Ash Wednesday Fires
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The Ash Wednesday fires happened on Feburary 16th 1983. They traveled through South Australia and Victoria. There were more than 180 fires that traveled at more than110km's per hour. These fires were worse than others because before the 16th Victoria and South Australia were going through a great drought which, joined with exteme weather conditions, added to be some of the worst fire conditions in Australia. These fires were the worst in Australain history untill the fires of 2009, they were called the Black Saturday fires. In the Ash Wednesday fires 47 people died in Victoria and 28 people died in South Australia, these numbers included 14 CFA (Country Fire Authority) and 3 CFS (Country Fire Service). All the deaths of the CFA and CFS all happened over both states and all in one day. In Victoria over 8,000 people were evacuated but in South Australia there was only a State of Disaster issued. Over 3,700 buildings were destroyed over both states and over 2,545 individuals lost their home. Many livestock were killed, 340,000 sheep were found dead and over 18,000 cattle and other native animals died from these awful fires.