After the devastating Amazon and California Fires, we now have Australia too being battered by a raging bushfire. It has razed properties and scorched millions of acres of the unusually hot and drought-stricken regions. The raging fires has now spread to the suburbs of Sydney. Millions of Australians in and around Sydney all the way north to the Gold Coast face the highest wildfire risk.
As per New South Wales Rural Fire Service, A feared southerly wind change has now occurred. The fickle winds, bone-dry air, dozens of already burning blazes and unusually high temperatures will combine to elevate wildfire risk to “catastrophic levels.”
A state of emergency is in effect for the state of New South Wales. Conditions here are being compared to one of the darkest days in Australian bush fire history.
As reported by Australian media, Hundreds of schools are expected to close preemptively due to the fire risk. Air quality is predicted to be poor, as smoke from nearby fires carries a dangerously high amount of fine particulate matter into the region.
Bushfires are a common threat in Australia’s hot, dry summers. But this year the early arrival of the outbreak has caught many by surprise. Blazes have been spurred by extremely dry conditions after three years of drought in parts of NSW and Queensland.
Also Read: Emergency declared in California as wildfires force evacuation, blackouts