Fires in Australia
Fires in Australia
9 February 2009
Victoria has witnessed this country’s greatest natural disaster. Worse than Black Friday. Worse than Ash Wednesday. That is the grim sum of a catastrophe that already exceeds all others and which threatens to grow worse.
The towns of Kinglake and Marysville have been wiped out and around the state more people have died than in any previous natural catastrophe.
Satellite images showing extremely intensive wildfires burning in NE of Melbourne, Victoria, on 7 February 2009:
Source: MODIS
This NOAA-15 satellite image shows the convective activity of the Victoria wildfire, similar to the MODIS scene (left)
Overview maps on fire locations and incident status:
State Summary Overview of 9 February 2009, 0130 hrs
Source: http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/
Beechworth Complex Media Map, 9 February 2009
Source: http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/
Kinglake Complex Media Map, 9 February 2009
Source: http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/
The current situation in Australia is covered by a number of detailed reports (see GFMC Media web page):
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Australia’s Deadliest Bushfire Kills 108 (published by planetark.org, 9 February 2009)
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Australian wildfire ferocity linked to climate change: experts (published by www.google.com, 9 February 2009)
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Australia bushfire survivors tell of escaping fire from hell (published by www.google.com, 9 February 2009)
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We’re ready to help bushfire victims: insurers (published by www.abc.net.au, 9 February 2009)
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Federal MPs united over Vic bushfires (published by news.smh.com.au, 9 February 2009)
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‘Day of savagery’ prompts questions about bushfire warnings (published by www.abc.net.au, 9 February 2009)
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Social media rush as Victorian bushfires rage (published by www.theage.com.au, 9 February 2009)
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Police taskforce to hunt arsonists, fears bushfire toll may double (published by www.theage.com.au, 9 February 2009)
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Australian government assistance for Victorian bush fires (published by www.reliefweb.int, 8 February 2009)
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Australia’s worst bushfire disaster (published by www.abc.net.au, 8 February 2009)
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A history of fatal Australian bushfires (published by www.theaustralian.news.com.au, 8 February 2009)
Video coverage of the Australia fires of February 2009:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/horror-as-inferno-rages/2009/02/08/1234027822979.html
Further Information on the Fire Situation in Australia:
SA Country Fire Service http://www.cfs.org.au/ Near-Real Time Wildland Fire Monitoring https://gfmc.online/current/au_ciro.htm Current weather situation, forecasts, fireweather http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/tas/ Further Information Australian and New Zealand links Background information Recent Media Highlights on Fire, Policies, and Politics
