Posted on 01/11/2020 11:53:11 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Clarification. The 1851 Victoria fires burned out 5 million hectares, HALF what the current fires have burned out. I presume conditions in other states were similar and fires there must have burned a lot of area too. But I don’t know how much.
There are no fires listed here for 1974-75
A chronology of major bushfires in Victoria from 2013 back to 1851
https://www.ffm.vic.gov.au/history-and-incidents/past-bushfires
The most recent on that site are the fires of 2013. It’s about time the Forestry Commission updated their data.
From December 1938 to January 1939, peaked on Friday 13 January – Black Friday. The fires burned 1.5 to 2 million hectares, including 800,000 hectares of protected forest, 600,000 hectares of reserved forest and 4,000 hectares of plantations. They killed 71 people and destroyed more than 650 buildings and the township of Narbethong. The fires affected almost every section of Victoria. Areas hardest hit included Noojee, Woods Point, Omeo, Warrandyte and Yarra Glen. Other areas affected included Warburton, Erica, Rubicon, Dromana, Mansfield, the Otway Ranges and the Grampian Ranges. The findings of the Royal Commission held after the fires were significant in increasing fire awareness and prevention throughout Australia.
Source of graphic
Trends in Bushfire Activity
The following plot shows the major Australia bushfires over the same period of time (100 years) as the five-fold increase in the population of Australia. The data come from Wikipedia’s Bushfires in Australia.
Wikipedia has a list of fires, and it does not align with your chart.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushfires_in_Australia#Major_bushfires_in_Australia
It shows that the 1974/75 fires and the 2002 fires covered more acreage than the current fires.
FROM THE COMMENTS SECTION:
C.S.A. Bakker 11. January 2020 at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Reply
Stephan Pyne, a US professor wrote a book called “Burning Bush; a fire history of Australia”. On the fires of 1974/75 he says that the season was the worst in 30 years. He not only touches on the state of Victoria that saw the worst fires,
and where 4,5 million hectares were lost which was 1/5 of the state.
However, he also claims that overall
about 117 million hectares were burnt, predominantly in the interior
where there were few communities and it was therefore less noticed. He added that the scale of the area affected was largely detected by satellite after the fact .
The total area represented 15 % of the Australian landmass.
I don’t see this raised anywhere yet. However, wouldn’t mind seeing this searched.
~~~~
117 MILLION HECTARES WERE BURNT AND NOBODY NOTICED?
There are no fires listed here for 1974-75>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I suspected as much. Why is he trying to diminish just how serious the situation in Australia truly is?
Today I saw what was supposed to be a candid night time Satellite photo of the entire continent of Australia. It scared me. And I do not scare easily.Then I found out it was faked. There is a lot of false info being spread on the web:
See:
https://observers.france24.com/en/20200107-rescued-koalas-kangaroos-fake-images-australia-fires
Australia: Complicit in undermining the will of the American people, undermining our democracy.
Australia: Complicit in the disappearing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
Choke on the smoke!
I’m guessing that grassfires in the uninhabited Centre and North, which are a regular occurrence, don’t get listed by the Forestry Commission as BUSHFIRES.
The graph appears to have included evidence of lightning-strike fires as picked up after the event by satellites.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushfires_in_Australia#Major_bushfires_in_Australia
So much for post mortem forensic brush fire analysis.
I do not believe Australia has had such a serious situation before. The old timers would have left us stories and songs about it.
They did...
http://ironbarkresources.com/henrylawson/BushFire.html
In 1939, Melbourne was ringed by fires when all the Mountain Ash eucalypts, which can’t tolerate temperatures over 40C died. After the end of WW2 it was decided to harvest the dead trees while the timber was still viable. In the small Gippsland town where my family settled as migrants, there were 8 timber mills established, and one, SAXTONS, in the mountains at Licola.
In 1939 people at Tanjil Bren sheltered underground to no avail, and 12 of them died there. There is a monument...
The drover with whom I rode in the region was at the time of the 1939 fires a young man with vivid memories to share. His generation were not prone to exaggeration, nor did they have the communication facilities we have today, nor the fake news that surrounds us - fostered by the Press which thrives and survives on tragedy and catastrophe. And lies. And futile attempts to shove man-made global warming down our throats...
HIGH COUNTRY HERITAGE:
http://www.highcountryheritage.com.au/fires/names.htm
What kind of nutter might you be?
