Australia Fires

Australia Fires

Riley Martel, Journalist

A small bush fire that started in September of 2019, grew into a massive “fire storm.” Many of us only heard of the enormous fire in our first days of January 2020. By now, CNN reporters claim that almost half a billion of Australia’s animals have so far been impacted and millions are dead, because of the fires started in New South Wales. 

By CNN’s reporter, Christina Zdanowicz, “police have charged at least 24 people for intentionally starting bushfires.” Scientists say that drought and extreme heat are the main cause, but others fear that climate change could be a huge factor to Australia’s ever worsening wildfires. Right now, “Australia has the highest rate of species loss of any area in the world, and researchers fear it could get worse!”

This huge fire has now been spread across the nation. Countless towns have been wiped out and along with them 24 people have died. About 480 million, animals have been killed, and that number is expected to keep rising. This fire has shown no signs of stopping in any way. An estimation shows that it will cost about $100 billion to recover and repair all of that damages brought onto Australia by the fires.   

The best and worst news in all of this that has been heard so far was written by Jessie Yeung, stating that “koalas and kangaroos are spread out across the country, so they’re not in danger of going extinct…. Though, some animals with smaller populations,” and that aren’t spread out may have been wiped out by the horrendous fires that have so far burned 18 million acres! Most of the land that was burned were forests and wilderness areas. Though these areas do happen to be the home of many of Australia’s exclusive animals and wildlife. The list of possibly wiped out animals “includes the eastern bristle bird, the mountain pygmy possum and the corroboree frog.”

 

Information found: 

Hockenos, Opinion by Paul. “Australian Bushfires Point to an Ominous Pattern.” CNN, Cable News Network, 4 Jan. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/01/04/app-opinion-section/australian-bushfires-climate-crisis-hockenos/index.html.

Zdanowicz, Christina. “Police in Australia Accuse 24 of Deliberately Setting Bushfires amid Natural Factors.” CNN, Cable News Network, 8 Jan. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/01/07/australia/australia-fires-police-action-trnd/index.html.

Yeung, Jessie. “Millions of Animals Are Dying from the Australian Wildfires.” CNN, Cable News Network, 9 Jan. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/01/07/australia/australia-fire-wildlife-deaths-intl-hnk-scli/index.html.

Imagery:

Kettley, Sebastian. “Australia Fires: NASA Warns ‘Ferocious Fires’ in New South Wales Have Intensified.” Express.co.uk, Express.co.uk, 5 Jan. 2020, www.express.co.uk/news/science/1224053/Australia-fires-NASA-satellite-pictures-NSW-wildfires-New-South-Wales-fires-map.