Infamous Wildland Fires around the World By Calendar Date Compiled by Bill Gabbert Revised July 2, 2013 This is a partial list, by date of the year, of some of the more famous, or infamous, multiple fatality wildland fires around the world over the last 150 years. It is not intended to be a complete list of every fatality fire. We began compiling the information in January, 2006 from many different sources, and we assume no responsibility for its accuracy. The list also includes a few non-fatality fires that have historical significance which affected wildland fire policy and practices. Aviation accidents are not covered in this list. There are several purposes of doing the research and compiling this list by calendar date. It is hoped that individuals and organizations involved in fire, especially wildland fire, will mark these dates on a calendar. If you are holding a safety meeting, conference, or any other gathering of firefighters near one of these dates, consider making a brief mention of the historical event. It just may stir the interest in some, to the point of reading the reports, and, learning lessons—the easy way, and not the tragic way. By having these wildland fires on a calendar, the lessons learned from even a 150 year old fire will be less likely to be forgotten. An unforgotten lesson learned may save the life of a current or future firefighter. The laws of physics that determined fire behavior 150 years ago are still in effect today. Fire is not, as some people like to call it, a “dragon” or a “beast” that cannot be understood and must be defeated. It is a physical process that can be studied—and even managed. If enough data, situational awareness, education, and experience are available, fire behavior can be predicted and understood, at least to a degree. In some cases little information could be found about these fires on the Internet. No doubt formal reports exist in dusty file cabinets. The Lessons Learned Center, http://www.wildfirelessons.net has gathered some reports, and where appropriate, it has been noted below as a web link. It is hoped that they will continue to gather and post investigation reports on historical fires, thereby transferring the knowledge to the people on the ground. Unfortunately, the Lessons Learned Center frequently reorganizes their site, and sometimes removes reports at the requests of government agencies, making links inoperable, but you can always start at their home page and search, at http://www.wildfirelessons.net 1 Date: 9 January 1983 Name: Location: Grays Point, NSW, Australia Web link: http://www.firebreak.com.au/paix-sydney99.html Brief Description: The Heathcote Tanker 81 and its 10 crewpersons was one of a number of vehicles engaged in fire suppression in bushland on "Anana Hill". All the vehicles were ordered clear as changing conditions made the hill dangerous. The crew of Heathcote 81 apparently did not appreciate the danger and were too slow to depart, and found their only exit blocked by fire. The tanker reversed back up the track away from the fire then stopped. At about the same time, a civilian on foot was spotted further up the hill and 2 crew were dispatched to bring her back to the tanker. She declined to be rescued and was instead accompanied safely off the hill by one of the crew. The other man returned to the tanker. The tanker crew then lit a self defense back burn, although this apparently flared up and did not assist them. A few minutes later, the tankers engine stalled and could not be restarted. This however did not cause the burnover as the vehicle was already trapped. It was then overrun by fire whilst parked on the firetrack. All of the crew sheltered outside of the truck, initially behind the front wheel, and then in a huddle in the middle of the road. Three of the crew were fatally burned, and the other 6 seriously. Date: 13 January 1939 Name: Black Friday Location: Victoria, Australia Web link: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/0/ccb3f2e90ba779d3ca256dea00053977?Op enDocument Brief Description: 1.5-2.0 million ha were burnt, 71 people were killed and over 1000 homes destroyed in Victoria. The most devastation occurred on 'Black Friday', 13 January 1939, when strong northerly winds intensified fires burning in almost every part of the state. Townships were destroyed and others badly damaged. So much ash and smoke was generated that ash fell as far away as New Zealand. Date: 18 January 2003 Name: Canberra Bushfire Location: Australian Capital Territory Web link: http://www.ema.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf/54273a46a9c753b3ca256d0900180220/98 00a481424dd5a4ca256d65007ea8ef?OpenDocument Brief Description: Four people were killed, and approximately 500 homes were destroyed, along with an internationally famed astronomical observatory, extensive tracts of commercial and recreational softwood plantations, and an unknown number of sheep and cattle when fire swept into the western suburbs of Canberra the national capital of Australia. 