MILL SWEPT BY HUGE BLAZE MOE, Sunday.-Eight persons, including two women and three children, were killed in a terrific fire in the mountains at Tanjil Bren, 40 miles from Moe, on Friday. Another man, who was seen near the scene of the tragedy on the day of the fire, is believed to have been incinerated. Assisted by rescuers, 37 survivors had to walk over burn- ing logs and up and down steep inclines to cars 11 miles away. Several of them heroically carried the bodies of some of the victims. One man, blinded by smoke, had to be led down the mountainside. The victims were Mr and Mrs B Row- ley and their three children who were burned beyond recognition at their farm and Mr and Mrs A B Saxton who died with Michael Gorey in a dug-out at Sax- tons mill three miles farther on The entire mill and freshly installed plant and a home built at a cost of £ 2 500 only six months ago were burnt to the ground The mill and plant were valued at £10 000 Only a few portions were Insured A stack of timber woith nearly £3 00 Owas reduced to ashes
Survivors accounts of the horrible dark ness than suddenly descended on the mountains and the tragic finding of the bodies indicated the terrible fate of the Rowley family Mrs Rowle} s skeleton was found early j esterday morning standing against a tree near the lonely farm The skeleton of her «lx-months old baby was in her arms Mr Howley was ljing at her feet with his head facing toward her He appeared to have been struck bv flving wood The other two Incinerated children were lying among the ruins of the nouse Refugees from Saxtons mill who dis covered the bodies on theil way to obtain help said that Mrs Rowley had probably run from the hou e ind called to her hus- band who had stated earlier that he would build a dugout in a gully near by The couple would have had little warning of the fire which was driven by a 70-miles an hour gale Mr Row lev probably ran to assist his wife and children and fell at her feet as the flames rushed down on them
How his brother and sister in law were suffocated in a small dugout with Michael Gorey how six men were saved from suffo- cation when a water tank burst above their dugout and how 31 mill hands fought for their lives In another dugout were de- scribed by Mr Jack Saxton one of the proprietors of the mill
Pitch Daikness We were first wai ned of the fire when pitch darkness descended on us Mr Sax- ton said The fire did not come until an hour later Men with lanterns and torches collected tools and geai and buried them in the dugouts The fue laced ovei the hill from Noojee at 70 to 80 miles an hour There was no lush however and ever}thing was carefully piepaied
Thirty one men entered the big dug- out when the flames carne after they had stored large quantities of water and some food Six others went into a Country Roads Board dugout about 200 yards away Meanwhile my brother his wife and Mick Gorey were taking valuable articles from the house and storing them in an- other dugout m which they had decided to stay until the flames passed We all thought that they would be quite safe and the} would have been if the wind had not changed
At 3 p m seveial small flies began and the main hze followed three or four minutes after Mill huts and a stack of 150 000 super ft of timber were attacked I almost simultaneous!} We hung wet I lankete In the front of the dugout where the 31 men were to prevent the smoke and heat from coming in For half an hour the hot wind was blowing into the mouth of the dugout It was so hot that tile men holding the blankets had to be relieved every two minutes Otheis doused them with water and 1 cpt on giving them drinks
At 3 30 pm the wind changed and blew across the dugout for an hour After that conditions improved and the men were able to jump out and back again for a quick breath of air At 5 o clock thty were able to take the screen down Jack Morrison who had come from the North- ern mill not far away nearly collapsed alter he had refused to be relieved at the screen for half an hour The other six men in the Counti} Roads Board dugout were unable to hold the screen because it was too hot They made frantic efforts to smash a water pipe which passed through the dugout but it was too hot and they scorched their hands
They were nearly overcome with the heat when the tank on top of the dug- out was upset and the water seeped through tile sand on to the floor Crawl- ing to the other end of the dugout they burled their faces in the wet earth and were saved When we found my brother he was hing at the mouth of his dugout and the timber had caught fire and fallen on his head His wife and Mick Grey appeared to have been suffocated when they were trying to drag him back The three of them were suffocated After the fire had passed the 37 sur- vivors were Buffering severely from smoke, Mr. Saxton said. A few received slight bums, and all were suffering from smart- ing eyes. Robert Bond was blinded by the smoke, and was admitted to the Moe Hospital later. About 7 p.m. the sur- vivors wandered round the ruins and in- spected the damage. They transferred the bodies to the dugout where the six men had stayed. They found that six horses had been incinerated.
During the fire petrol and oil drums exploded. A loud explosion was heard at one stage, and probably was caused when Mr. Ben Saxton threw some detonators which had been ni his dugout for some time. "Had we not been in one of the best constructed dugouts In Victoria we would all have perished," said Mr. Edward Cot- ter, tally-man at the mill, who was with the party of 31. Mr. Cotter paid a great tribute to the courage of Mr. Jack Morrison for having held the blanket screen for half an hour without relief while others huddled at the other end of the dugout. "About half-way through the fire Mor- rison answered a signal from the dugout 200 yards away, where the six men were, and went to Mr. Ben Saxton's dugout, which was also 200 yards from us in an- other direction," Mr. Cotter said. "The three dugouts form a triangle. We could not dissuade him from going into the terrible heat. The fire had abated considerably at the time. "I went to make sure that the three were dead," Mr. Morrison said, at War- ragul to-day. "I put the fire out and then came back."
