Around 50,000 firefighters were involved in battling the 1983 fires in the United States. This massive effort also included personnel from various agencies, volunteers, and support teams.
Yes, the tragic fires of 16th February 1983 in South Australia and Victoria coincided with the Christian observance of Ash Wednesday.
Up until 2009, the deadliest and most destructive Australian bushfires were the January 1939 "Black Friday" fires which decimated entire towns in minutes and killed 71 people. The "Ash Wednesday" fires in February 1983, which blazed from Adelaide and right across Victoria, killed 72 people and burnt out 5 million hectares burnt out. Over 2 thousand homes destroyed, several townships wiped out and 750 farms affected. The "Ash Wednesday" fires resulted in major legislative changes governing where and how people could build houses outside the metropolitan areas. Even more destructive were the "Black Saturday" bushfires that started on 7 February 2009 and ultimately killed over 200 people in different parts of the state of Victoria. These were caused by a combination of extended extreme temperatures, arson and electrical power pole faults.
1. The February 2009 "Black Saturday" bushfires in Victoria which, to date, have reached a death toll of 210. 2. The February 1983 "Ash Wednesday" bushfires had a combined death toll of 75 for South Australia and Victoria. 3. The January 1939 "Black Friday" bushfires in Victoria, which saw 71 deaths. 4. The January 2005 bushfires on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, which claimed 9 lives.
Ramadan in 1983 began on the evening of Friday, April 22nd and ended on the evening of Saturday, May 21st.
Bushfires in Australia are very common during summer. However, bushfires like the massive Black Saturday fires across Victoria in February 2009, which killed almost 200 people, only occur every few decades. Prior to Black Saturday, the worst fires were Ash Wednedsay (1983) and Black Friday (1939). In between, there have been some deadly bushfires that killed a smaller number of people (Canberra 2003; Eyre Peninsula 2005). In other years, many areas may be threatened by bushfires, particularly in the south and over in Western Australia, leading to huge property losses.
According to official reports, around 5,000 people were injured during the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983.
After MASH - 1983 The Recovery Room 2-6 was released on: USA: 30 October 1984
Yes, the tragic fires of 16th February 1983 in South Australia and Victoria coincided with the Christian observance of Ash Wednesday.
2ooo homes were destroyed
2ooo homes were destroyed
The Ash Wednesday bushfires, which occurred in Australia's summer in 1983, killed a total of 75 people. This included 47 people in Victoria, among them seventeen volunteer firefighters, and another 28 people in South Australia.
Newton's Apple - 1983 Magnets Forest Fires Night Blindness Chat Lynx 6-12 was released on: USA: 31 December 1988
lit fires and other causes that were not identified. The causes of the Ash Wednesday fires include sparks caused by clashing of electricity power lines, tree branches connecting with power lines, deliberately
Both the 1983 and 2009 fires - * occured during a period of extended drought * during extreme weather conditions * after a period of relatively fire free years * spread rapidly due to spotting from gale force winds * had large fires link up to make huge fires * were in largely inaccessible areas to vehicles * caused extensive loss of life and property * destroyed entire communities * were relieved within weeks by a change to cooler weather and some rain * were considered to be the worst ever at the time * resulted in Royal Commissions The 1983 Ash Wednesday fires - * were spread over a much wider area of southeastern Australia * had the advantage of a better prepared and more mobile fire fighting force than the 1939 Black Friday fires The 2009 Black Saturday fires - * were more focussed within 200 km of Melbourne * killed many more people * had technological advantages not available in 1983 such as mobile phones and the Elvis fire fighting helicopters * had the advantage of the 1983 fires to change attitudes * as a result of the Ash Wednesday fires, had more mobile and better trained fire fighters than previously * had the advantage of the Ash Wednesday Royal Commission to prevent a recurrence of the same mistakes, to improve practices and laws, and to revolutionise the issuing of building permits and materials Something that I hope will brought to the fore during the upcoming Royal Commission into the Black Saturday fires, is the interference of Green Groups in fire prevention and fuel reduction activities that would otherwise have been carried out by the responsible authorities and, why the various Municipalities failed to restrict building permits in accordance with the findings and recommendations of the Ash Wednesday Royal Commission.
George Brett.
The Chemical People - 1983 TV was released on: USA: 2 November 1983
There were many fires in the bushfire tragedy that became known as "Ash Wednesday" in Victoria and South Australia in February 1983. Therefore, there was no single cause. Factors which contributed to the fires were arson, lightning strikes, and strong wind gusts which caused electrical wires to clash (or the branches of trees to hit the wires), sparking bushfires.