On Feb. 16, 1983, southern Australia burned with a fury few had seen before.
On a day that became known as Ash Wednesday, more than 180 bushfires raged across the Adelaide Hills, the state’s southeast and through regional Victoria, claiming 75 lives, including 17 firefighters.
In Victoria 2800 homes were destroyed and in South Australia (SA), 383 were razed during firestorm conditions fanned by sudden wind shifts, with the speed and ferocity of the flames engorged by abundant fuel loads.
At the time, the fires were the deadliest in Australian history, though that dubious honour has since passed to the Black Saturday fires across Victoria in 2009 which claimed 173 lives.
Forty years have passed since Ash Wednesday but for those who were directly impacted, the memories remain vivid.
Remembering his own time battling the fire at Cockatoo, east of Melbourne, where six people died, former Country Fire Authority brigade captain Graham Simpson said the day was “horrendous”.
“We knew it was going to be a bad day, an ugly day for firefighters. It was a very windy day, it was hot. Hot and windy,” Simpson said.
“I had only been appointed captain three months prior - I had a baptism of fire.”
Simpson said he still thought about Ash Wednesday every day.
“The destruction of lives, the loss of fellow firefighters - I think about it all,” Simpson said.
“It is important to mark these anniversaries. This is a very important part of Victoria’s history.”
AAP reporters working in the Adelaide Hills near the small town of Cary Gulley witnessed Country Fire Service (CFS) volunteers tackle an advancing front. Without warning nearby towering gums exploded into flames. Fireballs from the blaze had ignited the trees.
What had seemed like a relatively safe vantage point, turned into a more threatening situation. Some residents lost their homes, all their possessions, pets, their farms and businesses.
Some stood their ground and prevailed.
In terms of the conditions, Ash Wednesday was a perfect storm.
In the period leading up to the fires there had been very little rain and much of southern Australia was tinder dry and ready to burn.
But most critical was the weather at the time. Strong northerly winds which initially fanned the fires shifted to blow with equal strength from the southwest, producing enormous fire fronts, in some cases kilometres wide.
This wind shift turned what were manageable emergencies into raging firestorms.
There were other issues too. Some people who died misunderstood warning messages while many properties were not properly prepared.
Emergency services were inadequately resourced and equipped to combat what they were faced with.
While a subsequent investigation in SA found that communications were a major issue for the fire, police and ambulance crews.
Current Chief Officer Brett Loughlin said Ash Wednesday was a “pivotal moment” for SA and the CFS, “leading to the formation of the agency we know today”.
“Ash Wednesday taught us the importance of public information, incident management and better use of aircraft, combined with a razor-sharp focus on firefighter safety through better equipment and training,” Loughlin told AAP.
“There is always the potential of another fire to the scale of Ash Wednesday, however limiting the loss of life and property caused by these sorts of catastrophic events is at the heart of what we do.”
The CFS has designated Feb. 16 Bushfire Resilience Day, with a service to be held to honour those who lost their lives in all fires, recognise the strength of those who recovered from disaster and to encourage positive actions that build greater bushfire resilience.
In Victoria, a memorial service will be held at the Bushfire Education Centre in Cockatoo on Feb. 12, the former kindergarten where 200 people sought refuge in 1983.
Simpson will be there and said it was important to remember that day.
“Because it can happen again,” Simpson said.
