Australia's indigenous people have a solution for the country's bushfires. And it's been around for 50,000 years - CNN

They're showing minimal signs of slowing down. The Australian state of New South Wales, where both Sydney and Canberra are located, declared a state of emergency this week, as worsening weather conditions could lead to even greater fire danger.

But a 50,000-year-old solution could exist: Aboriginal burning practices.

Here's how it works.

Aboriginal people had a deep knowledge of the land, said historian Bill Gammage, an emeritus professor at Australian National University who studies Australian and Aboriginal history. They can feel the grass and know if it would burn well; they knew what types of fires to burn for what types of land, how long to burn, and how frequently.

"Skills like that, they have but we don't know," Gammage said.

Aboriginal techniques are based in part on fire prevention: ridding the land of fuel, like debris, scrub, undergrowth and certain grasses. The fuel alights easily, which allows for more intense flames that are harder to fight.

The Aboriginal people would set small-scale fires that weren't too intense and clear the land of the extra debris. The smaller intensity fires would lessen the impact on the insects and animals occupying the land, too, as well as protect the trees and the canopy.

And though current fire fighters on the ground still use some fuel control and hazard reduction techniques, Gammage said it's not enough.

"Some of it is being done, but not skillfully enough," he said. "We don't really take into account plants and animals that might be endangered by fire. And secondly, we don't really know what's the best time of year, how much burn, how to break up a fire front."

It's not like they know nothing, Gammage said, especially the firefighters on the ground. But he said it's not enough to make Australia safe.

Why Aboriginal techniques are so difficult to implement

Setting smaller, low-intensity fires to prevent larger bushfires may sound like common sense. In practice, though, it's really hard.

It comes down to knowledge, Gammage said. When do you a start a fire? What time of the year? What time of day? How long you want it to burn? What plants are there? What's the weather like — is there a drought like now?

"You have to have a lot of local skill," Gammage said.

He cited an example. In Australia, fires that are too hot actually allows the flammable undergrowth to germinate more. When early Europeans tried to copy Aboriginal techniques by lighting fires, they made the fires too hot, and got even more of the flammable scrub. So, they tried again. And again.

"Even though people can see the Aboriginese doing the fire control, and could see the benefits, they couldn't copy it," he said.

Now, the juxtaposition is clear.

"Where the Aboriginal people are in charge, they're not having big fires," Gammage said. "In the south, where white people are in charge, we are having the problems."

As climate change worsens, so will the fires

The bushfires in Australia are never going to go away but will get worse. That's according to Justin Leonard, a researcher dedicated to understanding bushfires and land management. Bushfires are ignited both naturally and by humans, but Leonard called them "inevitable."

Climate change only worsens the conditions for fires, he said. Droughts and hotter weather only make for more intense fires and longer fire seasons — changes that are already being observed, he said.

Under worsening conditions, fires are harder to put out: They grow too big to get to safely, and even aerial suppression isn't necessarily possible because of the wind.

So, what does that mean for indigenous fire techniques?

They'll still help, Leonard said. Areas that have undergone preventative burning lead to less intense fires. But the problem is, under the worst of conditions, the fire will still be able to burn straight through the land, despite any preventative measures.

Which means that towns are still in danger.

"We need to solve that inevitability by effective township design," Leonard said.

In other words, indigenous burning techniques aren't enough on their own. Communities will need to properly manicure adjacent forests, landscape their own private property, and have effective house design and maintenance, Leonard said.

Aboriginal techniques require more money. The cost might be worth it

The most common way fires are handled now is with medium-intensity fires, Leonard said. It's similar to these smaller, more frequent fires, except it burns a little hotter, covers more land and is just a little more intense.

Basically, it's more bang for your buck. And that's what this comes down to.

You have to "use limited budget on what will be the most prolific way" to prevent fires, Leonard said.

It takes a lot of labor to ignite small frequent fires everywhere — even just using these tactics near towns can be labor intensive, Leonard said.

