 |
On February 16 1983, CFA was involved in 180 fires throughout
Victoria, eight of which were major fires. This day is
known as Ash Wednesday.
Leading
up to Ash Wednesday there were also large fires in Greenvale
on 8 January and at Macedon on 1 February. On
8 February
there was a large dust storm, which covered large areas
of Victoria.
13 CFA firefighters died during the Ash Wednesday fires.
They represented Panton Hills, Narre Warren, Nar Nar
Goon and Wallacedale
Fire Brigades. A casual firefighter also lost his life on
that day.
Below is
a breakdown of the following townships affected by the Ash
Wednesday Fires.
| Location |
Details of fire |
Losses |
| Cudgee / Ballangeich |
The Cudgee fire started at 1.10pm. A private
power line was suspected of being responsible for the
Cudgee fire.
The Ballangeigh fire started at 2.27pm.
|
- Fatalities: 9
- Area burnt: 50,000 hectares
- Houses: 157
- Other buildings: 715
- Cattle / Sheep: 19,300
|
| East Trentham / Mount Macedon |
The started at 2.22pm. Suspected
cause of the fire was due to power lines arcing when
in contact with trees. |
- Fatalities: 7
- Area burnt: 29,500 hectares
- Houses: 157
- Other buildings: 628
- Cattle / Sheep: 7,700
|
| Otways |
The fire started at 2.56pm in the Dean's Marsh area. |
- Fatalities: 3
- Area burnt: 41,000 hectares
- Houses: 729
- Other buildings: 53
- Cattle / Sheep: 2,782
|
| Belgrave heights / Beaconsfield Upper |
The fire started at 3.24pm. |
- Fatalities: 21
- Area burnt: 9,200 hectares
- Houses and other buildings: 238
- Cattle / Sheep: 97
|
| Monivale (near Hamilton) |
The fire started at 3.39pm. Suspected cause of the
fire was due to clashing power conductors on a private
line. |
- Area burnt: 3,818 hectares
- Houses: 3
- Other buildings: numerous
- Cattle / Sheep: 1,272
|
| Branxholme |
The fire started at 4.30pm. Suspected
cause of the fire is a high voltage power line that snapped
at the
base and fell to the ground.
|
- Fatalities: 1
- Area burnt: 200 hectares
- Houses: 1
- Other buildings: 9
|
| Warburton |
The fire started at 7.20pm. |
- Area burnt: 14,00 hectares
- Houses: 27 (including 14 holiday homes)
- Other buildings: 30
|
| Cockatoo |
The fire started at 7.28pm. |
- Fatalities: 6
- Area burnt: 1,800 hectares
- Houses and other buildings: 307
|
Print
the Ash Wednesday fact sheet (pdf 88k)
Additional
Information about Ash Wednesday
- Severe rainfall deficiencies
during 1982 produced drought conditions throughout Victoria
during 1983
- The ten months between April
1982 and January 1983 were at that time the driest period
on record
- Mid morning
was hot and a dry northerly airflow from South Australia
was strengthen rapidly over Victoria
- In the afternoon a frontal
system continued to intensify and ahead of the firefront
the hot dry airflow continued to strengthen and become
more
turbulent, producing gale force winds, high temperatures,
low humidity and extensive areas of raised dust and smoke
- During February 1983, the weather
was extremely hot. Temperatures were particularly hot on
February 1, 8 and 16 when readings were in excess of 40
degrees
- During the 1982/1983 fire season,
22 total fire ban days were declared
- CFA attended nearly 3,200 fires
during that fire danger period
|
|
