The Churchill fire began in a pine plantation south-east of Churchill, Victoria on the afternoon of February 7. Within 30 minutes it had spread to the south-east, near Hazelwood South, Traralgon South, Jeeralang, and Budgeree East, Victoria. By late afternoon the fire was near Yarram and Woodside, Victoria on the south Gippsland coast. The weather changed about 6.00pm, and the south west winds then pushed the fire north east towards Gormandale and Willung South on the Hyland Highway. About 500 people sheltered at a theatre in Traralgon.
The fire came close to the Loy Yang Power Station, and the station's open-cut coal mine. On the night of February 7, the fire approached the mine's overburden dump, but did not damage anything and did not stop the station's operations. Several small fires broke out in the bunker storing coal from the mine, but were contained with no damage. The threat eased by the evening of February 8, as temperatures cooled and some light rain fell. One small fire started south of the power station, but water bombing aircraft put it out.
By February 9, the Churchill fire was still burning out of control, with fronts through the Latrobe Valleyand the Strzelecki Ranges. By late afternoon, the fire had burnt out and killed several people. Wind changes that evening made parts of the fire worse, so the CFA warned people at Won Wron and nearby areas to be ready.
Police believe someone lit the Churchill fire. A man from Churchill was arrested by police on February 12. He was charged on February 13, with arson causing death, lighting a bushfire and having child pornography.
A fire started at Ferntree Gully and Upper Ferntree Gully, in the Dandenong Ranges. All major roads were closed. The fire damaged the railway track at Upper Ferntree Gully, causing the Belgrave railway line to be closed. The fire, which was controlled by firemen within three hours, burned along the railway.
A house fire started on the morning of February 12, in Upper Ferntree Gully, killing a volunteer fireman from the CFA. Police think the fire was deliberately lit.
In Narre Warren there were several fires. Six homes were destroyed in Narre Warren South and three in Narre Warren North.
On February 8, lightning started a fire at Wilsons Promontory which quickly burnt over . This fire did not threaten the camping area but the National Park rangers decided to evacuate the park; some campers were taken out by boat. The fire continued to burn out of control for more than 10 days. By February 17 it had burned an area of including the air strip and cutting the main road.
The Horsham fire burnt , including the golf club and eight homes. The Dimboola fire appliance (utility) was also damaged.
The fire started at 12.30pm on February 7, when strong winds blew over a power pole at Remlaw, west of the city. The fire first went south-west and then south-east, across the Wimmera Highway and Wimmera River to the Horsham Golf Course and then to Haven, south of the city. Firemen were able to save the general store, town hall and school at Haven, though flames came within metres of those buildings. Winds of up to changed direction three times during the day, and caused conditions described by a CFA fireman as the worst he had ever seen. A taxi driver picked up an 82-year-old wheelchair-bound woman and her daughter, from her house as the fire was no more than away; the house was alight as the taxi drove off, and burned down within minutes.
At 3.00pm more than 400 firemen were fighting the fire, as well as two water-bombing aircraft, 54 Country Fire Authority (CFA) fire trucks, and 35 Department of Sustainability and the Environment (DSE) fire crews. By 6.00pm the fire had moved east, and as the wind changed, was then pushed north-east across the Western Highway to Drung, east of Horsham.
At Coleraine were burnt; one man was badly burned.
The Country Fire Authority (CFA) puts out fires on private property. The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) puts out fires on public land. These organisations worked together to fight all these fires. Most men and women from the CFA were trained volunteers; there were more than 4,000 of them involved.
In addition to CFA and DSE firefighters, Prime Minister 'Mr Kev' offered assistance from the Australian Defence Forces. New South Wales, South Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Western Australia sent firemen and equipment.
The Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and New Zealand offered help to the Australian government. New Zealand sent 100 firemen and forest fire experts. They would have sent more but did not because of the danger of fires in parts of New Zealand. New Zealand also sent a Mil Mi-8MTV-1 helicopter which can carry 5000 litres of water.
173 people are known to have been killed by the fires. The death toll used to be at 210, but forensics found that a lot of the human remains that were thought to have been of two or more people were of one person.
Brian Naylor, a famous retired television news reader, and his wife Moiree, died in the Kinglake West area. Actor Reg Evans and his partner, artist Angela Brunton, who lived on a small farm in the St. Andrews area, also died in the Kinglake area fire. Ornithologist Richard Zann died in the Kinglake fire, with his wife Eileen and daughter Eva.
Over 500 people were treated for burns with 100 people were sent to hospital.
A temporary morgue to hold up to 300 bodies, was set up at the Coronial Services Centre at Southbank in Melbourne. This was like the one set up after the July 2005 London bombings. A number of different funeral homes helped take bodies to Melbourne. By February 10, 101 bodies had been taken to the temporary morgue. There were more than 50 unnamed bodies kept in the morgue or still at the fire areas. The director of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine said that it may be impossible to discover the names of all the bodies.
On February 11, Police Commissioner Nixon said she hoped that searches for bodies would be over by February 15. Because there might be asbestos in some of the destroyed buildings, the search would be slow.
People from other countries were killed in these bushfires, including:
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Burglary
Burglary, also called breaking and entering, is illegally going into a building or area in order to commit a crime, usually theft. Someone who does burglary is called a burglar. To commit burglary is to "burgle" or to "burglarize". Burglaries can happen at any time or any place. The word "burglar" comes from the Old English words "burg" ("house") and "laron" ("thief").
The definition of burglary, and the punishment for burglary, depends on the country or state.
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