The 1967Hobart Fire occured on the 7th of February Bushfires in Tasmania are extremely rare, because of its mild and moist climate. But on the 7th of February this situation was changed in just 5hrs. The wind caused isolated fires to join and become even larger, and eventually surrounding the city of Hobart. The fires spread from 110 different points, eighty nine which were believed to have started burning before the dreadful day when the fires just seemed to flare out. The devastation that these fires caused was horrific; 62 people lost their lives – 53 directly and 9 indirectly - over a thousand homes were destroyed and the loss of stock, particularly sheep, and productive farming land was huge. On the edges of Hobart factories were damaged and the historically important convict ruins at Port Arthur were ruined. The conditions of the hot summer that year had dried out the bush vegetation that had grown prolifically because of heavy spring rain of 1996. Residents in the areas with many more trees had started to wisely or not so wisely burn off the undergrowth. All would have been fine if it hadn’t been for the strange weather conditions on the 7th of February. The temperatures reached 39.4°C the hottest that century for Hobart, and the winds were going at an amazing speed of 130km/h. Reports into the causes of the fire stated that only 22 of the 110 fires were started accidentally. As many as 110 separate fire fronts burnt through some 2,642.7 square kilometres (653,025.4 acres) of land in Southern Tasmania within the space of five hours. Fires raged from near Hamilton, Tasmania and Bothwell, Tasmania to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. There was extensive damage to agricultural property in the Channel, the Derwent Valley and the Huon Valley. Fires also destroyed forest, public infrastructure and properties around Mt Wellington and many small towns along the Derwent estuary and east of Hobart. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ...
Several fires were already burning in Tasmania by the 7th, when an approaching cold front brought strengthening northerly winds and extremely hot air.
The first fire calls began arriving at the HobartFire Brigade around 9am, and were coming fast by 11am, as an orange pall of smoke spread across the City.
In the face of such fires, with no communications, with equipment that was often no more than wet sacks and tree branches, and with the water supply in some areas running out, fire authorities and householders had no hope of stopping the advance.
Hobart, one of Lake County's oldest communities, draws its origins from the arrival of three related families, the Siglers, Mundells, and Hursts.
Although Hobart was on the Chicago-Detroit stage route (Old Ridge Road), it was the construction of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad(later the Pennsylvania Railroad) in 1858 that transformed the settlement into a center forshipping lumber, bricks, milk, and agricultural products to the Chicago market.
Major annexations in Hobart Township to the north in 1988 and Ross Township in 1992, including the Southlake Mall area along U.S. 30 to the south, have strengthened the town's potential for continued residential, commercial, and light industrial development.
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