By James K 6M

BLACK SATURDAY BUSHFIRES

What Happened On Black Saturday?

• On the 8th of February 2009 God and Arsonists made the decision to burn up the Northern and Eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

THE OUTCOME OF BLACK SATURDAY

• In Black Saturday about four hundred thousand hectares and forty five thousand kilometres were burned in the Black Saturday bushfires. The fire killed one hundred and seventy three people and over five thousand animals died.

• One fire fighter died while fighting the fires because a burning tree fell on him. Also over two thousand homes were destroyed in the fire as one fire alone at Kinglake killed One hundred and eight people. They were buried in a graveyard in Kinglake.

• Eleven died by the smoke, four died in cars and sixty four died in their homes. It was the sixth most deadly fire in the world as the worst was a fire in America in 1872 killed one thousand and thirty two people.

• Black Saturday was the second worst ever Australian Disaster as The floods in Queensland (Cyclone Yasi) was the worst killing thirty five people but causing way more damage than Black Saturday.

• One fire could have been prevented as it was caused by a faulty power line. The electric company (SP AusNet) was sued because of this fire. The royal commission sued the company for a faulty power line that caused the big Kinglake fire that killed 110 people. After this the Victorian Parliament released new laws to do with fire fighters as they introduced a new fire danger called the catastrophic fire danger. This means that a fire is almost certain to occur and the people have to evacuate .

• A fire in Churchill was started by Brendon Stokaluk as he admitted to it six months ago. Brendon Stokaluk said he might have caused the fire that caused by the light of a cigarette. He said he threw it out of the window and it hit a tree. This caused the tree to light on fire and spread all over the suburb. The police arrested him and took him to court as he was jailed for eleven years.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF BLACK SATURDAY

• After the fire people decided to either rebuild or go somewhere else so they wouldn’t be affected by bushfires again. There was a new way of knowing if there is a fire near your area as instead of the state government calling you they now sent you a text message.

• The catastrophic fire level as I said means that a fire is almost certain to occur was introduced for disaster days. The Parliament thought this was a good idea introducing these fire levels and laws as we haven’t seen a dangerous bushfire since. Another law is that if you live in a forest you have to have a bushfire plan and kit. These are basically kits that have survival thing in it to help you survive a bushfire. Some of the things are bandages and food.

• The Victorian parliament changed a lot of laws that I mentioned before. After the fire, so far people have donated over 350 million dollars to the CFA. The queen has also donated 5 million dollars. You can donate at the Australian Red Cross Appeal.

• Other consequences were that some Melbournians didn’t like these laws and others being changed. This is a quote from a man called Bob Brown “Global warming is predicted to make this sort of event happen laws won’t change it” They thought that it would cost a lot of money for a bushfire kit. Others though they didn’t need one because they live in a city or somewhere where bushfires never occur.

• Another consequence was that people in Melbourne were in danger of losing water as their dams were only 21% full. During the times of Black Saturday the people of Melbourne they needed to drink lots of water and eat lot of cold things ice cream etc. Putting a jug of water in the fridge was also a good idea as the water you got form tap was normally hot. When Black Saturday occurred the fire fighters didn’t fight the fire as hard as they do now because they were in a drought.

• Pools and other watery things also made Black Saturday easier as it cooled you of. Some people would spend up to 7 hours a day in the pool just to beat the heat. (They would get wrinkles.) People had shower for only two minutes just to save water.

• During that time people were building this machine called the Desalination Plant that takes water from the sea and cleans it to fresh drinking water. It wasn’t ready at that point of time (2009) but in August 2012 the machine was working but wasn’t needed as Melbourne has a lot of water. There dams were 67% full as currently there 81% full.

• I think the decision of the arsonists and how they burned up the mountain areas of Melbourne is a bad idea. I think this because people died and their houses burned down. It was in my opinion clearly a bad decision. Luckily one of these arsonists has paid for his actions by being arrested and put in jail for eleven years. If I was the arsonist I would have NEVER lighted any fire and if I could change the decision I would have walked away and not light anything.

• I wouldn’t live in bushfire area because I am putting myself at risk in the summer as I might get burned etc. Where I live it’s not really that hot but a bushfire occurred 2 weeks ago in Epping. I remember when we went to Kinglake after the fires and the trees were all black and I saw Brocken houses. That day it was a bit hot so me and my little brother where scared if a bushfire would occur. Luckily we survived.

GLOSSARY JAMES 6M 2013

A. Arsonists. These are the type of people that cause Black Saturday• B. Bushfires. This is what was in the Black Saturday fires for many reasons.• C.Consequences. Black Saturday’s Bushfires had a lot of major consequences

in Melbourne.• D. Decision. They made lots of decisions in the law after Black Saturday’s

Bushfires.• E. Endangered Animals. Black Saturday caused lots of endangered animals to

die.• F. Flame. Flames caused fires in spots. These are called spot fires.• G. Government. This is the person that changed all the bushfire laws in

Melbourne.• H. Heat. Major heat was a big problem in Black Saturday as people where hot.• I. Ignited. Arsonists ignited the fires with matches and other random fire things.• J. Joke. Arsonists lit the fires because they thought it would be a funny joke.• K. Kimberly. One fire was started in the Kimberly region.• L. Laws. New laws where introduced after the big fires in Black Saturday• M. Melbourne. Some fires occurred in the Victorian capital city called

Melbourne.• N. National. News about Black Saturday was National worldwide.• O. Opinion. People had their own opinion about Black Saturday.• P. Planes. Planes where used for dropping water bombs to stop the fires.• Q. Questioned. Some people questioned the new laws to do with bushfires.• R. Reflection. I did a reflection on Black Saturday • S. Saturday. Black Saturday occurred on a Saturday in February 2009.• T. Trees. Lots of trees were burned in Black Saturday• U. Under. People hid under lakes to survive Black Saturday• V. Vaseline. People wore this to not get infected in Black Saturday• W. Water. Water was used to stop the burning fires• X. X-ray. Doctors used X-rays to make sure peoples bones where not burned or

Brocken on Black Saturday.• Y. You. Where you affected by Black Saturday?• Z. Zoo. A zoo donated to the Black Saturday funds.

K. Kimberly. One fire was started in the Kimberly region.• L. Laws. New laws where introduced after the big fires in Black Saturday• M. Melbourne. Some fires occurred in the Victorian capital city called Melbourne.• N. National. News about Black Saturday was National worldwide.• O. Opinion. People had their own opinion about Black Saturday.• P. Planes. Planes where used for dropping water bombs to stop the fires.• Q. Questioned. Some people questioned the new laws to do with bushfires.• R. Reflection. I did a reflection on Black Saturday • S. Saturday. Black Saturday occurred on a Saturday in February 2009.• T. Trees. Lots of trees were burned in Black Saturday• U. Under. People hid under lakes to survive Black Saturday• V. Vaseline. People wore this to not get infected in Black Saturday• W. Water. Water was used to stop the burning fires• X. X-ray. Doctors used X-rays to make sure peoples bones where not burned or Brocken on Black Saturday.• Y. You. Where you affected by Black Saturday?• Z. Zoo. A zoo donated to the Black Saturday funds.

• X. X-ray. Doctors used X-rays to make sure peoples bones where not burned or Brocken on Black Saturday.

• Y. You. Where you affected by Black Saturday?

• Z. Zoo. A zoo donated to the Black Saturday funds.

Thanks For Listening

By James K 6M