Black Saturday

 On December 2008, a drought started in the Australian state of Victoria. The drought lasted throughout December and into January on the next year. On February 7 2009, temperatures soared.

Many fires were ignited. The firefighters hoped for a cool breeze from the ocean. It came that afternoon, but instead of helping the firefighters, it fanned the flames and made fires spread at running speed under 120 kph winds. Fires jumped containment lines and spotting occurred over 30 kilometres ahead of the main fronts.

One particular fire, a fire that started east of Kilmore, killed 120 people and engulfed three towns.

In another place a firefighter was killed when a burnt out tree fell on top of him. Firefighters from all over Australia, New Zealand and the USA came to help stop the fires. The fires were so ferocious that some of them continued deep into March.

What caused these fires? Many fires were created when power lines failed in high winds. Some fires were carefully controlled burns that had gone out of control and one fire could have been started by a cigarette butt. Some other fires may have been caused by arsonists. A man was arrested when residents saw him start a grass fire.

By the time all the fires had stopped burning, 1.1 million acres were burnt. Many roads were closed and the town of Marysville was completely destroyed. The town is still in the process of recovery. Smaller towns, like Kinglake, were also destroyed.

After the fires, Victoria slowly recovered. The hundreds of local businesses destroyed were replaced. Building codes changed and fire plans were made. Many of the towns, however, never came back to what they used to be. On 14 March 2009, the last fire was extinguished. The fires would be something most of the survivors would never forget.