Nature (1982)

S29E12 Survivors of the Firestorm

By February 2009, Victoria in southeastern Australia was a tinderbox. Brutal heatwaves, a relentless drought, and fierce dry winds from the interior had left the landscape brittle and primed for disaster. Then, on Saturday the 7th, the region erupted in fire, with infernos consuming everything in their path. When the flames finally died down, 173 people were dead, over a million acres of mountain ash forest lay in ashes, and countless animals had been lost. The catastrophe, now known as Black Saturday, became one of the nation’s darkest chapters. Survivors of the Firestorm traces the remarkable comeback of Victoria’s wildlife, the rebirth of the towering mountain ash forests and their inhabitants, and the astonishing resilience of a scarred natural world.