Gammage noted that cost is a common concern when it comes to transitioning completely to Aboriginal fire practices. But he said he's not impressed by that argument.

"It's costing much more (to fight these fires)," he said. "Fires that destroy 2.5 million acres, which is what's happening now, it's shameful. It's a disgrace that anyone could let such terrible fires run amok."

What Australians should really learn from the Aboriginal people is custodianship over the land, Leonard said. The way Aboriginal people deeply know and care for the land is something Australians should ponder and embrace.

Gammage pointed to an incident on Tuesday, when a local fire brigade managed to steer a bushfire around their community, despite being told their town was "undefendable," according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The brigade, using their knowledge of the land, stayed behind while others evacuated. And rather than burn right through their town, the brigade was able to save houses and prevent deaths.

It just shows the importance of knowing local fire conditions, Gammage said. Knowing the land -- just as the Aboriginal people do.

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2020-01-12 15:17:00Z
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Australia's indigenous people have a solution for the country's bushfires. And it's been around for 50,000 years - CNN

They're showing minimal signs of slowing down. The Australian state of New South Wales, where both Sydney and Canberra are located, declared a state of emergency this week, as worsening weather conditions could lead to even greater fire danger.

But a 50,000-year-old solution could exist: Aboriginal burning practices.

Here's how it works.

Aboriginal people had a deep knowledge of the land, said historian Bill Gammage, an emeritus professor at Australian National University who studies Australian and Aboriginal history. They can feel the grass and know if it would burn well; they knew what types of fires to burn for what types of land, how long to burn, and how frequently.

"Skills like that, they have but we don't know," Gammage said.

Aboriginal techniques are based in part on fire prevention: ridding the land of fuel, like debris, scrub, undergrowth and certain grasses. The fuel alights easily, which allows for more intense flames that are harder to fight.

The Aboriginal people would set small-scale fires that weren't too intense and clear the land of the extra debris. The smaller intensity fires would lessen the impact on the insects and animals occupying the land, too, as well as protect the trees and the canopy.

And though current fire fighters on the ground still use some fuel control and hazard reduction techniques, Gammage said it's not enough.

"Some of it is being done, but not skillfully enough," he said. "We don't really take into account plants and animals that might be endangered by fire. And secondly, we don't really know what's the best time of year, how much burn, how to break up a fire front."

It's not like they know nothing, Gammage said, especially the firefighters on the ground. But he said it's not enough to make Australia safe.

Why Aboriginal techniques are so difficult to implement

Setting smaller, low-intensity fires to prevent larger bushfires may sound like common sense. In practice, though, it's really hard.

It comes down to knowledge, Gammage said. When do you a start a fire? What time of the year? What time of day? How long you want it to burn? What plants are there? What's the weather like — is there a drought like now?

"You have to have a lot of local skill," Gammage said.

He cited an example. In Australia, fires that are too hot actually allows the flammable undergrowth to germinate more. When early Europeans tried to copy Aboriginal techniques by lighting fires, they made the fires too hot, and got even more of the flammable scrub. So, they tried again. And again.

"Even though people can see the Aboriginese doing the fire control, and could see the benefits, they couldn't copy it," he said.

Now, the juxtaposition is clear.

"Where the Aboriginal people are in charge, they're not having big fires," Gammage said. "In the south, where white people are in charge, we are having the problems."

As climate change worsens, so will the fires

The bushfires in Australia are never going to go away but will get worse. That's according to Justin Leonard, a researcher dedicated to understanding bushfires and land management. Bushfires are ignited both naturally and by humans, but Leonard called them "inevitable."

Climate change only worsens the conditions for fires, he said. Droughts and hotter weather only make for more intense fires and longer fire seasons — changes that are already being observed, he said.

Under worsening conditions, fires are harder to put out: They grow too big to get to safely, and even aerial suppression isn't necessarily possible because of the wind.

So, what does that mean for indigenous fire techniques?

