How many people can get killed in a bushfire?

Answer 1

Bushfires are fast and intense, and can engulf whole towns very quickly. As a result, dozens can be killed in a town at any one time. For example, the Victorian "Black Saturday" bushfires which began on 7 February 2009 killed a known total of 173 people - Australia's worst ever bushfire toll to date.

Answer 2

Given that hundreds of bushfires occur in Australia every year, the most common death toll is zero. It is rare for any bushfire to be as devastating as those which hit Victoria in 2009. There have been two previous catastrophic bushfire events in Australia - 1939 and 1984 - which killed 71 and 75 people, respectively. Other major bushfires have killed between 4 and 9 people, but these have mostly occurred sonce the turn of the century, thanks to new "green" legislation which has rendered land clearing illegal.