2 Date: 1 February 1898 Name: Red Tuesday Location: Victoria, Australia Web link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Tuesday Brief Description: 260,000 ha were burnt, 12 people were killed and 2000 buildings were destroyed. Date: 6 February 1851 Name: Black Thursday Location: Victoria, Australia Web link: http://calisto.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-44/t1- g-t14.html Brief Description: The 'Black Thursday' fires burnt the largest area (approximately 5 million ha) in European-recorded Australian history, and took the lives of 12 people. Date: 7 February 1967 Name: Black Tuesday Location: Tasmania, Australia Web link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Tasmanian_fires Brief Description: Tasmania, Australia's southernmost "Island State" experienced its worst bushfires on "Black Tuesday" 7 February 1967 when 110 fires that were within a 40 kilometer radius of Hobart converged during a seven-hour period, fanned by extreme weather conditions. Approximately 264,000 ha were burnt, 1,700 houses destroyed and 61 people were killed. Several small towns were essentially burnt to the ground, fire destroyed houses well into the urban interface of Hobart, the state capital. Date: 15 February 2009 Name: Fire in Chile Location: near Chanco, 165 miles south of Santiago. Web link: Brief Description: Twelve wildland firefighters and a pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed in south-central Chile. The National Forestry Corporation, Chile's equivalent to the United States' National Park Service, said they were being ferried either to or from a fire in a eucalyptus plantation when the helicopter crashed. The victims were men between the ages of 18 and 30 who worked for Celulosa Arauco y Constitucion, a timber and pulp company known as CELCO. Many of them were students working seasonally in order to make money for school. 3 Date: 16 February 1983 Name: Ash Wednesday Location: Victoria, Australia Web link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday_fires Brief Description: Over 100 fires started on the 16th of February 1983, a day known as Ash Wednesday. 210,000 ha were burnt, 2,080 houses destroyed, and 47 people lost their lives . Property-related damage was estimated at over $A200m. More than 16,000 fire fighters, 1,000 police and 500 defense personnel fought the Victorian Ash Wednesday fires. On the same day as the Victorian Ash Wednesday fires, the same weather pattern brought extreme fire behavior to the south-Eastern part of South Australia. The resulting fires, unrelated to those burning at the same time in Victoria burnt 208,000 ha, and 383 houses. 28 people were killed and property-related damage was estimated to be more than $A200m. Date: 5 April 1958 Name: Location: Wandilo, South Australia Web link: http://www.ema.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf/83edbd0553620d8cca256d09001fc8fd/3 721c247ea987e7fca256d3300057c4b?OpenDocument Brief Description: Several Forestry Department trucks were part of a group of vehicles attempting to control a fire in a pine plantation when a "sudden and dramatic increase in the wind resulted in a fire storm". In their efforts to escape, 3 of the vehicles became stuck in the soft sand of a firebreak and were overrun by the fire. Three of the firefighters survived with moderate burns, 2 by sheltering in the cabin of one vehicle and another by lying down in a deep wheel rut in the sand. The other 8 men were all killed by the fire as they fled. Date: 27 April, 1938 Name: Massachusetts Military Reservation Location: Sandwich Massachusetts, Web link: Brief Description: Three firefighters — Thomas E. Adams, Ervin Draber and Gordon King — lost their lives in a forest fire that ravaged 5,000 acres on the Massachusetts Military Reservation. The 1938 fire was detailed in the April 28, 1938, Cape Cod edition of the New Bedford Standard Times: “Fighting the blaze on the edge of the Shawme State Forest on the edge of the Forestdale Road, the men were building a back fire when a shift in the wind caused by heat from the head blaze created a blazing circle that engulfed the quartet," the newspaper reported. "Gibbs, Adams and Draber fell prone to the ground and attempted to crawl to the nearest haven — a dirt road running through Shawme Forest and constructed by the CCC workers. Fire shooting through dry brush enveloped the men igniting their clothes and burning their bodies." Adams, 42, a volunteer firefighter from Sandwich who owned a wholesale meat business, died the next day. King, 35, the son of the Sandwich fire warden and who worked in forestry, died April 30. Draber, 32, of Buzzards Bay