They'll still help, Leonard said. Areas that have undergone preventative burning lead to less intense fires. But the problem is, under the worst of conditions, the fire will still be able to burn straight through the land, despite any preventative measures.

Which means that towns are still in danger.

"We need to solve that inevitability by effective township design," Leonard said.

In other words, indigenous burning techniques aren't enough on their own. Communities will need to properly manicure adjacent forests, landscape their own private property, and have effective house design and maintenance, Leonard said.

Aboriginal techniques require more money. The cost might be worth it

The most common way fires are handled now is with medium-intensity fires, Leonard said. It's similar to these smaller, more frequent fires, except it burns a little hotter, covers more land and is just a little more intense.

Basically, it's more bang for your buck. And that's what this comes down to.

You have to "use limited budget on what will be the most prolific way" to prevent fires, Leonard said.

It takes a lot of labor to ignite small frequent fires everywhere — even just using these tactics near towns can be labor intensive, Leonard said.

Gammage noted that cost is a common concern when it comes to transitioning completely to Aboriginal fire practices. But he said he's not impressed by that argument.

"It's costing much more (to fight these fires)," he said. "Fires that destroy 2.5 million acres, which is what's happening now, it's shameful. It's a disgrace that anyone could let such terrible fires run amok."

What Australians should really learn from the Aboriginal people is custodianship over the land, Leonard said. The way Aboriginal people deeply know and care for the land is something Australians should ponder and embrace.

Gammage pointed to an incident on Tuesday, when a local fire brigade managed to steer a bushfire around their community, despite being told their town was "undefendable," according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The brigade, using their knowledge of the land, stayed behind while others evacuated. And rather than burn right through their town, the brigade was able to save houses and prevent deaths.

It just shows the importance of knowing local fire conditions, Gammage said. Knowing the land -- just as the Aboriginal people do.

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2020-01-12 10:40:00Z
CAIiEJGIKKZYk7sMrbnfAci1RYMqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowocv1CjCSptoCMPrTpgU

Australia's indigenous people have a solution for the country's bushfires. And it's been around for 50,000 years - CNN

They're showing minimal signs of slowing down. The Australian state of New South Wales, where both Sydney and Canberra are located, declared a state of emergency this week, as worsening weather conditions could lead to even greater fire danger.

But a 50,000-year-old solution could exist: Aboriginal burning practices.

Here's how it works.

Aboriginal people had a deep knowledge of the land, said historian Bill Gammage, an emeritus professor at Australian National University who studies Australian and Aboriginal history. They can feel the grass and know if it would burn well; they knew what types of fires to burn for what types of land, how long to burn, and how frequently.

"Skills like that, they have but we don't know," Gammage said.

Aboriginal techniques are based in part on fire prevention: ridding the land of fuel, like debris, scrub, undergrowth and certain grasses. The fuel alights easily, which allows for more intense flames that are harder to fight.

The Aboriginal people would set small-scale fires that weren't too intense and clear the land of the extra debris. The smaller intensity fires would lessen the impact on the insects and animals occupying the land, too, as well as protect the trees and the canopy.

And though current fire fighters on the ground still use some fuel control and hazard reduction techniques, Gammage said it's not enough.

"Some of it is being done, but not skillfully enough," he said. "We don't really take into account plants and animals that might be endangered by fire. And secondly, we don't really know what's the best time of year, how much burn, how to break up a fire front."

It's not like they know nothing, Gammage said, especially the firefighters on the ground. But he said it's not enough to make Australia safe.

Why Aboriginal techniques are so difficult to implement

Setting smaller, low-intensity fires to prevent larger bushfires may sound like common sense. In practice, though, it's really hard.

It comes down to knowledge, Gammage said. When do you a start a fire? What time of the year? What time of day? How long you want it to burn? What plants are there? What's the weather like — is there a drought like now?

"You have to have a lot of local skill," Gammage said.

