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About Black Saturday 2009

The 2009 bushfires in January and February ravaged many parts of Victoria and touched directly and indirectly many millions of people in the State, across Australia and internationally. One hundred and seventy three people died, thousands of homes and other dwellings were destroyed and over 400,000 hectares were burnt.

More than 78 communities across Victoria were directly affected. On 7 February, Black Saturday, Victorian townships including Marysville, Kinglake, Kinglake West, Narbethong, Flowerdale and Strathewen were devastated.

More than 19,000 CFA members were involved in frontline firefighting, incident management and support behind the scenes.

Below is a breakdown of the following townships affected by the Black Saturday Fires.

See Also:

Maps of the 2009 Major Bushfires

List of fires
Location Details of fire Losses
Kilmore East

The fire started at about 11.47am, on top of a rocky hill between two gullies near Saunders Road.

  • People: 119
  • Area (ha): 125,383
  • Houses: 1,242
Horsham (Vectis & Haven) The fire ignited at about 12.20pm; it was a grass fire and in the first hour spread rapidly, covering just over 10 kilometres.
  • People: 0
  • Area (ha): 2,346
  • Houses: 13
Coleraine At about 12.30pm, a fire broke out in a paddock on private farmland about 5 kilometres north-west of the township.
  • People: 0
  • Area (ha): 713
  • Houses: 1
Pomborneit–Weerite The grass fire was relatively short-lived, being active for about five hours on that day but burning over 1,000 hectares. It started at about 1.15pm.
  • People: 0
  • Area (ha): 1008
  • Houses: 0
Churchill The fire started at about 1.32pm, 3 kilometres south-east of the Churchill fire station.
  • People: 11
  • Area (ha): 25,861
  • Houses: 145
Murrindindi The fire started at about 2.55pm, to the north of a sawmill in Wilhelmina Falls Road. It travelled rapidly and by 4.30pm was affecting Narbethong.
  • People: 40
  • Area (ha): 168,542 (Combined area with Kilmore East)
  • Houses: 538
Redesdale The fire was reported at 3.11pm and burned towards the south-east for about 19 kilometres.
  • People: 0
  • Area (ha): 7,086
  • Houses: 14
Narre Warren and Upper Ferntree Gully The fires burned in grass reserves and scrubland, on residential streets, and in homes and gardens.
  • People: 0
  • Area (ha): 163
  • Houses: 7
Bendigo The fire started shortly after 4.00pm in Maiden Gully, 8 kilometres north-west of the central business district.
  • People: 1
  • Area (ha): 341
  • Houses: 58
Beechworth-Mudgegonga Fire in the area began at about 6.00pm and burned fiercely until weather conditions moderated in the early hours of 8 February.
  • People: 2
  • Area (ha) 33,577:
  • Houses: 38

Maps of the 2009 Major Bushfires

Major bushfires occured in late January 2009 and continued until March 2009. Listed below are high and low resolution maps of those major fires.

List of 2009 Major Bushfires Maps
2009 Major Fires Overview 2009 Major Fires Overview A1 - high resolution - pdf large file 2605k
2009 Major Fires Overview A1 - low resolution - pdf large file 824k
2009 Major Fires Overview A3 - pdf 344k
Black Saturday Overview
7 February 2009
7th February 2009 Fires Overview A3 - pdf 267k
2009 Major Fires Individual Fire Maps
Note - not all fires considered significant have individual fire maps at this time
Beechworth-Library Rd Beechworth-Library Rd - high resolution - pdf large file 7980k
Beechworth-Library Rd - low resolution - pdf 378k
Bunyip Bunyip - high resolution - pdf large file 6809k
Bunyip - low resolution - pdf 305k
Churchill Churchill - high resolution - pdf large file 7815k
Churchill - low resolution - pdf 338k
Coleraine Coleraine - high resolution - pdf large file 3049k
Coleraine - low resolution - pdf 236k
Delburn Delburn - high resolution - pdf large file 6135k
Delburn - low resolution - pdf 285k
Harkaway Harkaway - high resolution - pdf large file 2591k
Harkaway - low resolution - pdf 283k
Kilmore East & Murrindindi Kilmore East & Murrindindi - high resolution - pdf large file 3970k
Kilmore East & Murrindindi - low resolution - pdf 609k
Lynbrook Lynbrook - high resolution - pdf large file 3558k
Lynbrook - low resolution - pdf 223k
Lysterfield Lysterfield - high resolution - pdf large file 3729k
Lysterfield - low resolution - pdf 215k
Maiden Gully Maiden Gully - high resolution - pdf large file 5537k
Maiden Gully - low resolution - pdf 331k
Muskvale Muskvale - high resolution - pdf large file 8300k
Muskvale - low resolution - pdf 265k
Redesdale Redesdale - high resolution - pdf large file 5604k
Redesdale - low resolution - pdf 344k
Upper Ferntree Gully Upper Ferntree Gully - high resolution - pdf large file 5050k
Upper Ferntree Gully - low resolution - pdf 217k
Upwey Upwey - high resolution - pdf large file 2409k
Upwey - low resolution - pdf 276k
Vectis Vectis - high resolution - pdf large file 3850k
Vectis - low resolution - pdf 269k
Weerite Weerite - high resolution - pdf large file 4110k
Weerite - low resolution - pdf 233k

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