This article is about a list of bushfire seasons in Australia. For a list major bushes in Australia, including major bushfire seasons, see List of major bushfires in Australia.
This is a list of specific seasons of bushfires in Australia including some significant bushfire events from each season. Events are listed if they cause fatalities, destroy houses, or burn more than 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of land. Across Australia, seasonality of bushfires varies significantly; however, is generally aligned with the weather patterns in the south of the continent so that each season begins in June (the beginning of the Australian winter) and runs through the following May (the end of the Australian autumn). The worst season recorded is 1974-75, with 117 million hectares (290 million acres) burned, equivalent to 15 percent of Australia's physical land mass that equates to the entire area of France, Spain, and Portugal combined.
Black Thursday bushfires: 12 fatalities, one million sheep and thousands of cattle were killed, and the fire burnt the second largest area (approximately 5,000,000 hectares (12,000,000 acres)) in history (CFA 2003a; DSE 2003b).[citation needed]
1968-69 Australian bushfire season: NSW in 1968-69 over 1,000,000 hectares (2,500,000 acres) were burnt and three people were killed (Linacre & Hobbs 1977; RFS 2003a).
The 1967 Tasmanian fires: 110 separate fire fronts burnt through 264,000 hectares (650,000 acres) of land in southern Tasmania. The destruction included 1,293 homes, around 62,000 farm animals, over 1,700 other buildings, 80 bridges, 4,800 sections of power lines, 1,500 motor vehicles and over 100 other structures.
1961 Western Australian bushfires The towns of Dwellingup[3] and Karridale were basically destroyed, along with many small settlements that were not rebuilt. The Dwellingup fire migrated to the town of Pinjarra where it burned a significant number of buildings. From January to March of that year, about 1,800,000 hectares (4,400,000 acres) was burnt throughout the south-west, with a large loss of livestock.
1974–75 Australian bushfire season: approximately 117 million hectares (290 million acres)[a] burned.[4][6][7] The area burnt, 117 million hectares (290 million acres), is equivalent to 15 percent of Australia's physical land mass that equates to the entire area of France, Spain, and Portugal combined.[5]
1980s
1984-85 Australian bushfire season: NSW in 1984-85, 3,500,000 hectares (8,600,000 acres) were burnt, four lives were lost, 40,000 livestock were killed and $40m damage to property was caused (RFS 2003a).
1982-1983 Australian bushfire season: The Ash Wednesday fires of 16 February 1983 caused severe damage in Victoria and South Australia. In Victoria, 210,000 hectares (520,000 acres) were burnt, 2,080 houses destroyed, more than 27,000 stock lost and 47 people lost their lives (CFA 2003a; DSE 2003b, 2003d). Property-related damage was estimated at over $200m and more than 16,000 fire fighters, 1,000 police and 500 defence personnel fought the fires in Victoria. In South Australia, 208,000 hectares (510,000 acres) were burnt, 383 houses were destroyed, 28 people were killed and property-related damage was estimated to be more than $200m (DSE 2003d).[1]
Black Saturday bushfires: 173 fatalities, 2,056 houses lost and 239,637 hectares (592,160 acres) burned on 7 February at numerous locations in Victoria[14]
1 fatality, 33 houses lost, and 1,154,828 hectares (2,853,640 acres) burnt in the Great Divide fire complex from 1 December 2006 to 7 February 2007 across alpine Victoria[14]
Black Christmas bushfires: 109 houses lost and 733,342 hectares (1,812,130 acres) burned from 24 December to 16 January at numerous locations in New South Wales.[9]
The most destructive bushfire season in terms of human life and property loss since the 2008–09 Australian bushfire season prior to the 2019-2020 bushfires. Insurance losses of around A$353 million[28]
At least 317,000 hectares (780,000 acres) burned
Loss of 408 houses and at least 500 non-residential buildings
8 deaths as a direct result of fire: 6 people died in Western Australia, 2 in South Australia. In New South Wales a volunteer firefighter died due to unrelated health complications while on duty.[29]
75,000 hectares (190,000 acres) burned over twelve days in September and threatened the town of Tom Price and the western portion of Karijini National Park in Western Australia[30][31]
1 farmer killed and two firefighters injured on 1 November while fighting a fire about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Adelaide at Nantawarra, South Australia. The fire burnt out about 1,800 hectares (4,448 acres) of grassland[32]
The Snowy River bushfire in Eastern Victoria in February 2014. The bushfire which lasted for 70 days grew to 165,800 hectares (410,000 acres) and was roughly the same size as Melbourne. Also burning were fires at Hazelwood coal mine and Kilmore
33 deaths (including four firefighters and three US firefighters operating a Lockheed Martin C-130 Large Air Tanker that crashed in the Snowy Monaro Region of southern NSW)[62][63][64][65]
WWF-Australia estimated at least 1.25 billion wild animals killed[66]
^
The 1974-75 bushfire season burnt over 100 million hectares (250 million acres), but there are different figures reported:
In 1995, the Australian Bureau Statistics reported 117 million hectares (290 million acres)[4]
The 2004 National Inquiry on Bushfire Mitigation and Management reports a total of 102 million hectares (250 million acres)[5]
The extent of the 1974-75 bushfire season was not known until after the event when satellite images were analysed, due to the fires being mostly located in very remote areas of the continent.[6]
^ abCheney, N. P. (1 January 1995). "BUSHFIRES – AN INTEGRAL PART OF AUSTRALIA'S ENVIRONMENT". 1301.0 – Year Book Australia, 1995. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 14 January 2020. In 1974-75, lush growth of grasses and forbs following exceptionally heavy rainfall in the previous two years provided continuous fuels through much of central Australia and in this season fires burnt over 117 million hectares or 15 per cent of the total land area of this continent.
^"New South Wales, December 1974 Bushfire - New South Wales". Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience. Government of Australia. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020. During the summer between 1974 and 1975, Australia experienced its worst bushfire season in 30 years. Approximately 15 per cent of Australia's physical land mass sustained extensive fire damage. This equates to roughly around 117 million ha.