He cited an example. In Australia, fires that are too hot actually allows the flammable undergrowth to germinate more. When early Europeans tried to copy Aboriginal techniques by lighting fires, they made the fires too hot, and got even more of the flammable scrub. So, they tried again. And again.

"Even though people can see the Aboriginese doing the fire control, and could see the benefits, they couldn't copy it," he said.

Now, the juxtaposition is clear.

"Where the Aboriginal people are in charge, they're not having big fires," Gammage said. "In the south, where white people are in charge, we are having the problems."

As climate change worsens, so will the fires

The bushfires in Australia are never going to go away but will get worse. That's according to Justin Leonard, a researcher dedicated to understanding bushfires and land management. Bushfires are ignited both naturally and by humans, but Leonard called them "inevitable."

Climate change only worsens the conditions for fires, he said. Droughts and hotter weather only make for more intense fires and longer fire seasons — changes that are already being observed, he said.

Under worsening conditions, fires are harder to put out: They grow too big to get to safely, and even aerial suppression isn't necessarily possible because of the wind.

So, what does that mean for indigenous fire techniques?

They'll still help, Leonard said. Areas that have undergone preventative burning lead to less intense fires. But the problem is, under the worst of conditions, the fire will still be able to burn straight through the land, despite any preventative measures.

Which means that towns are still in danger.

"We need to solve that inevitability by effective township design," Leonard said.

In other words, indigenous burning techniques aren't enough on their own. Communities will need to properly manicure adjacent forests, landscape their own private property, and have effective house design and maintenance, Leonard said.

Aboriginal techniques require more money. The cost might be worth it

The most common way fires are handled now is with medium-intensity fires, Leonard said. It's similar to these smaller, more frequent fires, except it burns a little hotter, covers more land and is just a little more intense.

Basically, it's more bang for your buck. And that's what this comes down to.

You have to "use limited budget on what will be the most prolific way" to prevent fires, Leonard said.

It takes a lot of labor to ignite small frequent fires everywhere — even just using these tactics near towns can be labor intensive, Leonard said.

Gammage noted that cost is a common concern when it comes to transitioning completely to Aboriginal fire practices. But he said he's not impressed by that argument.

"It's costing much more (to fight these fires)," he said. "Fires that destroy 2.5 million acres, which is what's happening now, it's shameful. It's a disgrace that anyone could let such terrible fires run amok."

What Australians should really learn from the Aboriginal people is custodianship over the land, Leonard said. The way Aboriginal people deeply know and care for the land is something Australians should ponder and embrace.

Gammage pointed to an incident on Tuesday, when a local fire brigade managed to steer a bushfire around their community, despite being told their town was "undefendable," according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The brigade, using their knowledge of the land, stayed behind while others evacuated. And rather than burn right through their town, the brigade was able to save houses and prevent deaths.

It just shows the importance of knowing local fire conditions, Gammage said. Knowing the land -- just as the Aboriginal people do.

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2020-01-12 09:10:00Z
52780550742408

Australia's Wildfires Spark Disinformation Battle As They Take A Tragic Toll - NPR

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Activists protest outside the Australian Embassy in London, accusing Australia's government of inadequately responding to the fires and an overall climate emergency. Wiktor Szymanowicz/Barcroft Media via Getty Images hide caption

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Wiktor Szymanowicz/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Australia is struggling to cope with deadly infernos and faces the loss of nearly a billion animals to terrible bushfires — but in the midst of those tragedies, authorities are also battling against hoaxes and misinformation, including false reports of widespread arson. Many of the claims seek to suggest arson, not climate change, was a key driver of the historic fires.

The hashtag #ArsonEmergency began trending shortly after the new year. Queensland University of Technology researcher Timothy Graham says he identified troll and bot social media accounts that tried to shift the narrative about the fires as being the work of dozens of criminals.

"We studied about 300 Twitter accounts driving the #ArsonEmergency hashtag to identify inauthentic behavior," Graham said Friday in an essay for The Conversation, which he co-wrote with fellow researcher Tobias Keller.

