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2009 Black Saturday Bushfire - Coggle Diagram
2009 Black Saturday Bushfire
Key Facts
Frequency- Victoria's bushfire risk in 2018–19 has been modelled to be 69%
Probability- High levels of forest growth in areas across Gippsland have also become dry and may pose a fire risk in the summer rest of the state is at a normal fire state
Duration- 18 days, began on November 8th 2018
Magnitude- 100000w/m2
Scale of spatial impact- 450,000 hectares of land were burned
Causes
the cause for the Black Saturday Bushfire was a fallen power-lines started a blaze in farmland at 11.47 am
general causes for bushfire, can be caused by lightning strikes or people for example unattended campfires, arson etc
Impacts
Economic Impacts
lawsuits in the Supreme Court of Victoria against electricity distribution company SP Ausnet led to a $494 million settlement for the Kinglake fire and a $300 million out-of-court settlement in relation to the Marysville fire
net cost of the Black Saturday Fires was estimated to be $942 million
Environmental Impacts
Areas salvage after the fires had the lowest plant species diversity victoria's endangered state faunal emblem, Leadbeater's possum, was severely impacted in the Black Saturday bushfires they lost 45 per cent of their forest habitat in this single fire
Social Impacts
173 people tragically lost their lives, 414 were injured, more than a million wild and domesticated animals were lost
Human Impacts
accidental fires due to cigarettes
cause- when a lit cigarette or hot ashes from the cigarette are dropped to the floor this causes about 33% of cases
effect- after ignition, wind will carry burning ambers or fan fire to increase and spread further
escaped burn off
cause- burn offs are scheduled burns to remove fuel from certain areas, this is to encourage regrowth and reduce risk of bushfires but some fires may escape as in they get to big to control, or wind changes direction
effect- when fires escaoe this can create a mor intense bushfire that would spread from the location of the burn off
sparks from equipment or powerlines
cause- this occurs due to faulty/damaged equipment, exposure to the elements( current is leaking into the air), or poor installation
effect-these sparks can act as the "fuel" for the start of bushfires as it can ignite the dry vegetation
2 hazard risk management
Community Education
Description of strategy- majority of bushfires stem from people and their actions for instance machinary, campfire, outdoor cooking, children with matches. So a range of information brochures and easily accessible information can also be found online
Did the strategy mitigate this hazard-although this wont bushfires from doing damage it may prevent bushfires from staritng at all, this make people consciously aware of the danger and generally more knowledgeable about the issue
Were people more prepared-educating people gave them insight on preventing this issue and information on what to do and who to call during a bushfire
Statistics/example-
Benefits- protects individual from bushfires as they know how to prevent them and the safety procautions
Cost-there is no set ammount for educating people
Overall evaluation- although education people on an issue may not be able to actually stopping bushfire, but this is good way to provide information for highest chance of survial/safety
Planned burning
Example/statistic-Western Australia between 6 to 8 percent of the forested crown lands have been planned to burn each year
Were people more planned for this hazard-Due to the planned burnings the lowering fire intensity of a bushfire this makes it easier for fire fighters to control the bushfire
Benefits-It protects lives, property, infrastructure and the environment from bushfires due to the fuel reduced areas
Cost-cost of planned burnings estimated cost of $50 million annually to the NSW government and $411 million across Australia
How this strategy mitigates this issue-This mitigates bushfire as in the instance that it creates low intensity burns since the fuel load has been reduced
Description of stategy-Removal of fuel for bushfires, such as leaves, bark, twigs and shrubs from bushfire prone areas
overall evaluation- burn off are effective due to the lack of fuel significantly reduce the chance of a fire starting and if there are ongoing fires that stumble upon a subscribed burnt land the fire would decrease due to no fuel for it to keep burning
