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{{short description|none}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}

{{Infobox wildfire
|title= 1996–97 Australian bushfire season
|image=
|caption=
|location= Australia
|cost=
|date= October 1996 – January 1997
|cause =
|area =
|fatalities = 3
|injuries= 40
|buildings= 44+
}}

A series of [[bushfires in Australia]] occurred over the summer of 1996–1997. The most prominent fires during the season were in the [[Dandenong Ranges]] and the [[Mornington Peninsula]] in the [[States and territories of Australia|state]] of [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]].

== Fires of note ==

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 9pt"
|-
! scope="col" width="12%" align="center" | State
! scope="col" width="12%" align="center" | Start date
! scope="col" width="6%" align="center" | Deaths
! scope="col" width="6%" align="center" | Injuries
! scope="col" width="6%" align="center" | Houses lost
! scope="col" width="8%" align="center" | Area ([[Hectare|ha]])
! scope="col" width="12%" align="center" | Local govt.
! scope="col" align="center" class="unsortable" | Impacted communities & destruction
! scope="col" width="6%" align="center" class="unsortable" | Duration
! scope="col" width="8%" align="center" class="unsortable" | Ref.
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[Western Australia]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 8 January 1997
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 16
| style="text-align:center;" | {{convert|10500|ha|abbr=on}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[Shire of Mundaring|Mundaring]]
||[[Wooroloo, Western Australia|Wooroloo]] & [[Wundowie, Western Australia|Wundowie]]
*[[Wooroloo Prison Farm]] and dozens of non-residential structures destroyed
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | <ref>{{Cite web|title=Bushfires|url=http://www.bom.gov.au/wa/sevwx/perth/bushfires.shtml|website=www.bom.gov.au|publisher=[[Bureau of Meteorology]]|accessdate=29 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716185803/http://www.bom.gov.au/wa/sevwx/perth/bushfires.shtml|archivedate=2012-07-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Jones|first1=Trevor|title=Cities Project Perth|url=http://www.ga.gov.au/webtemp/image_cache/GA6524.pdf|publisher=Geoscience Australia|accessdate=6 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author1=Joe Courtney|author2=Miriam Middelmann|title=The Natural Hazard Risk in Perth|publisher=Geoscience Australia|pages=56–60|url=http://www.ga.gov.au/webtemp/image_cache/GA6525.pdf|chapter=2.7 Bushfires – a meteorological perspective|date=June 2005}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 19 January 1997
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 2
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | [[Shire of Mornington Peninsula|Mornington Peninsula]]
||[[Mount Eliza, Victoria|Mount Eliza]]
*2 carports and a car destroyed
| style="text-align:center;" | 3 days
| style="text-align:center;" | <ref name=dand97 />
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 21 January 1997
| style="text-align:center;" | 3
| style="text-align:center;" | 20
| style="text-align:center;" | 41
| style="text-align:center;" | {{convert|3700|ha|abbr=on}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[Yarra Ranges Shire|Yarra Ranges]]
||[[Ferny Creek, Victoria|Ferny Creek]], [[Kalorama, Victoria|Kalorama]], [[Mount Dandenong, Victoria|Mount Dandenong]] & [[Upwey, Victoria|Upwey]]
*Three civilians perish
*45 houses damaged
*A [[Country Fire Authority|CFA]] fire truck destroyed
| style="text-align:center;" | 2 days
| style="text-align:center;" | <ref name=dand97>{{Cite web|title=Dandenongs and Mornington Peninsula, Vic: Bushfires|url=http://www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/Documents/Document-files/Exhibits/RSCH-030-001-0364.pdf|website=royalcommission.vic.gov.au|publisher=2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission|accessdate=6 June 2015}}{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Webb|first1=Carolyn|title=Anatomy of a Fire Storm|url=http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&kw=bushfire&pb=all_ffx&dt=enterRange&dr=1month&sd=01%2F01%2F1997&ed=31%2F01%2F1997&so=date&sf=text&sf=headline&rc=200&rm=200&sp=adv&clsPage=1&docID=news970126_0151_6842|accessdate=28 April 2016|work=Sunday Age|publisher=[[Fairfax Media]]|date=26 January 1997|page=16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Coxhill|first1=Richard|title=History of The Basin|date=2012|page=15|url=http://www.coxhill.com/basinhistory/firebrigade/Fire%20Brigade.pdf|chapter=Chapter 8: The Basin Fire Brigade}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Buttler|first1=Mark|title=Fresh police appeal on 1997 Dandenong Ranges fires|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/fresh-police-appeal-on-1997-dandenong-ranges-fires/story-e6frf7kx-1111116085402|accessdate=28 December 2015|publisher=[[Herald Sun]]|date=17 April 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wositzky|first1=Helen|title=Out of the Ashes, a Community Responds: The Dandenong Ranges Bushfires, January 1997|journal=The Australian Journal of Emergency Management|date=Winter 1998|volume=13|issue=2|pages=17–20|url=http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=394179914180386;res=IELHSS|accessdate=28 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hayes|first1=Lyn|title=Recovery: A Local Government Response|journal=The Australian Journal of Emergency Management|date=1998|volume=13|issue=2|pages=22–25|url=http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=394235813094161;res=IELHSS|accessdate=29 December 2015|issn=1324-1540}}</ref>
|-
|}

