Ash Wednesday

On February 16, 1983, Victoria and South Australia declared a State of Emergency as devastating bushfires swept through areas of the states, ...

With 18 deaths reported in South Australia, the fires were the worst in the State’s history. A number of farming areas were evacuated. Ironically, yesterday also was Ash Wednesday.

Today marks 40 years since the tragic Ash Wednesday bushfires tore through Victoria and South Australia.

"Back then everyone was piling in and hoping for the best, but these days the equipment is so much better, the trucks are so much bigger," Don said. "The driver and fire captain clearly realised we weren't going to make it into town so they hoofed us across to the forestry commission and we got in under the truck with a couple of fog lines to try and keep cool as the fire raced around us." "I could see smoke and the hill was on fire - as I drove to the Lilydale fire station I knew it was going to be a bad day," Don told Today.

South Australia's Country Fire Service has declared Thursday Bushfire Resilience Day to remember and honour lives lost to...

"So many things needed my attention all at once. "Today is a pivotal moment in CFS history, as we pause to reflect on the impact bushfires have had on our community and how far we, as state and as an agency, have come following these devastating events," Mr Loughlin said. CFS Chief Officer Brett Loughlin said a special service would recognise the impact bushfires have had and would continue to have on all South Australians.

Services will be held across the state to honour those killed by the blaze that tore through much of Victoria and into South Australia on February 16, 1983.

“It suddenly became eerily quiet, as a windstorm ripped down from the hills. To learn more about the Ash Wednesday fires, visit cfa.vic.gov.au/about-us/who-weare/major-fires/about-ash-Wednesday. For Don Garlick, Captain of the Wendouree Fire Brigade, Ash Wednesday was the first major incident he attended as a volunteer with the Lilydale Fire Brigade.

South Australia is marking the 40th anniversary of the Ash Wednesday bushfires, one of the most significant natural disasters in Australian history.

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More than 200 people from across the region attended the Surf Coast Shire Council commemorative event during the afternoon, including parliamentarians, ...

"We will never be able to measure the full social, emotional, economic and environmental impact of Ash Wednesday but we do know that the way people responded in many ways shaped and defined our Surf Coast and hinterland communities. "When morning broke to the incredible and heartbreaking reality of a landscape of ash, blackened trees and homes reduced to rubble, a new definition of community spirit was identified across our region," Cr Pattison said. Hundreds of locals have turned out to Aireys Inlet to commemorate and reflect on the Ash Wednesday bushfires, which on Thursday marked its 40th anniversary.

Survivors reflected on brutal experience and loss alongside community strength and recovery during an event marking the 40th anniversary of the Ash ...

“It is so important that we remember what occurred on such an epic scale, and what was lost. Mayor Pattison said Council wanted to acknowledge the significant anniversary with an event which provided a space for people to come together in memory and reflection, and in acknowledgement of the region’s recovery. Sharon Rawlings, of Fairhaven, who grew up at Pennyroyal and reflected on her experience of the emergency and the role her mother Doreen played in Deans Marsh.

Three people on the Surf Coast lost their lives in bushfires on February 16, 1983. Forty-seven Victorians were killed, with another 28 dying in South ...

"Ash Wednesday is just a reminder about what can occur and we need to remain vigilant every day of summer." Mr Cook said while it was a day of remembrance, it also served as a timely reminder. "It's a day of significance for many of our brigades, their communities, the families of those members who tragically lost their lives."

Bill Bubb (left) and Sharon Rawlings. The panellists were disaster recovery psychologist Dr Rob Gordon, captain of the Anglesea Fire Brigade on Ash Wednesday, ...

“At no time [early on] did we see the main front; we were looking at spot fires. “Then all hell let loose; the wind went round…. Shire mayor Liz Pattison said the shire wanted to acknowledge the significant anniversary with an event which provided a space for people to come together in memory and reflection, and in acknowledgement of the region’s recovery.

By Shelby Brooks. When fire ripped through Cockatoo 40 years ago, quick-thinking kindergarten teachers opened their circular building to allow people refuge ...

“The message is to have a plan. We got off the hill and came back to Cockatoo. “Next thing we got a call saying the wind had changed. We decided to make a stand up the hill where there were a few houses,” Graham said. “Traffic was everywhere. “It’s history.

The ferocity of the fires on February 16, 1983, was so severe a state emergency was declared for the first time in the South Australia's history. Former Country ...

"I see some houses and the trees are right over the top of A-frames." "The foliage on Ash Wednesday was miniscule compared to the foliage up here now," Willie said. "I raced over and opened the door and they perished." "I saw a car with a silhouette of an adult and a child," Stewart said. "We got up the top of Yarrabee Road and there was a school bus being unloaded. The ferocity of the fires on February 16, 1983, was so severe a state emergency was declared for the first time in the

Sharyn Vaughan remembers vividly the agony of waiting hours to know whether her parents Don and Phyllis Vaughan...

She liked the things that I got her." I currently work at The Standard in Warrnambool. I was terrified." If you have anything to add to this story please contact me at [email protected] houses razed, livestock destroyed and property damaged," the book states. We didn't have any electricity either so Doreen bought some candles before she took me home." "It was then that I felt very scared. We put wet towels over our head." I found two things for grandma. We didn't have any water so we had to get some from my uncle. Ten people were killed in Victoria's south-west, 1000 buildings razed and more than 20,000 head of livestock destroyed when blazes, fanned by north winds on a 43-degree day, tore through more than 50,000 hectares. Seventy-five people died across both states.

By Tyler Wright. As the deputy officer in the Dandenong Ranges CFA group, Herb Detez was prepared for a challenging high-fire danger day on 16 February 1983 ...

“Mount Morton Road was the fuse that carried that fire all the way down into the southern parts of the area… “I still do not know how I managed to control the fire before it got into Selby, before it got into Kallista or any of those places,” he said. “The most significant thing is a greater awareness in the community of the need for fire prevention,” he said. “The first one was to broadcast the impending arrival of the wind change, which was going to be quite horrific,” Mr Detez said. “That involved trying to keep a track on where vehicles were, to track telephone calls and also to get information on the progress of the fire back to the control at Belgrave.” “They knew that all that the eastern flank from where the fire started until all the way down to Wellington Road was going to become the firefront, and so we were there to control the fire as it developed and as things evacuated.