The Australian fires started burning late December and are still burning. The fires are primarily affecting New South Wales and Queensland, provinces with cities such as Sydney and Brisbane. Lots of misinformation has been spreading regarding the reason for the fires. Some are saying arson or ‘green policies’ have caused this event, but it is actually believed to be a result of climate change.  

 Sam Wockner wrote an article on the Greenpeace website about the fires wrote on January 22nd, 2020 ”The fires started months before they usually do, and have continued to rage during an unprecedented drought and an unprecedented heatwave.” Due to the drought, it increased the risk of fires. 

Gigi Andrus has a friend who is a firefighter in Australia. Andrus said,  “ I have a friend named Nat who is a firefighter in Australia so she has been extremely busy these days…”

Due to the mass destruction of habitats, koalas are facing extinction at a lot faster rate. It has been roughly estimated to be 25,000 koalas have died in the fires.  Close to a billion animals over all have been killed. People are also fleeing their homes looking for refuge. 

With all the deaths and destruction of the forests, Andres gave her opinion on what should happen to help the animals. Andres said, “It’s so incredibly sad what’s happening to Australia’s wildlife, especially the koalas since they move so slow. I think that the best thing to do is to rescue as many animals as they can and make buildings with trees and plants and make it as much like the forest as possible and try to make as many of them as they can. Sadly there’s not much they can do without putting themselves in danger. But every open building they can find should be turned into a rehab center.” 

As of January 27th Reuters put out information stating “Australian officials on Tuesday warned communities in hard-hit eastern states to strengthen bushfire defenses as soaring temperatures and strong winds were set to return, threatening to reignite some blazes and start fresh ones.”  They have now lost 27 million acres and 2,500 homes to the fires.