"We found many accounts using #ArsonEmergency were behaving 'suspiciously,' compared to those using #AustraliaFire and #BushfireAustralia," they said. "Accounts peddling #ArsonEmergency carried out activity similar to what we've witnessed in past disinformation campaigns, such as the coordinated behavior of Russian trolls during the 2016 US presidential election."

just finished a first map of tweets on the same theme in Gephi..as ever not comprehensive due to search and API constraints, but enough captured to give a sense of the shape of the discourse. pic.twitter.com/dFBdFY8GHI

— David Spencer (@Honxqp) January 10, 2020

As for who mounted the social media campaign to push the arson narrative, Graham and Keller say that while software tools allowed them to identify bots and trolls, they weren't able to trace the bogus accounts to any specific people or entities.

While arson has historically been one of the causes of Australian wildfires, the country is facing an unprecedented bushfire disaster. Since September, fires have now consumed an area larger than the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire combined. And a new "megafire" was created Friday, when two blazes joined — covering nearly 1.5 million acres, as NPR's Scott Neuman reports.

The #ArsonEmergency campaign seems to have peaked around Jan. 7, when thousands of tweets used the hashtag, Graham and Keller say.

Around the same time the bot campaign hit its crescendo, news stories about the wildfires also touted a police report in hard-hit New South Wales, where authorities recently announced that they have taken legal action against more than 180 people for fire-related offenses. But only a fraction of those people face charges that might be construed as arson, and the figure also spans a period that began in late 2019.

The NSW police said that while 24 people were charged with deliberately lighting bushfires, 53 faced legal actions — which include a warning — for not complying with a statewide ban on fires. And the overall number also includes 47 people who were accused of not properly disposing of lit cigarettes or matches.

Conservatives in the U.S. also picked up on the arson thread, with President Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., retweeting a post about the arrests in New South Wales.

Documenting a further convolution in the narrative, Australia's ABC reports, "Some of the misinformation includes the idea left-wing 'ecoterrorists' are behind some fires."

On Friday, an employee of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp in Australia raised alarms about her concerns about the company's coverage of the wildfires, accusing the publisher of newspapers such as The Australian and the Herald Sun of carrying out an irresponsible "misinformation campaign."

"I find it unconscionable to continue working for this company, knowing I am contributing to the spread of climate change denial and lies," wrote Emily Townsend, a commercial finance manager at News Corp, in an all-staff email. She added that the newspapers' coverage angles were "not only irresponsible, but dangerous and damaging to our communities and beautiful planet."

Townsend tells The Sydney Morning Herald she doesn't regret that her email was leaked to the wider press. A News Corp executive tells the Morning Herald that Townsend was already in the process of leaving the company, having resigned in December.

Beyond arguments over the impacts of climate change, Australia's wildfires do have a real political aspect: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has frequently been criticized for his approach to the disaster, from his interactions with affected states to his recent vacation getaway to Hawaii as the raging fires destroyed communities back home. On Friday, protesters vented their anger at Morrison and the government by holding a large demonstration in Sydney.

Experts say the intense and widespread effects of Australia's wildfires are related to a number of factors, from the destructive nature of wind-borne embers — which swirl high into the air and help fires spread rapidly and unpredictably — to building standards that allow houses to be constructed out of flammable materials and planning regulations that don't enforce enough of a buffer zone around houses built in vulnerable areas.

Australia's fires are spreading more quickly and ferociously because of prolonged drought and hot weather — both of which are exacerbated by climate change — are providing copious dry fuel.

According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, most of bushfires that are started by arson only burn around five hectares — a little over 12 acres of land. The government crime agency says most arson fires are started by young people in disadvantaged areas. The AIC lists these patterns:

"Communities with a high propensity for arson often have a high proportion of children under 15 and lower education levels, employment rates and household income than the national average (Muller 2009). Unfortunately, communities with this demographic profile are common on the outskirts of cities where there are opportunities for bushfire arson near at hand and consequently, the bulk of bushfire arson ignitions occur in this context."

