Professional firefighters are the first in line to battle the flames, but they are outnumbered by the thousands of volunteers. Three of them have died. There's also help coming from abroad: the US, Canada, and New Zealand have sent firefighters to help. Australia's police, military and navy are involved in rescue and evacuation efforts. While people can flee the fires and are being evacuated if need be, the flames are devastating wildlife in the affected areas.
One study estimated that half a billion animals have died in NSW alone. Read more on how they reached that conclusion here. But the fires don't only kill animals directly, they also destroy the habitat, leaving the survivors vulnerable even once the fires have gone.
So the true scale of loss isn't yet clear. Experts say more than , cows and sheep may also have been lost , which is devastating for farmers. But the national government has come under strong criticism from its opponents that it's not been doing enough against climate change.
The country is one of the world's biggest per capita greenhouse gas emitters but under international agreements it has committed itself to reduction targets.
Mr Morrison has repeatedly defended his government's stance. Do you have any questions about the Australia fires? In some cases your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise.
Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions. If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions bbc. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in. A visual guide to Australia's bushfire crisis.
What is Australia doing to tackle climate change? Which animals fare best and worst in fires? Is climate change to blame for Australia's fires?
Most loss of life and economic damage occurs around the fringes of cities where homes are commonly in close proximity to flammable vegetation. A comparison of disaster cost estimates in Australia.
International J of DRR. Report with AGD. Geoscience Australia is committed to support Australia's capability to managing the impact of natural hazards, including bushfire. Geoscience Australia:. Geoscience Australia supports emergency managers' ability to respond to, and prepare for, bushfires, including providing satellite information to inform emergency managers and the general public of where bushfires have been occurring.
Geoscience Australia also develops fundamental datasets and tools to model the potential impact of bushfire. In particular, Geoscience Australia:.
What is a bushfire? While naturally occurring bushfires cannot be averted, their consequences can be minimised by implementing mitigation strategies and reducing the potential impact to areas which are most vulnerable What factors create a favourable environment for bushfires to occur?
Fuel load Fuel load describes the amount of fallen bark, leaf litter and small branches accumulating in the landscape.
Fuel moisture Dry fuel will burn quickly, but damp or wet fuel may not burn at all. Wind speed Wind acts to drive a fire by blowing the flames into fresh fuel, bringing it to ignition point and providing a continuous supply of oxygen. Ambient temperature The higher the temperature the more likely it is that a fire will start or continue to burn. Relative humidity Dry air promotes a greater intensity fire than moist air. Slope angle Fires pre-heat their fuel source through radiation and convection.
Ignition Source Bushfires can originate from both human activity and natural causes with lightning the predominant natural source, accounting for about half of all ignitions in Australia.
Where do bushfires occur? In the years between and , major Australian bushfires have resulted in over injuries and fatalities, close to 50 per cent of all deaths from major Australian natural disasters in the period excluding heatwaves. A fire front advances more quickly when travelling upslope and slows travelling down slope. The speed of a fire front advancing will double for every 10 degree increase in slope, so that on a 20 degree slope, its speed is four times greater than over flat ground.
What is Geoscience Australia's role in reducing risk to Australians from bushfire? Geoscience Australia: develops an understanding of natural hazards and community exposure to support risk mitigation and community resilience provides authoritative, independent information and advice to the Australian Government and other stakeholders to support risk mitigation and community resilience maintains and improves systems for effective natural disaster preparedness, response and recovery contributes to Australia's overseas development program.
In particular, Geoscience Australia: delivers the Digital Earth Australia Hotspots website that provides national situational awareness for active bushfires and a historical archive on bushfire hotspots supports Emergency Management Australia to understand what is exposed to bushfires before, during and after events develops and maintains fundamental datasets such as elevation, land cover and wind multiplier factors that help to evaluate the local influences on the speed of the fire front develops tools to evaluate and map potential exposure of buildings to bushfire, informing construction requirements and land-use planning.
Data Landcover ; The Dynamic Land Cover Dataset of Australia is the first nationally consistent and thematically comprehensive land cover reference for Australia.
It is the result of a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences, and provides a base-line for identifying and reporting on change and trends in vegetation cover and extent.
Wind multipliers data access and Wind multipliers publications ; Assists in evaluating the local wind speeds over topography and different land cover types, which can influence the speed of the fire front. A state of disaster has been declared for the worst-hit areas in Victoria - meaning people will be evacuated by authorities.
If not arson, severe and long term droughts, combined with record-breaking heatwaves are to blame for the fires. South-eastern Australia, which is experiencing the worst of the fires, is in the grip of the worst drought on record, according to Greenpeace. Climate scientists warn that the scale and devastation of the wildfires are clear examples of the way climate change can intensify natural disasters.
Dry heat combined with lack of rain, Australia's dry season from April to September sees a high chance of fires. Fires on the east coast of the country have spread quickly with the help of hot-dry weather, burning through millions of acres and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. Bushfires stay alight and spread for many reasons - including the wind speed, temperature, and the amount of debris in the way. A combination of the intense heat and strong winds during Australia's summer months has made the fires spread rapidly across parts of the country.
The direction of the wind also has a massive effect on the areas that are being affected by the flames. Very hot and dry conditions with thunderstorms are expected in the coming days - which will pose further risks for the growing bushfires.
To date, 23 people have tragically lost their lives due to the bushfires raging across the country, with a further 28 people still missing.
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