The Australian bushfires of 2009 were in Victoria. They’re often called the Black Saturday bushfires because they blackened the sky with their smoke. A total of one hundred and seventy-three people died from these bushfires, and four hundred and fourteen others were injured. This is Australia’s highest loss in a bushfire incident. The events happened on February 7, 2009. Over one hundred separate fires were reported due to extremely dry conditions in the bushes.
The week beforehand, a large heat wave came across Australia. A peak temperature of 113.2 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded that week. That quickly dried out the bushes, and made it easy to ignite. People were warned to be careful about what they did because fires could be started very easily the next day and well, it didn’t take much.