Forty-two years ago, Ash Wednesday fell only two days earlier than this year’s. In Australia, 16 February 1983 dawned as another unrelentingly hot, dry day until 11:30 am, when the first fire was reported south of Adelaide, followed quickly by multiple reports of new fires that soon deluged local emergency services. In Victoria alone, 180 fires were reported, eight of which became major fires. At one stage, the entire Melbourne metropolitan area was encircled by an arc of fire. Just before nightfall, a fierce, dry wind change swept across South Australia and Victoria. This abruptly changed the direction and dramatically increased the intensity of the fires, creating an unstoppable firestorm that produced tornado-like fire whirls. The Ash Wednesday fires were measured at around 60,000 kilowatts of heat energy per metre, similar to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Whole townships were obliterated in minutes. 75 people died as a result of the fires, more than 3,700 buildings were destroyed or damaged, and 2,545 individuals and families lost their homes. Up to 8,000 people were evacuated in Victoria at the height of the crisis. The Ash Wednesday fires were the deadliest in Australian history until 2009.
Many of the fires were thought to have been caused by sparks from short-circuiting power lines and tree branches touching them. A systematic review of fire safety was undertaken; areas under high-tension pylons were cleared, and local domestic lines considered to be at risk were replaced with insulated three-phase supply lines. An inquest into the fires found that the communication systems used by emergency services were inadequate, and as a result, the government radio network was installed. Improvements in weather forecasting, with particular reference to wind changes and fronts, were undertaken by the authorities. An emergency disaster plan was also legislated. Many of the lessons learned in building better homes for fire survival, bush management, and emergency response proved vital in later crises.
Our Ash Wednesday, and hopefully everywhere in the world, is an incomparably less dramatic event. Most likely, the worst that will happen to us is that we will leave the church with a sign of the cross made with ashes on our foreheads. This tradition recalls ancient biblical rituals of penance, penitence and repentance, when ashes or dirt were placed on the head as a sign of contrition and regret for grievous misdeeds. It wasn’t a personal humiliation for its own sake but a reminder of human weakness and fragility, countering boastful pride and delusion of grandeur. The most moving reflection of this is found in the conclusion of the story of the first man’s fall from grace. Adam and his wife fell for the false promise that they would be like God by eating the forbidden fruit, only to find themselves naked, a symbol of utter weakness and powerlessness, underscored by the fateful words: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). But that wasn’t the sad end of the story. “The Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21), a powerful symbol of their dignity restored.
In the first reading, through the prophet Joel, God calls us: “Return to me with all your heart.” However, no more dramatic external signs of repentance are needed, as the prophet continues: “rend your hearts and not your garments.” When we receive the mark on our foreheads, easily removed when we wash our faces back home, we declare our readiness to undertake God’s call and, over the season of Lent, to reflect on our lives. Sometimes, such reflection and necessary changes are forced upon us by dramatic events, as happened in Australia forty-two years ago. It’s much better to do so of our own volition and now is a perfect time to do so: “In a favourable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
