Victoria Australia Wildfires 2019

Question 1

Background info? (Dates, cause, weather/rainfall)

Answer 1

• fires lasted from October 2019 to March 2020
• caused by lightening strike in Gospers mountain with 91,000 strikes in area on 25th December
• Australia’s hottest year on record (2019) with rainfall 40% below average
• Antecedent conditions due to Indian Ocean Dipole causing dry conditions over Australia

Question 2

Primary impacts? (Deaths, area burned, homes destroyed, CO2 emitted, smoke)

Answer 2

• 34 people killed
• 19 million hectares including 800,000 of protected forest burnt
• 2,779 homes destroyed
• 300 million tonnes of CO2 emitted
• smoke spread 11,000km to Chili and Argentina

Question 3

Secondary impacts? (Costs, tourism, climate change, air levels)

Answer 3

• cost around $110 billion
• cost tourism industry over $1 billion
• positive feedback of climate change
• air levels were hazardous to human health and cause respiratory issues
  E.g. in some areas, air quality sensors detected PM2.5 levels exceeding the 95th percentile of historical daily mean concentrations

Question 4

Short term responses? (Evacuation, aircraft, firefighters)

Answer 4

• mandatory evacuation with 65,000 people displaced
• fleet of 160 aircraft including DC10 air tankers that drop 35000 litres in 8 seconds
• 3000 fire fighters deployed daily

Question 5

Long term responses? (Recovery fund (BS and National) rebuilding)

Answer 5

• $2.2 billion made available for National recovery fund
• $276 million made available for black summer bushfire recovery
• slow recovery process as in East Gippsland only 44 houses rebuilt out of 380 that were destroyed
• 2 years on from black summer fires, 15% of houses rebuilt in Victoria