== Timeline ==

=== October 1996 ===
In October 1996, one house was destroyed in a bushfire near [[Ravensbourne, Queensland|Ravensbourne]] in southeast [[Queensland]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Understanding bushfire: trends in deliberate vegetation fires in Australia: Queensland|url=http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/4/8/4/%7B4848DAE8-BB71-420E-9D5A-12B851BFB53E%7Dtbp027_04_qld.pdf|publisher=Australian Institute of Criminology|accessdate=13 January 2014|page=11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212131012/http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/4/8/4/%7b4848DAE8-BB71-420E-9D5A-12B851BFB53E%7dtbp027_04_qld.pdf|archive-date=12 February 2014|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

=== January 1997 ===
From 19 to 21 January 1997, fires burnt over 400 hectares (about 990 acres) through much of the [[Dandenong Ranges]] and the [[Mornington Peninsula]], precipitated by over forty-degree Celsius dry heat and strong northerly winds. Three people were killed and forty injured. Forty-three houses were destroyed and another 45 damaged.<ref name="EMA.gov.au">{{Cite web |url=http://www.ema.gov.au/www/ema/schools.nsf/Page/Learn_AboutBushfires_InMyBackyard_InMyBackyard |title=EMA.gov.au |access-date=2 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106021800/http://ema.gov.au/www/ema/schools.nsf/Page/Learn_AboutBushfires_InMyBackyard_InMyBackyard |archive-date=6 January 2009 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Fires began at all locations except the Dandenongs on the 19th; the Dandenongs fires began on the morning of the 21st in the foothills of the western face of the ranges. It was suspected that the fires in the Dandenongs were deliberately lit.

The areas most affected by these fires included:<ref name="EMA.gov.au" />

*[[Creswick, Victoria|Creswick]]
*[[Dandenong Ranges]]
*[[Ferny Creek, Victoria|Ferny Creek]] – 3 deaths
*[[Kalorama, Victoria|Kalorama]]
*[[Mount Dandenong]]
*[[Upwey, Victoria|Upwey]]
*[[Dutson Downs, Victoria|Dutson Downs]]
*[[Gippsland]]
*[[Heathcote, Victoria|Heathcote]]
*[[Mornington Peninsula]]
*[[Arthurs Seat, Victoria|Arthurs Seat]]
*[[Mount Eliza, Victoria|Mount Eliza]]
*[[Mount Martha, Victoria|Mount Martha]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081010141403/http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Out_of_the_ashes_a_community_responds_the_Dandenong_Ranges_bushfires_jan_+1997.pdf/$file/Out_of_the_ashes_a_community_responds_the_Dandenong_Ranges_bushfires_jan_+1997.pdf Overview of the fires & community response]

{{Bushfires in Australia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Bushfire Season}}
[[Category:Bushfire seasons in Australia|1996]]
[[Category:Bushfires in Victoria (state)|1996]]
[[Category:1990s fires in Oceania]]
[[Category:1996 fires]]
[[Category:1997 fires]]
[[Category:1996 natural disasters|Australian Bushfire Season, 1996-97]]
[[Category:1997 natural disasters|Australian Bushfire Season, 1996-97]]
[[Category:1990s wildfires]]
[[Category:1996 disasters in Australia]]
[[Category:1997 disasters in Australia]]

1996–97 Australian bushfire season - Revision history

imported>1ctinus: per WP:SDNONE