Chief Fire Officer of the Tasmania Fire Service, and also a Bushfire CRC board member and President of AFAC.