There are two instances that can be considered the worst bushfires in Australia, in terms of the number of lives lost. The worst Australian bushfire ignited way back in 1939. On 13 January of 1939, a Friday, there were a series of bushfires that spread across the state of Victoria. The fires were devastating, consuming in their wake millions of hectares of vegetation and destroying the flora and fauna of those lands, besides also ending up with the deaths of 71 people. That date is set in Australian memory as Back Friday, owing to the devastation that happened on that one single day. Another such instance of a major bushfire was the series of fires that raged again in Victoria, and also South Australia, in the year 1983. In that year, on February 16, about a hundred fires sparked off, ending again in the deaths of 69 people and also consumption of the flora and fauna of thousands of hectares of land. That day is known as Ash Wednesday.
In both the instances, the raging natural furnaces were fanned by strong winds, a common trait associated with bushfires. The Ash Wednesday fires were triggered by sparks from electricity lines and also man-made fires that were not stomped out. In all, the Ash Wednesday fires raged across over 400,000 hectares of land, and caused over $450 million worth of damage to property.
In both the instances, the raging natural furnaces were fanned by strong winds, a common trait associated with bushfires. The Ash Wednesday fires were triggered by sparks from electricity lines and also man-made fires that were not stomped out. In all, the Ash Wednesday fires raged across over 400,000 hectares of land, and caused over $450 million worth of damage to property.