Perilous Walk After he had found Trank Walker, who was missing near. Fumina on Friday night, Mr. Eric Saxton began a perilous walk of 20 miles through burning trees to the mill, accompanied by a man named Wyatt. Both men had castor oil dropped into their eyes when they arrived at 10 p.m. They left with six survivors at 5.30 t..m. on Saturday for Moe to send telegrams to relatives and obtain assistance. On a salvaged wireless set they had heard re- ports of their danger broadcast over sta- tion 3ÜL, and they wished to relieve anxiety as soon as possible.
A second party of 20 left with the bodies of Mrs. Saxton and Michael Gorey about 9 a.m. The other 11, some of whom were very ill, waited until 70 volunteers arrived at 5 p.m. to assist them and carry the bodies of Rowley and Mr. Ben Saxton. Four doctors att:nded to the survivors' eyes. Carrying the bodies over burning logs and negotiating steep portions of the blocked roadway, the party had a strenuous trip. Many of the volunteers were ex- hausted, and had to be treated when they | arrived where the cars were waiting 11 miles down. They were then taken through Fumina to Moe, about 40 miles from thei mill. Meanwhile gangs of men had been work- ing all day cutting a passage through the fallen trees. Other gangs were working on the main road, which was impassable, hoping to clear the way to the mill. It took them nearly seven hours to travel four miles. A party which went ahead of the gang was within two miles of the mill, when two men came scrambling through the fallen trees to tell them that the bodies had gone the other way. The men had heard of the approach of this party on a wireless set. Visit Disallowed Police refused to allow the secretary of Fix this text the Timber Workers' Union (Mr. J. Scan- lon) to go to the mill. They offered no explanation. Mr. and Mrs. Saxton had been married for two years. They had been living in their beautiful mountain home, which was made of specially selected timber, for only six months. Mr. Rowley has brothers living in the district. His wife was the daughter of a highly respected Italian family. Her aged father is seriously ill as the result of the shock of his daughter's death. Mr. Gorey, a timber stacker at the mill, was the son of the postmaster at Fumina. The home of the Gorey family was burned to the ground. With great self-sacrifice, many mern-, bers of the rescue parties performed feats of remarkable endurance. Some of them walked with provisions for many miles, and travelled on Saturday as far as 30 miles In difficult and dangerous mountain country.
In the early days of January 1939 one of the greatest natural disasters in Australian history fell on the State of Victoria. Over a period of a week hundreds of fires that had been burning spasmodically across a large part of the State gathered into a series of vast conflagrations that swept the forest areas, destroying homes and surrounding settlements, in some case almost obliterating small townships, and killing seventy-one people. The fires were accompanied by record temperatures and winds that reached velocities estimated at over one hundred miles an hour. They created freak conditions that in turn accentuated the intensity of the flames and the extent of the damage they caused. Men and animals died horrible deaths. Sometimes their bodies were found after the fires had passed, charred beyond recognition; in other cases they died seemingly from suffocation, scarcely marked by the flames. Strange sounds and sights were reported by those caught in the inferno who escaped to tell their stories. Matches burned blue in an atmosphere apparently charged with an excess of carbon-dioxide. Great clouds of flame leaped from hill to hill, driven by windstorms that carried masses of inflammable gas. Dull booming sounds were heard in advance of the walls of flame. Solid metal melted in the heat. When it was all over, large areas of the State presented a grim scene of desolation. Across thousands of square miles the trees stood stark and blackened. The ash from their destruction lay deep on the baked earth. The tall tree-ferns that filled the mountain valleys had simply disappeared, along with all the rest of the vegetation. Fifteen hundred people were left sheltering in camps and temporary homes. Others lay in hospital wards, their limbs and bodies burned by the flames which had surrounded or passed over them. WS Noble (1977)(Frank Noble, a son of WS Noble, has kindly given the FCRPA permission to use his father’s book on this site.)
Seventy-one lives were lost. Sixty-nine mills were burned. Millions of acres of fine forest, of almost incalculable value, were destroyed or badly damaged. Townships were obliterated in a few minutes. Mills, houses, bridges, tramways, machinery, were burned to the ground; men, cattle, horses, sheep, were devoured by the fires or asphyxiated by the scorching debilitated air. Generally, the numerous fires which during December, in many parts of Victoria, had been burning separately, as they do in any summer, either “under control” as it is falsely and dangerously called, or entirely untended, reached the climax of their intensity and joined forces in a devastating confluence of flame on Friday, the 13th of January. LEB Stretton (1939)
https://victoriasforestryheritage.org.au/activities1/fire/major-fires/the-1939-fires.html
Because no one knows where the hell it is.
Then 1974/1975?
Amy stories about the 5x worse than present bush fires?
Crickets right?
I’d say that German climate blogger Snow Fan here of this current data has been debunked in his analysis. Its false.
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