Australia mourns victims, celebrates community spirit a year after wildfires killed 173 people

Australia mourns lives lost in wildfires 1 year on

KINGSLAKE, Australia — Releasing butterflies to honor the dead, Australians marked the one-year anniversary of the country’s worst-ever wildfires Sunday in big-city cathedrals and small towns still bearing burn scars.

On Feb. 7 last year, hundreds of fires raged across southeastern Australia as temperatures soared and powerful winds whipped blazes into firestorms. In a single day, 173 people were killed and more than 2,000 homes razed.

The scale of the disaster dubbed Black Saturday deeply shocked Australia, a sun-baked nation where hundreds of wildfires scorch vast areas of forest and farmland every summer but rarely cause deaths.

“The loss of so many men, women and children was almost too much to bear, and their absence still weighs heavily on their communities and all of those who loved them,” John Brumby, premier of Victoria state where the worst fires blazed, said Sunday in a condolence message.

A national day of mourning was observed, flags lowered to half-staff on government buildings and Australians were asked to mark one minute’s silence at noon. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was among dignitaries who sang hymns and prayed at a nondenominational service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in the southern city of Melbourne.

At Marysville, where most houses were gutted by fire and 34 people died, survivors gathered at a sports field that became a refuge for many as flames roared around them on Black Saturday. Green shoots of new growth had sprung from many eucalyptus trees surrounding the field, though their trunks were still charred black.

Marysville resident Rod Lyesfield spoke to the gathering about the heartbreak of trying to rebuild after the fires killed his wife and two sons.

“Losing someone you love is horrible, there’s no way around it,” he said. “You just have to go straight through the middle of the experience and pray that you’ll come out the other side.”

“Comforting platitudes are little use at those times. Joy will come in the morning, but first there is the night. The last 12 months has been a lot of night,” Lyesfield said.

In Kingslake, another hard-hit town, survivors opened boxes filled with 173 butterflies at a ceremony on the town’s football field — one for each person who died in the blazes — and tied yellow ribbons around the charred trunks of trees in surrounding bushland.

Residents formed a makeshift guard of honor for the local volunteer fire brigade and held a community barbecue to thank them for their work a year ago.

Rebuilding is still going on in Marysville, Kingslake and other towns where residents have vowed to restore their communities despite harrowing reminders.

“Feb. 7 will be forever etched in the nation’s memory as a day of mourning but also one of tremendous spirit and inspiration,” Rudd said in a statement. “The tragedy brought out the best of the Australian character and inspired countless acts of bravery and generosity.”

Two teenagers and a third person have been charged with lighting fires that killed some people and face up to 25 years in prison. While arson is a problem, the most common causes of wildfires in Australia are lightning strikes, sparks flying off machinery and cast-away cigarette butts.

A quasi-judicial inquiry is still under way into the causes of the disaster and the effectiveness of the authorities’ response. Preliminary findings found communications and other failures hampered efforts to fight the fires, and prompted changes to laws and new procedures to try to cope with future events.

Officials have also toughened warnings to residents in fire-prone areas about choosing whether to stay with their homes and defend them or to leave early for safe havens. Some of those who died on Black Saturday were incinerated in their cars or on foot after waiting until too late to flee.