NPR's Rebecca Hersher contributed to this report.

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2020-01-10 17:03:00Z
CAIiEBdGqDp2NSwPqEmfdbAQtcIqFggEKg4IACoGCAow9vBNMK3UCDCvpUk

US firefighters cheered at Australia airport as fires worsen, new evacuations ordered - Fox News

American firefighters got a hero’s welcome in Australia.

Dozens who arrived at Sydney International Airport this week to assist in battling a series of devastating wildfires were met with cheers from a crowd that had amassed at the terminal.

“Coming through, all gathered gave a spontaneous & lengthy round of applause, reflecting the gratitude & admiration we all have for their generosity,” tweeted Shane Fitzsimmons, the commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

His agency warned Friday that forecasted wind gusts could “cause erratic fire behavior over many firegrounds.” As of 6 p.m. local time, more than 3,300 firefighters were battling 137 blazes across Australia, 66 of which have not been contained, it added.

A yacht sails past a burning woodchip mill as the wildfires hit the town of Eden, New South Wales, Australia, on Friday. (AP)

AUSTRALIA’S PRIME MINISTER MAKES ANOTHER GAFFE WHILE VISITING A COMMUNITY IMPACTED BY THE FIRES

The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho said the more than 100 firefighters from the U.S. that arrived Thursday will join 159 already in Australia. It's the largest-ever deployment of American firefighters abroad.

The most recent contingent includes crews that fight fires on the ground, based in the U.S. Forest Service's Angeles National Forest in California.

Carrie Bilbao, spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center, told The Associated Press the next group will also include more ground crews and that they are receiving training about venomous snakes and insects they might encounter.

"They've been enormously welcome and they've fitted in really well with our teams here," Rob Rogers, deputy commissioner for NSW Rural Fire Service, told "Fox & Friends." "They've been very popular."

AUSTRALIA’S KANGAROO ISLAND SHOWS BURN SCARS IN STUNNING NASA IMAGE

Most of the fire danger is centered on New South Wales and Victoria, Australia’s most populous states, where temperatures and wind speeds were escalating Friday after a few days of relatively benign conditions.

The NSW Rural Fire Service said that coastal towns south of Sydney, including Eden, Batemans Bay, and Nowra, could again be under threat weeks after losing homes to the fires.

Fitzsimmons added there is “a long night still to go, for all our firefighters and those affected by the fires.”

In the New South Wales town of Candelo, Nathan Barnden, a divisional commander with the Rural Fire Service, was preparing to head to the nearby township of Burragate with his team to protect the community from a fire that was marching north from the Victoria border. The fire had breached containment lines in one area, and officials were worried that predicted winds of 40 to 60 miles per hour could push it into populated areas.

“We’re preparing for the inevitable risk that those towns may come under threat and if they do, we’ll be there to help defend them through the night,” Barnden said. “We’ve been warned that we could be up there ‘til the morning. … There is a risk that we’ll be cut off and we’ll have to stay there throughout the time.”

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In neighboring Victoria, evacuation orders were issued in alpine areas, and Premier Daniel Andrews pleaded with residents to heed alerts and avoid complacency even though no fresh destruction was being reported.

The crisis so far has claimed at least 26 lives, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and scorched an area twice the size of the U.S. state of Maryland since September.

Fox News’ Travis Fedschun and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2020-01-10 13:29:13Z
52780548239027

Enormous 'Mega-Fire' In Australia Engulfs 1.5 Million Acres - NPR

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A New South Wales Rural Fire Service Large Air Tanker (LAT) drops fire retardant on the Morton Fire burning in bushland close to homes at Penrose, south of Sydney, Australia, on Friday. Stringer ./Reuters hide caption

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Stringer ./Reuters

A pair of massive bushfires in southeastern Australia has merged into a "mega-fire" engulfing some 2,300 square miles – a single blaze more than three times as large as any known fire in California.

