Black Saturday Bushfires video

The Black Saturday fires burned through the state of Victoria on Saturday, 7 February 2009. This day was the worst bushfire-weather conditions ever recorded in Australia with the worst heat wave on record, high winds, and droughtconditions thought to be a one in one thousand year event. The result of Black Saturday Fires was Australia’s highest ever loss of life from a bushfire, (173 people died) with about 120 people being killed by a single firestorm in a three hour period. The towns of Kinglake, Marysville, Narbethong, Strathewen, and Flowerdale were completely destroyed while many other towns suffered serious damage.

The McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index records show that the levels for Black Saturday were higher than the conditions experienced on both Black Friday in 1939 and Ash Wednesday in 1983.