Along with other natural disasters like tropical cyclones, droughts and
floods,
Australia also suffers from bushfires.
Here are some bushfire pictures,
and some information about some of the bigger bushfires that we
remember.
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Why Do Bush Fires Get so Big in Australia?
Bushfires are natural in Australia. In southern parts of the country,
particularly in Victoria, South Australia and New
South Wales
they happen every year, and they are part of ecosystems in those parts
of the country, where many plant species, including eucalypts, rely on
fire to be able to germinate. With bad combinations of conditions
though, like heat waves which happen in Australia every
year; droughts
and strong winds, every now and again those fires get massive and
destroy a lot of properties and kill people. Fires get also big in
Australia because 70% of Australian forests consist of Eucalypt
trees, and eucalypt leaves contain highly
flammable oils, which feed the fires as the oils in the leaves explode.
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Bad Bushfires in Australia -
Ash
Wednesday Bushfires
This was the deadliest Australian bushfire of the last century, and the
deadliest bushfire in Australian history until 2009. Extreme heat,
winds up to 110km/h and severe drought caused by El Niño that year,
created perfect conditions for more than 180 fires that were raging in
Victoria and South
Australia
on 16 February 1983, killing 75 people, destroying 3,700 buildings and
leaving 2,500 people homeless. Many deaths were caused by sudden
changes in wind directions.
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Bad Bush Fires
-
2003 Canberra Bushfires
This was one of the least deadly bushfires, however large areas were
burnt and lots of wildlife killed. 70% of Australian
Capital Territory
was burned down, including national parks, on 18 January 2003 by 160
fires lighted by lightening strikes. The fires started to come into
suburbs of Canberra,
500 homes were destroyed and four people were killed. The main factor
was the winds that were so strong it was said they could uproot trees.
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Bad Bushfires in Australia
- 2009 Victorian Bushfires
Black Saturday Bushfires in Victoria
on the 7th of February 2009 were the worst ever in Australian history.
173 people were killed, 500 injured, 2,000 homes destroyed, and towns
like Kinglake, Marysville and Flowerdale almost wiped out in as many as
400 different fires.
Black Saturday - February 2009
The Premier of Victoria John Brumby had warned
people on the previous day, saying people should exercise real common
sense as "this was expected to be the worst day of fire conditions in
the history of the state of Victoria". People were prepared for a
bushfire, but not for a fire storm, a fire wall as high as a
four-storey building that moved in 50km/h and destroyed everything that
was in its way. It was because of a bad combination of dry weather
conditions, extreme heat (46°C), and winds exceeding 110km/h.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
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