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)Bushfires is not an unknown phenomenon in Australia. The country has experienced extreme fires before, with the most deadly being “Black Saturday” in February 2009, where around 180 people lost their lives to fires in the state of Victoria. However, the 2019-20 bushfire season is looking like it will turn out to be the most destructive to date.
Since July, fires have been burning across all of mainland Australia, with the states of New South Wales and Victoria in the south eastern part of the country having to face the worst. 5.5 million hectares of land have been destroyed already, which put in perspective, is about five times the damage caused by the Amazon fires in 2019. Aggressive flames reaching as high as 70m is making evacuation dangerous and the work tough for the firefighters.
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2019 managed to break Australia’s annual average temperature record, with all mainland states having measured temperatures above 40ºC. Whether the fires are directly linked to climate change caused by humans, no one dares to say with certainty, but there is no doubt that the average temperatures drastically increasing over the last century is a huge factor for causing the extreme drought.
The drought is also partly caused by a climate phenomenon called a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), where the two opposite parts of the Indian Ocean observe extreme differences in sea-surface temperatures. The IOD can cycle through phases of “positive”, “neutral” and “negative”, and the current positive phase being stronger than usual is resulting in wetter climate and floods in eastern Africa, and extreme droughts in south-east Asia and Australia.
Sometimes, humans can be to blame for starting new fires, but there are also natural causes, which is way more frightening. Right now the wind is making the flames hard to control, and this is a factor for spreading the flames. But, Australia is facing one much more terrifying cause. The large smoke plumes coming from the fires already burning, is creating clouds and thunderstorms covering the area. Lightning can strike from these thunderstorms, increasing the risk of new fires starting as the land beneath is so dry.
Enormous wildfires like these are uncontrollable, and it has been said that in the current state, the fires are close to impossible for firefighters to put out. They will need heavy rain, and unfortunately, the forecast is looking rather dry for the upcoming summer months. Statistically, January and February are the warmest and driest months of the year in Australia. Therefore rather than trying to put out the fires, firefighters are now instead focusing on preventing the fires from spreading even further. As well as the professional firefighters, the police, military and navy are taking part in the rescues, and countries such as New Zealand, the US and Canada have sent more firefighters to help. But there are also thousands of volunteers fighting the flames and helping in the evacuation.
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In the south eastern part of the country, the fires have since August emitted greenhouse gasses equivalent to half of the county’s annual emissions, according to Nasa. Smoke is turning the sky black, and highly affecting the air quality over an enormous area surrounding the fires. All the way over on New Zealand, more than 2000 km away, the smoke from the fires burning in the distance is making the sky turn red, and the dust has now covered the glaciers and turned them brown, which experts believe will increase the glacier melt this season.
People are evacuating to the beaches as the only safe place to be, many of whom, have lost everything. 24 people have lost their lives in the fires thus far, but the number is expected to rise as more people are missing and the fire season is still far from over. Out of the perished, three were volunteering firefighters.
It is heartbreaking seeing how many people and animals are being affected by these fires. If you want to help, there are countless of charities and people currently trying to raise money for the fire victims, and under I have linked some of the places you can donate if you are able to. Remember that every dollar counts.
New South Wales Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES)
Port Macquarie Koala Hospital & other wildlife organisations
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