page_title: Forests Commission Victoria
section_title: Bushfires
hierarchical_section_title: Forests Commission Victoria / 1970s - Rising environmental tide / Bushfires
caption_attribution_description: English: Fire Base camp
context_page_description: The Forests Commission Victoria was the main government authority responsible for management and protection of State forests in Victoria, Australia between 1918 and 1983.
  The Commission was responsible for ″forest policy, prevention and suppression of bushfires, issuing leases and licences, planting and thinning of forests, the development of plantations, reforestation, nurseries, forestry education, the development of commercial timber harvesting and marketing of produce, building and maintaining forest roads, provision of recreation facilities, protection of water, soils and wildlife, forest research and making recommendations on the acquisition or alienation of land for forest purposes″.
  The Forests Commission had a long and proud history of innovation and of managing Victoria's State forests but in November 1983 lost its discrete identity when it was merged into the newly formed Victorian Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands along with the Crown Lands and Survey Department, National Park Service, Soil Conservation Authority and Fisheries and Wildlife Service.
context_section_description: Internationally, south-eastern Australia is considered one of the three most fire-prone landscapes on Earth, along with southern California and the southern Mediterranean. Bushfires have undoubtedly always been a feature of Australian summers. In an average year, more than 600 bushfires occur in Victoria's National Parks and State Forests which burn about 110,000 hectares.
  Major Victorian bushfires occurred on Black Thursday in 1851, where an estimated 5 million hectares were burnt, followed by another blaze on Red Tuesday in February 1891 in South Gippsland when about 260,000 hectares were burnt, 12 people died and more than 2,000 buildings were destroyed. The deadly pattern continued with more major fires on Black Sunday on 14 February 1926 sees the tally rise to sixty lives being lost and widespread damage to farms, homes and forests. Once again in February 1932, large fires burnt large areas of forest at Gilderoy, Noojee and Erica in where six people were killed.
  However, the bushfires on Black Friday 1939 were one of the worst natural disasters to have occurred in Australia and certainly the worst bushfire up to that time. The 1939 Black Friday fires in Victoria burnt 2 million hectares, 69 mills were destroyed, 71 people died, and several towns were entirely obliterated. Only the Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia in the summer of 1983 and the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 have resulted in more fatalities.
  The spate of major bushfires on state forest and national parks continued unabated.
  The summer of 1977-78 was characterised by a build-up of extreme fire danger in most areas of the State. There were 606 outbreaks of fire, of which 77 occurred over a period of three days from 15–17 January. Lightning caused most of these in the alpine areas of the State. Many were controlled quickly but eight developed into major fires and stage 2 of the State Disaster Plan was enacted. Then the Army and Airforce were called to assist the Commission staff and employees. A notable feature was the very important part played by military helicopters in moving crews and supplies to combat multiple fires in the alpine area.
  Lightning is the main cause of bushfires in mountainous areas of Victoria followed closely by deliberate and careless ignitions. Direct attack was the normal tactic in the early phases of a bushfire. This involved walking a small crew to the edge and then building a hand trail with rakehoes and chainsaws. It was possible to control a small fire using this technique provided flame height was less than a metre or so, the fire was accessible on foot, the scrub wasn't too thick and the weather was stable. Sometimes a load of retardant dropped from a small agriculture aircraft could be used to buy time for ground crews, particularly if the fire was small or a single tree that had been hit by lightning. A small D4 first attack bulldozer (FAD) transported on a truck was often used to construct control line close to the fire edge.  Bigger FCV D6 machines, as well as contractor machinery, were called in as the fire escalated.
  
  This initial attack technique was not without its risks but proved very effective over the decades at keeping fires small, particularly in remote locations. As more powerful helicopters developed in the 1960s and 1970s crews were often rappelled into the fire or a helipad was cut. 
  This aggressive direct attack technique was known as dry firefighting and as the name implied involves having limited or no access to water. It was hard physical work but an essential skill to fight remote forest fires. It was something that Commission staff were historically renowned and very few people, other than their families, were even aware that they might spend weeks away deep in the mountains. 
  Initially, simple basecamps were set up in a small clearing in the forest near a river and close to the fire. They were fairly primitive and crews were expected to remain self-sufficient for the first 48 hours or so until better arrangements for food and supplies could be made.  But over time basecamps
caption: Bushfire base camps were fairly primitive affairs Cobannah in East Gippsland - circa 1965. Source: Rocky Marsden. FCRPA* collection.
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