Victoria Australia Wildfire Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

when was the wildfire?

A

early February 2009

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2
Q

what were the fires named?

A

‘black Saturday bushfires’

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3
Q

how bad were the fires compared to previous?

A

country’s all time worst bushfires resulting in largest loss of life

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4
Q

what type of forests is Victoria covered in and why is this bad?

A

eucalyptus forests which have oil rich foliage so easily burns

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5
Q

what is the climate like in Victoria?

A

often periods over 40 degrees Celsius with low humidity and state also suffers from periodic droughts

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6
Q

what is the area susceptible to?

A

high winds which will produce drier conditions and fan flames over large distances

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7
Q

what weather sometimes happens during summer months?

A

lightning strikes

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8
Q

what crosses the state for good reasons but can sometimes create sparks?

A

power cables cross the state but can be brought down in adverse weather producing a spark that can set of a fire. These cables are even in rural areas for the service

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9
Q

what is the problem in rural areas when a fire starts?

A

due to depopulation in recent years there has been a decline in rural services making it difficult to fight fires when started

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10
Q

what weather event happened in February?

A

severe heatwave with hot tropical air blowing over the state

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11
Q

what happened on 7th February morning?

A

hot north westerly winds over 100km/hour hit causing low humidity

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12
Q

what were some of the causes identified for the fires starting?

A
  • lightning strikes
  • sparks from falling cable lines
  • spark from machinery and power tools
  • arson (deliberately started)
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13
Q

how many fatalities were there?

A

173 including one fireman

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14
Q

what property loss occurred?

A
  • over 2,000 houses
  • 1,500 farm buildings
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15
Q

how many people were displaced due to the fires?

A

over 7,000

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16
Q

how much forest loss occurred?

A

over 450,000 hectares were lost

17
Q

what agricultural losses occured?

A
  • lose of livestock
  • loss of standing crops
  • pasture
  • olives
  • stored fodder
  • loss of boundary fencing
18
Q

how many animals did the RSPCA estimate to have perished?

A

over 1 million animals

19
Q

what happened to national parks?

A

large areas of them were destroyed

20
Q

what happened to the states electrical supply?

A

disrupted to over 60,000 residents

21
Q

what happened to empty properties?

A

some were looted

22
Q

how much damage did the fire cause in total?

A

$4.4 billion Australian dollars worth

23
Q

what was introduced in October 2009 and what did it take account?

A

a new fire hazard system was put in place which would forecast a fire danger index each day and on highest risk days people would be advised to leave potentially affected areas.
Took into account:
- temp
- dryness of vegetation
- wind speed
- relative humidity

24
Q

what happened to do with buildings after the event?

A

new building regulations for bush fire prone areas were fast-tracked by government. Government also urged by experts to ban housing in highest risk areas.

25
Q

what did the government receive criticism for?

A

allowing rebuilding in Marysville which had been 90% destroyed during the fires