Ash Wednesday bushfires

The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia in 1983 on 16 February. Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by hot winds of up to 110 km/h (68 mph) caused widespread destruction across the states of Victoria and South Australia. Years of severe drought and extreme weather combined to create one of Australia's worst fire days in a century. The fires were the deadliest in Australian history until the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009.

75 people died as a result of the fires; 47 in Victoria, and 28 in South Australia. This included 14 Country Fire Authority and three Country Fire Service personnel, all 17 were volunteer firefighters. Many fatalities were as a result of firestorm conditions caused by a sudden and violent wind change in the evening which rapidly changed the direction and size of the fire front. The speed and ferocity of the flames, aided by abundant fuels and a landscape immersed in smoke, made fire suppression and containment impossible. In many cases, residents fended for themselves as fires broke communications, cut off escape routes and severed electricity and water supplies. Up to 8,000 people were evacuated in Victoria at the height of the crisis and a state of disaster was declared for the first time in South Australia's history.

A 2001 report found Ash Wednesday to be one of Australia's worst fires. More than 3,700 buildings were destroyed or damaged and 2,545 individuals and families lost their homes. Livestock losses were very high, with more than 340,000 sheep, 18,000 cattle and numerous native animals either dead or later destroyed. A total of 4,540 insurance claims were paid totalling A$176 million with a total estimated cost of well over A$400 million (1983 values) for both states, equivalent to A$1.3 billion in 2007. The emergency saw the largest number of volunteers called to duty from across Australia at the same time—an estimated 130,000 firefighters, defence force personnel, relief workers and support crews.

On Ash Wednesday in 1980 (20 February) during a virtually rainless summer after a very wet spring in 1979, bushfires swept through the Adelaide Hills in South Australia, destroying 51 houses. These fires were referred to as "Ash Wednesday" until the 1983 fires, which became notorious nationwide.^{[citation needed]}

As 1982 came to a close, large areas of eastern Australia lay devastated by a prolonged drought thought to be caused by the El Niño climatic cycle. In many places, rainfall over winter and spring had been as little as half the previous record low in a record dating back to the 1870s and severe water restrictions were imposed in Melbourne in November. On 24 November, the earliest Total Fire Ban in forty years was proclaimed in Victoria. By February 1983, summer rainfall for Victoria was up to 75% less than in previous years. The first week of February was punctuated by intense heat, with record-high temperatures experienced on 1 and 8 February. This combination further destabilised an already volatile fire situation in the forested upland areas surrounding the Victorian and South Australian capitals of Melbourne and Adelaide.^{[citation needed]}

Victorian Government firefighting agencies employed extra staff and organised for extra equipment and aircraft to be ready for firefighting over the summer. The first big bushfire occurred on 25 November 1982 and was followed by large fires on 3 and 13 December 1982. Even before 16 February, fires were already causing destruction in Victoria. An ongoing fire near Cann River in the state's east had been burning uncontrolled for almost a month. Prior to that, a major bushfire on 8 January had taken hold north of Bacchus Marsh in the Wombat State Forest where two Forest Commission workers lost their lives defending Greendale. On 1 February 1983, a fire burnt the north face of Mount Macedon and areas of state forest. Fifty houses were destroyed. These fires were already creating a strain on firefighting resources. In the 1982/83 season, 3500 fires were reported to the Country Fire Authority in Victoria alone.

On 8 February, Melbourne was enveloped by a giant dust storm. The dust cloud was over 300 metres (980 ft) high, 500 kilometres (310 mi) long and was composed of an estimated 50,000 tonnes (49,000 long tons; 55,000 short tons) of topsoil from the drought-ravaged Wimmera and Mallee areas of north-west Victoria. Leading a dry cool change and preceded by record temperatures, the dust storm cut visibility in Melbourne to 100 metres, creating near darkness for almost an hour.

There was also a dust storm in Adelaide on the day of the bushfires.