wildfires on australia’s tasmania island burn 128 homes and force thousands to flee january 4,...

WILDFIRES ON AUSTRALIA’S TASMANIA ISLAND BURN 128 HOMES AND FORCE

THOUSANDS TO FLEE

JANUARY 4, 2013

Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna,

Virginia, USA 

WILDFIRES ON TASMANIA: (TEMPERATURE REACHED 40 DEGREES C)

IMPACT IN TOWN OF DUNALLEY

• A SCHOOL AND A POLICE STATION WERE DESTROYED, ALONG WITH ONE-THIRD OF ALL BUILDINGS.

EVACUATION

• Further south on the Tasmania Peninsula east of Hobart, the capitol, as many as 2,000 people took refuge in the town of Nubeena overnight, while another 700 were sheltered at the nearby historic Port Arthur site.

• Others were ferried to safety.

OTHER WILDFIRES BURNING

• Bushfires are also burning in other parts of Australia, including South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

LABETOUCHE, AUSTRALlA: 93 KM (56 MILES) EAST OF MELBOURNE

IMPACT OF WILDFIRE: 2009

WILDFIRES REACH “CATASTROPHIC LEVEL” IN AUSTRALIA

JANUARY 8, 2013

High temperatures and extreme dryness caused 200 wildfires to

ignite and reach a “CATASTROPHIC LEVEL”

in New South Wales

RECORD TEMPERATURES

• Monday (Jan 7--Australia had its hottest day on record with a nationwide average of 40.33 degrees C (104.59 F).

• Tuesday was the third hottest day at 40.11 C (104.20 F).

• Four of Australia's hottest 10 days on record have been in 2013.

THE GOOD NEWS: Although people are missing, no

deaths reported in Tasmania or New South

Wales (as of January 8)

THE BAD NEWS

• The fires have been most devastating in Tasmania, where at least 128 homes have been destroyed since Friday and more than 80,000 hectares (198,000 acres) burned.

• Hundreds of people remain at two evacuation centers in the state's south.

SOUTH NEW WALES

FIGHTING THE FIRE FROM THE AIR

WILDLIFE IMPACTED

KEEPING A SURVIVOR OF THE FIRE ALIVE

BACKGROUND FOR UNDERSTANDING

AUSTRALIA’S WILDFIRES

AUSTRALIA’S WORST WILDFIRE OUTBREAK

The deadliest wildfires in Australia's history burned people in their homes and cars and wiped out entire

towns173 DEAD; 2000 HOMES

DESTROYED

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE:WORST EVER WILDFIRES IN

AUSTRALIA’S HISTORY

400 FIRES BURNED FOR WEEKSIN VICTORIA STATE

FEBRUARY 2009

Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters

Planet Earth’s atmospheric-lithospheric interactions create favorable conditions for:

Wildfires

SCIENCE OF WILDFIRES

WILDFIRES are conflagrations caused by

lightning discharges (or acts of man) in wilderness areas close enough to one or more urban

interfaces that they threaten people, property, infrastructure, and

business enterprise.

WILDFIRES are conflagrations caused by

lightning discharges (or acts of man) in wilderness areas close enough to one or more urban

interfaces that they threaten people, property, infrastructure, and

business enterprise.

WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS)

• FIRE

• HOT GASES AND SMOKE

• HOT SPOTS

• BURNED OUT SLOPES (with increased susceptibility to insect infestation, erosion, and landslides)

WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS)

• SUNDOWNER WINDS

• SANTA ANNA WINDS

• LOCAL CHANGES IN AIR QUALITY

• LOCAL CHANGES IN WEATHER

YOUR YOUR COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY

YOUR YOUR COMMUNITYCOMMUNITYDATA BASES DATA BASES

AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATIONDATA BASES DATA BASES AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATION

HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS

•WILDFIRE HAZARDS •INVENTORY•VULNERABILITY•LOCATION

RISK ASSESSMENTRISK ASSESSMENT

RISK

ACCEPTABLE RISK

UNACCEPTABLE RISK

RISK REDUCTION FOR RISK REDUCTION FOR WILDFIRESWILDFIRES

•PREVENTION/MITIGATION•PREPAREDNESS•EMERGENCY RESPONSE•RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION• EDUCATIONAL SURGE

POLICY OPTIONSPOLICY OPTIONS

LIGHTNING STRIKES

WILDFIRESWILDFIRES

MANMADE FIRES

PROXIMITY OF URBAN AREA TO THE WILDLAND FIRE

WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION (DAY/NIGHT CHANGES)

DRYNESS

HIGH TEMPERATURES

LOCAL FUEL SUPPLY

CAUSES OF FIRES

CAUSES OF FIRES

DISASTER LABORATORIES

DISASTER LABORATORIES

WILDFIRES CAN CAUSE HIGH-RISK SITUATIONS

People, property, infrastructure, business enterprise, government, natural resources, and the environment are at risk.