The merged fire, which straddles the country's most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria, measures nearly 1.5 million acres, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. It is just one of some 135 bushfires in Australia's southeast that have claimed the lives of at least 26 people, killed more than a billion animals and damaged or destroyed nearly 3,000 homes.

Since September, the unprecedented bushfires have swept through an area larger than Massachusetts and New Hampshire combined.

NASA has released an animation showing how smoke from the bushfires has reached the lower stratosphere and traveled as far away as Chile.

YouTube

Meanwhile, more than 30,000 people attended a protest in Sydney to denounce the government's handling of the crisis and to call for action on climate change.

The protesters directed their ire at Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose coalition government's policies have rejected a link between Australia's unprecedented drought and fires crisis and climate change.

However, the prime minister said this week that his government would launch an inquiry to examine whether there was any connection between the fires and climate change. Asked whether he expected the current fire crisis to become commonplace in Australia due to climate change, he replied: "The links and implications here have been acknowledged."

Morrison, who has also found himself on the defensive for taking a Hawaiian vacation with his family while the bushfires raged, also said Friday he had ordered the military to be on standby to help firefighters.

"I've given them very clear instructions that they are to stand ready to move and support immediately," he said. "In the event that they are needed in the wake of what we hope we will not see today, but we must prepare for today."

Authorities in Australia on Friday urged a quarter of a million people in Victoria to leave their homes amid erratic winds and soaring temperatures, even as there was welcome rain in some parts affected by the fires.

A few rain drops starting to fall but the wind is strong pic.twitter.com/6t3q6yJVLD

— Mikaela Ortolan (@mikaelaortolann) January 10, 2020

Helicopters dropped supplies to towns at risk of being cut off and C-130 tankers unleashed torrents of fire retardant.

Fire crews were preparing for what they believe will be a difficult night as the wind shifts and ramps up to 50 miles per hour. In parts of the fire-affected countryside, temperatures pegged out at 104 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday.

Firefighter Andrew Beville, who was battling the Morton fire on the outskirts of the town of Penrose, near Wingello, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he wasn't sure what would happen when the blaze reached the town.

"We just want to survive the night," he said.

Towns south of Sydney, including Eden, Batemans Bay and Norwa were warned by New South Wales Rural Fire Service to be prepared for another onslaught, The Associated Press reports.

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A yacht sails past a burning woodchip mill as bushfires hit the town of Eden, New South Wales, Australia, on Friday. Rick Rycroft/AP hide caption

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Rick Rycroft/AP

In neighboring Victoria, premier Daniel Andrews told reporters he was thankful that there were at present no one unaccounted for and no communities cut off in his state.

"Now, all of those things can change and that is perhaps the most powerful reminder that we have to remain vigilant," he said. "Please, listen to the warnings and do as you are asked. If you are told to leave a community, and you can leave, then you should leave."

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Veterinarians and volunteers treat koalas at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park on Kangaroo Island, southwest of Adelaide, Australia, on Friday. Stringer ./Reuters hide caption

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Stringer ./Reuters

The conservation group WWF-Australia estimates that 1.25 billion animals have been killed in the bushfires and says it fears that some species, such as the glossy black-cockatoo and the knee-high kangaroo, face extinction.

Meanwhile, the government says the loss of livestock from the fires will exceed 100,000 animals.

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2020-01-10 11:33:00Z
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On kangaroo killing field, from horror to hope for Australian animals devastated by wildfires - CNN

The Mallacoota golf course was a sanctuary for animals fleeing Australia's catastrophic bushfires, but it has become a killing field.

A mob of kangaroos had gathered on the fairway, the last patch of green grass left after fire ripped through the eastern Victoria town on New Year's Eve, destroying close to 100 homes and thousands of hectares of native habitat. Over 4,000 locals and tourists had to be evacuated by sea after the fires cut the one road in and out of Mallacoota.

