Friday, March 29, 2024

Major bushfires in Australian history – the 1952 Mangoplah bushfire

Recent stories

John O’Donnell, January 2022

Reasons for looking more closely into this major 1952 Mangoplah bushfire in NSW include to understand the scale and severity of this bushfire; consider bushfire practices at the time; to understand fuel loads and dynamics, to try and tease out any potential lessons for future bushfires and finally to provide information for large incident bushfire training. Another factor that became evident later was to provide a detailed record of this bushfire for the future, this is essential for all large bushfires.

Mangoplah fire map

The Mangoplah bushfire burned an estimated 390,000 hectares. Property damage included 37 houses; 203 sheds and dairies; 1,841 km of fencing as well as 110,000 sheep, with financial impacts estimated at $18 million adjusted to 1970 CPI.

The Mangoplah bushfire burnt from Mangoplah, north of Holbrook, NSW, to Corryong in north-eastern Victoria, a distance of 98 km, during two consecutive days of extreme fire danger. The fire commenced on the 22 January 1952 from fettlers burning-off on the Rock-Westby railway line near Mangoplah. The original fire was brought under control by local bushfire brigades after burning an area of 150 ha.

However, on the 24 January, under extreme conditions (grass curing 100%, temperature 42.5°C, relative humidity 29%, wind speed 40 km/h, Grassland Fire Danger Index (GFDI) 60), the fire broke away from sparks from either a stump reported to be 350 m inside the burnt country or smouldering clover as the ignition point of the bushfire, the latter believed by the coroner. It spread under a strong north-westerly wind, and by midnight had burnt out an estimated at 27,000 ha. The wind continued to blow throughout the night, although abating somewhat, and thwarted attempts to hold the fire on the Hume Highway near Garryowen.

On the 25 January the mean wind speed increased to around 48 km/h, still from the north-west. With a temperature of 41°C and a relative humidity of 15%, the maximum GFDI reached 115. The fire crossed the Murray River near Jingellic at 1030 hrs and burnt in a south-easterly direction for another 13 km before a cold front with a westerly wind change passed through the area at 1130 hrs. By midnight the fire had burnt out most of the total area eventually affected, and perimeters in grasslands had mostly been controlled.

The fire continued to burn in timbered country until 10 February 1952 before it was totally brought under control. The Mangoplah bushfire started 22/ 1/ 52, 2 pm, was mopped up 10/ 2/ 52, 9.00 am and patrol ended 11/ 2/ 52, 1.00 pm.

The bushfire activities lasted for 18 days, 19 hrs. Blow up days were January 24 (Thursday and Thursday night), January 25, January 31 and February 5.

The fire was of world significance at the time insofar as it was the largest recorded area bunt by a fire originating from a single source. The scale and extent of this major bushfire was due to a long period of drought, 100 % grass curing, extreme weather on a number of days during the bushfire, very high wind speeds, with maximum GFDI reached 115, inadequate equipment in many cases, inadequate prescribed burning and other factors.

As outlined in Section 10, the review has identified a number of lessons and adaptive management strategies in relation to the 1952 Mangoplah bushfire and also for the future. The first section is focussed on learnings and adaptive management refinements from the 1952 Mangoplah bushfire and the second section on potential learning and adaptive management areas to optimise performance and reduce risks with current and future bushfires.

About John O’Donnell

John is a retired district forester and environmental manager for hydro-electric construction and road construction projects.   His main interests are mild maintenance burning of forests, trying to change the culture of massive fuel loads in our forests setting up large bushfires, establishing healthy and safe landscapes, fire fighter safety, as well as town and city bushfire safety.

Related stories: Major bushfires in Australian history – the 1851 Victorian bushfires, Major bushfires in Australian history – the 1974 and 1975 Australian bushfires

KEEP IN TOUCH

Sign up for updates from Australian Rural & Regional News

Manage your subscription

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.