60,000 kilowatts of heat energy per metre, leading to similarities with the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Whole townships were obliterated in minutes. In the Dandenong Ranges, the villages of Cockatoo and Upper Beaconsfield were devastated, with twelve volunteer firefighters losing their lives after being trapped by a wall of flame when the wind change struck, while parts of Belgrave Heights (where this fire started) and Belgrave South suffered large areas of property loss. Most of Macedon and much of historic Mount Macedon to the north-west of Melbourne was razed, including many heritage-listed 19th-century mansions and famed gardens. A fire that started in Deans Marsh raced into the Otway Forest. When the wind change happen the fire formed a huge front and headed for the coast. Burning all night, the morning after Ash Wednesday, first light revealed the devastation of the popular coastal towns along the Great Ocean Road such as Aireys Inlet, Anglesea and Lorne resembled barren moonscapes. The fire on the coast had been so intense that firefighters were forced to abandon all control efforts and let it burn until it reached the ocean, destroying everything in its path. Residents were forced down to the water edge of beaches in the areas to escape the flames. In Victoria, over 16,000 firefighters combatted the blaze, including staff and works crews from the Forests Commission Victoria (FCV), National Park Service, and volunteers from the Country Fire Authority and State Emergency Service (SES). Also involved were over 1,000 Victoria Police, 500 Australian Defence Force personnel and hundreds of local residents. A variety of equipment was used, including 400 vehicles (fire-trucks, water tankers and dozers), 11 helicopters and 14 fixed wing aircraft. The total land area burnt was approximately in Victoria and in South Australia. The summer bushfires of 1982/1983 razed approximately . Aftermath Many of the Victorian fires were thought to have been caused by sparks between short-circuiting power lines, and tree branches connecting with power lines. 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. In South Australia, an inquest into the fires found that the communication systems used by the CFS were inadequate and, as a result, the government radio network was installed, although this did not happen until almost 20 years later. Improvements in weather forecasting, with