Bushfires have accounted for over 800 deaths in Australia since 1851 and the total accumulated cost is estimated at $1.6 billion. In terms of monetary cost however, they rate behind the damage caused by drought, severe storms, hail, and cyclones perhaps because they most commonly occur outside highly populated urban areas.
Australia’s worst ever recorded natural disaster was a Bushfire, the Victorian Black Saturday Bushfires in 2009, where 173 people lost their lives.
Some of the most severe Australian bushfires, in chronological order, (source Wikipedia) have included:
| Fire | Location | Area burned 1 ha ≈ 2.5 acres |
Date | Human Deaths | Properties damaged |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Thursday bushfires | Victoria, Australia | ≈ 5 million hectares (ha) | 6 February 1851 | about 12 | 1 million sheep; thousands of cattle |
| Red Tuesday bushfires | Victoria | 260,000 ha | 1 February 1898 | 12 | 2,000 buildings |
| 1926 bushfires | Victoria | February – March 1926 | 60 | 1000 | |
| Black Friday bushfires | Victoria | 2 million ha | December 1938 – January 1939, peaking 13 January 1939 | 71 | 3,700 |
| 1944 Bushfires | Victoria | 1 million ha estimated | 14 January – 14 February 1944 | 15–20 | more than 500 houses |
| 1951-2 Bushfires | Victoria | Summer 1951–52 | at least 10 | ||
| Black Sunday Bushfires | South Australia | 2 January 1955 | 2 | ||
| 1961 Western Australian bushfires | Western Australia | 1,800,000 ha | January–March 1961 | 0 | 160 homes |
| 1962 bushfires | Victoria | 14–16 January 1962 | 32 | 450 houses | |
| Southern Highlands bushfires | New South Wales | 5–14 March 1965 | 3 | 59 homes | |
| Tasmanian “Black Tuesday” bushfires | Tasmania | Approximately 264,000 ha | 7 February 1967 | 62 | 1,293 homes |
| Dandenong Ranges Bushfire | Victoria | 1,920 ha | 19 February 1968 | 53 homes 10 other buildings | |
| 1969 bushfires | Victoria | 8 January 1969 | 23 | 230 houses | |
| Western Districts Bushfires | Victoria | 103,000 ha | 12 February 1977 | 4 | 116 houses, 340 Buildings |
| 1978 Western Australian Bushfires | Western Australia | 114,000 ha | 4 April 1978 | 2 | 6 buildings (drop in wind in early evening is said to have saved the towns of Donnybrook, Boyup Brook, Manjimup, and Bridgetown.) |
| 1979 Sydney bushfires | Sydney, and Region NSW | December 1979 | 5 | 28 homes destroyed, 20 homes damaged | |
| 1980 Waterfall bushfire | Waterfall, NSW | >1 million ha | 3 November 1980 | 5 firefighters | 14 homes |
| Ash Wednesday bushfires | South Australia and Victoria | 418,000 ha | 16 February 1983 | 75 | about 2,400 houses |
| Central Victoria Bushfires | Victoria | 50,800 ha | 14 January 1985 | 3 | 180+ houses |
| Sydney Hills District and Central Coast Bushfires | New South Wales | 16 October 1991 | 2 | 14 houses | |
| 1994 Eastern seaboard fires | New South Wales | ≈400,000 ha | 27 December 1993 – 16 January 1994 | 4 | 225 homes |
| Wooroloo Bushfire | Western Australia | 10,500 ha | 8 January 1997 | 0 | 16 homes |
| Dandenongs bushfire | Victoria | 400 | 21 January 1997 | 3 | 41 homes |
| Lithgow bushfire | New South Wales | 2 December 1997 | 2 | ||
| Perth and SW Region bushfires | Western Australia | 23,000 ha | 2 December 1997 | 2 (21 injuries) | 1 home lost |
| Linton bushfire | Victoria | 2 December 1998 | 5 | ||
| Black Christmas | New South Wales | 300,000 ha | 25 December 2001 – 2002 | 0 | 121 homes |
