WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE BLACK SATURDAY BUSHFIRES:
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* February 7, 2009
* 173 people died, another 400 injured
* Five fires claimed lives; 119 died in the Kilmore East fire (Kinglake), 40 in the Murrindindi fire that hit Marysville, 11 in Churchill, two in Beechworth-Mudgegonga and one in Bendigo.
* Some of the areas also impacted include; Kinglake West, St Andrews, Cambarville, Humevale, Strathewen, Flowerdale, Hazeldene, Steels Creek, Arthurs Creek, Strath Creek, Toolangi, Clonbinane, Heathcote Junction, Upper Plenty, Whittlesea, Narbethong, Yarra Glen, Callignee, Callignee Upper, Churchill, Koornalla, Jeeralang Junction, Mudgegonga, Long Gully.
* More than 2000 properties destroyed
* 760 vehicles destroyed
* 7500 displaced people over an area of 450,000 hectares
* Most of the bushfire deaths were linked to fallen power lines or arson.
* The fires were fanned by 100 km/h winds in 40 degree-plus heat
* Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission examined aspects of the fires with 155 days of hearings, and was bankrolled by $40 million in taxpayer funding
* 9088 calls for help were made to Triple-0 on Black Saturday
* The Insurance Council of Australia reported claims of approximately $1.2 billion, of which 84 per cent were property or contents and 16 per cent motor vehicle claims
* More than one million animals died in the fires, the RSPCA estimated. This includes in excess of 4500 sheep, 4000 cattle and 200 horses
* VicForests reported the fires burnt about 10,000 hectares of the mountain ash forest available for timber harvesting
* 106,327 hours of Victoria Police investigation into deliberately lit Black Saturday fires
* The Kilmore East-Kinglake class action settled for $495 million in late 2014 while the Murrindindi case was settled in early 2015 for $300 million - Australia's biggest class actions.
* Telstra spent $15 million restoring and upgrading communications infrastructure destroyed or damaged by the bushfires, but put its total related costs at almost $20m.
* Damage to Powercor assets were estimated at approximately $729,000.35
* A state service will be held at the Royal Exhibition Building gardens in Melbourne on February 4 in 2019 to mark a decade since the disaster
Sources: AAP/Victoria Police/Victorian Bushfires Reconstruction and Recovery Authority/2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission Final Report Summary
Australian Associated Press