The pristine national park that rings the town is home to native wildlife in an abundance unmatched throughout Australia. The fires burned fast, killing animals in their thousands -- and even those that made it to the comparative safety of the golf course were often horrifically injured.

The four kangaroos Barton had to euthanize Thursday morning had third degree burns on their paws and faces that were already becoming septic. It was not going to be possible to treat their terrible injuries, forcing vets to put them down.

"I have nightmares," Barton says, standing on the golf course. Behind him is a healthy couple -- a baby kangaroo feeding from its mother. Moments earlier he had used his rifle to euthanize another joey which was too badly burned to hop. The young male was tranquilized first and then put down swiftly and, the vet said, painlessly.

"I've been a vet for 40 years, and I still don't get used to it. Wholesale slaughter is awful. It still brings tears to my eyes."

The tears flow as Barton's wife and clinical partner at Vets for Compassion, Elaine Ong, interjects.

"The animals suffer just as humans do," she says. "The community has been telling us that they've gone through so much trauma and they are further traumatized by seeing the animals suffer. So they are pleased we can come and help the animals."

It's somber and difficult work, but leaving distressed animals to suffer through a slower and more painful death is even worse for the pair, who arrived from Melbourne on a trip sponsored by the NGO Animals Australia. Barton and Ong want to draw a line under the horror of the fires that burned almost all the land around Mallacoota, allowing others to begin the task of repopulating wildlife and healing the land.

Resilience and recovery

Southeastern Australia is in the grip of a three-year drought, with significant rain not forecast until April.

The conditions have exacerbated the fires burning across Australia for months, razing homes and wiping out entire towns. Across the country, more than 7.3 million hectares (17.9 million acres) of land has been burned -- much of it bushland, forests and national parks, home to the country's beloved and unique wildlife.

In New South Wales, the state neighboring Victoria, ecologists estimate that as many as half a billion animals may have been affected by the fires, with millions potentially killed. That figure includes birds, reptiles, and mammals, except bats. It also excludes insects and frogs -- meaning the true number is likely much higher.

There are fears that some species may not recover, entering a terminal decline, such is the degree to which the fires have ravaged their populations.

But amid all the bleak news, there is still room for hope that Australia's unique landscape and wildlife could bounce back.

When the rains finally do come, much bushland could quickly recover -- particularly eucalypt forests where koalas live and feed. Beds of ash left by the fire provide nutrients for the seeds of Australian gum trees, which evolved to survive and even thrive from fires.

Much of the vegetation that has burned this summer will naturally rejuvenate -- and the koala carers in Mallacoota are already preparing.

A short drive from the golf course, volunteers Jack Bruce and Alyex Burges believe they may have found a new home for Wilbur, an adult koala that fled the blazes five days ago. After spending that time in a cage, clinging to a stump and shrouded in a buffet of eucalyptus leaf varieties, he's going back to the bush.

A fertile gully at the back of Bruce's family farm has been identified as being relatively unscathed after last week's flames. But when the pair conduct a cursory check that Wilbur is not going to be put up an already occupied tree, they are shocked to find they have company.

This area was meant to be wiped of life -- but up in the canopy is a healthy mother koala with a baby on her back. Birds sing as she takes in some of the 20 hours of sleep the species enjoys a day.

Wilbur gets a tree a few steps down the road. After 10 minutes of wondering whether he'll give up his blanket and free meals, he crawls out of his cage and up a tree.

Nothing is certain when it comes to wildfire, but the gully Wilbur now shares with his neighbor will hopefully be spared again from fires feared this weekend -- it's surrounded by already burned-out bushland and close to homes. Bruce hopes the two koalas there will be part of the rejuvenation of this previously untouched environment.

"It is sad to go out there and see them suffering. But you have to confront that to give them any chance of survival," he says. (The survivors will) return back to Mallacoota when it begins to rejuvenate. I think there is hope. It is inspiring and it is encouraging."

This story has been updated to accurately reflect the number of animals affected by the fires in New South Wales.

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2020-01-10 08:02:00Z
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