| 2003 Canberra bushfires | Canberra,Australian Capital Territory | 160,000 ha | 18–22 January 2003 | 4 | almost 500 homes |
| 2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires | Victoria | over 1.3 million ha | 8 January – 8 March 2003 | 3 | 41 homes |
| Tenterden | Western Australia | December 2003 | 2 | (2,110,000 ha of forest burnt during the 2002–2003 bushfire season in the S/W of WA) | |
| Eyre Peninsula bushfire | South Australia | 145,000 ha | 10–12 January 2005 | 9 | 93 homes |
| 2006 Central Coast bushfire | Central Coast, New South Wales | New Years Day, 2006 | |||
| Jail Break Inn Fire | Junee, New South Wales | 30,000 ha | New Years Day 2006 | 0 | Livestock losses estimated to be over 20,000. Seven homes, sevenheaders and four shearing sheds destroyed. 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) of fencing damaged. |
| 2005 Victorian bushfires | Victoria | 160,000 ha | December 2005 – January 2006 | 4 | 57 houses, 359 farm buildings, 65,000 stock losses, fires occurred in the Stawell, Moondarra, Anakie, Yea, and Kinglake regions |
| 2006 Grampians Bushfire | Victoria | 184,000 | January 2006 | 2 | A total of 57 houses, more than 350 other buildings were destroyed. |
| Pulletop bushfire | Wagga Wagga, New South Wales | 9,000 | 6 February 2006 | 0 | 2,500 sheep and 6 cattle killed, 3 vehicles and 2 hay sheds destroyed as well as 50 km of fencing. |
| 2006–07 Eastern Victoria Great Divide bushfires | Victoria | 1,200,000 – 1,300,000 ha | 1 December 2006 – 6 February 2007 | 1 | 51 homes |
| Dwellingup bushfire | Western Australia | 12,000 ha | 4 February 2007 | 0 | 16 |
| Kangaroo Island Bushfires | South Australia | 95,000 ha | 6–14 December 2007 | 1 | |
| Boorabbin National Park | Western Australia | 40,000 ha | 30 December 2007 | 3 | Powerlines and Great Eastern Highway, forced to close for 2 weeks |
| Black Saturday bushfires | Victoria | 450,000+ ha | 7 February 2009 –14 March 2009 | 173 | 2,029+ houses, 2,000 other structures |
| Toodyay Bushfire | Western Australia | 3,000+ ha | 29 December 2009 | 0 | 38 |
| Lake Clifton Bushfire | Western Australia | 2,000+ ha | 11 January 2011 | 0 | 10 homes destroyed |
| Roleystone Kelmscott Bushfire | Western Australia | 1,500+ ha | 6–8 February 2011 | 0 | 72 homes destroyed, 32 damaged, Buckingham Bridge on Brookton Highway collapsed and closed for 3 weeks whilst a temporary bridge was constructed and opened a month after the fires |
| Margaret River Bushfire | Western Australia | 4,000 ha | 24 November 2011 | 0 | 34 homes destroyed including the historic Wallcliffe House |
| Tasmanian Bushfires | Tasmania | 20,000+ ha | 4 January 2013 | 1 | At least 170 buildings |
| Warrumbungle Bushfire | New South Wales | 54,000 ha | 18 January 2013 | 0 | At least 53 homes, 118 sheds, agricultural machinery and livestock. Infrastructure destroyed at Siding Spring Observatory. |
| 2013 New South Wales bushfires | New South Wales | 100,000+ ha | 16 October – November 2013 | 2 | As of 19 October 2013 at least 248 buildings destroyed statewide (inc. 208 dwellings), another 109 damaged in Springwood, Winmalee andYellow Rock
Major fires also occurred in the Hunter, Central Coast, Macarthur andPort Stephens regions causing significant damage. |
| 2014 Parkerville bushfire | Western Australia | 386 ha | 12 January 2014 | 1 | 56 Homes |
| 2014 Grampians Bushfire | Victoria | 51800 ha | 17 January 2014 | 1 | Fire so intense it created a 12 km-wide convection column, generating its own weather and lightning strikes |