<P> Ash Wednesday was one of Australia's costliest natural disasters . Over 3,700 buildings were destroyed or damaged and 2,545 individuals and families lost their homes . Livestock losses were very high, with over 340,000 sheep, 18,000 cattle and numerous native animals either dead or later destroyed . A total of 4,540 insurance claims were paid totalling A $176 million with a total estimated cost of well over $400 million (1983 values) for both states or $1.3 billion in adjusted terms (2007). </P> <P> The emergency saw the largest number of volunteers called to duty from across Australia at the same time--an estimated 130,000 firefighters, defence force personnel, relief workers and support crews . </P> <P> On Ash Wednesday in 1980 during a virtually rainless summer after a very wet spring in 1979, bushfires swept through the Adelaide Hills in South Australia, destroying 51 houses . These fires were referred to as "Ash Wednesday" until the 1983 fires, which became notorious nationwide . </P> <P> As 1982 came to a close, large areas of eastern Australia lay devastated by a prolonged drought thought to be caused by the El Niño climatic cycle . In many places, rainfall over winter and spring had been as little as half the previous record low in a record dating back to the 1870s and severe water restrictions were imposed in Melbourne in November . On 24 November, the earliest Total Fire Ban in forty years was proclaimed in Victoria . By February 1983, summer rainfall for Victoria was up to 75% less than in previous years . The first week of February was punctuated by intense heat, with record high temperatures experienced on 1 and 8 February . This combination further destabilised an already volatile fire situation in the forested upland areas surrounding the Victorian and South Australian capitals of Melbourne and Adelaide . </P>

When did the ash wednesday bushfires start and end