Bushfires in Victoria

The state of Victoria in Australia has had a long history of catastrophic bushfires.

The most deadly of these, the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 claiming 173 lives. Legislation, planning, management and suppression are the responsibilities of the Victorian State Government

By number of fires

  • Lightning - 26%
  • Deliberate - 25%
  • Agricultural - 16%
  • Campfire - 10%
  • Cigarettes/Matches - 7%
  • Unknown Causes - 6%
  • Misc - 5%
  • Machinery/Exhausts - 3%
  • Planned burn escapes - 2%
  • Public Utilities - 1%

By area burnt

  • Lightning - 46%
  • Public Utilities - 14%
  • Deliberate - 14%
  • Misc - 9%
  • Agricultural - 7%
  • Planned burn escapes - 5%
  • Unknown Causes - 3%
  • Machinery/Exhaust - 2%
  • Campfire - 1%
  • Cigarettes/Matches - less than 1%

Major Victorian Bushfires

Most extensive fires

Deadliest fires

  • 2009 - 7 February - March "Black Saturday" (173 deaths)
  • 1939 - December - January "Black Friday" (71 deaths)
  • 1926 - 14 February - March "Black Sunday" (60 deaths)
  • 1944 - December - February (51 deaths)
  • 1983 - 16 February "Ash Wednesday" (47 in Victoria)
  • 1962 - 14–16 January (33 deaths)
  • 1969 - 8 January (23 deaths)
  • 1942 - Western Victoria (20 deaths)
  • 1905 - 1 December (12 deaths)
  • 1898 - 1 February "Red Tuesday" (12 deaths)
  • 1851 - 6 February "Black Thursday" (12 deaths)
  • 1943 - 22 December (10 deaths)
  • 1952 - January - March, Central Victoria (10 deaths)
  • 1977 - 12 February, Western Victoria (8 deaths)
  • 1965 - 17 January (7 deaths) Longwood, Northern Victoria
  • 1998 - 2 December (5 deaths) Linton, Western Victoria
  • 1985 - 14 January (3 deaths) Avoca, Central Victoria
  • 1997 - 21 January (3 deaths) Dandenong Ranges

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.