December 23, 2019

Saturday, December 21, was the winter solstice in the United States and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere—which includes Australia, New Zealand, and other lands south of the equator—the solstice marks the beginning of summer. In Australia, summer is a season known for bushfires. Such wildfires are common in Australia, due in part to the country’s hot and dry climate. Many wildfires start in the remote countryside known to Australians as the bush. Bushfires can be extremely destructive, especially if they reach urban areas. The fires often kill people and destroy property and farmland. They also devastate forests, along with the koalas and other animals that live there.

Police in Jimboomba, Queensland, rescued this koala and her joey from a bushfire in late November 2019. Many other koalas were not so lucky. Credit: Jimboomba Police

A number of major bushfires have plagued Australia in 2019. Late last summer, in February, bushfires consumed more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of land in northern New South Wales. Far more destructive bushfires ignited again in New South Wales in September, burning nearly 5 million acres (2 million hectares) there and in neighboring Queensland. Some of those fires lasted for weeks, while others continue to burn, turning skies black or orange, causing severe damage, and killing a number of people. The bushfires also killed thousands of vulnerable and slow-moving koalas trapped by the rapidly spreading flames.

Bushfires are relatively common in Australia. These fire-damaged buildings are seen alongside a house that survived Christmas Day bushfires near Melbourne in 2015. Credit: © Julian Smith, EPA/Landov

Koalas live only in the forests of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, in eastern Australia. They are found in significant numbers in only a few areas, and the animals are protected by law. Bushfires, however, ravage the koala’s natural habitat and its population. Koalas cannot escape the fast-moving fires, and their only defense is to climb to the top of a tree, curl into a ball, and hope the flames do not rise to reach them. Koalas sometimes survive this way, but they often burn their paws and claws descending charred trees, leaving them unable to climb properly again.

Koalas are not officially listed as endangered, but the population in New South Wales and Queensland has decreased by more than 40 percent since 1990. The animals are threatened by deforestation and habitat loss, as well as the effects of climate change, which is causing longer and more intense heat waves and droughts, leading to more frequent, intense, and longer-lasting bushfires. Beyond the flames and smoke of the fires, many koalas die from lack of water or exposure to prolonged periods of high temperatures. Australia just suffered through the driest spring in its history, and a brutal heat wave peaked on Dec. 19, 2019, when the highest ever nationwide average temperature—107.4 °F (41.9 °C)—was recorded.

January 16, 2014

With temperatures hitting 107 °F (41.7 °C) for a third consecutive day in Melbourne, Australian Open tennis officials called off open-air matches. Yesterday, players withdrew from matches after a player and a ball boy collapsed from the heat. Australia’s Climate Council, a nongovernmental group of Australian scientists, reported today that the number of hot days in the country has “more than doubled” in recent years. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology recently declared that 2013 was Australia’s hottest year on record.

Adelaide, capital of the state of South Australia, today reported a high of 115 °F (46 °C), and fire bans have been called across the state as well as in Victoria state. In Victoria, several small fires in the northern Grampians area have merged into one “out of control” bushfire, and residents are being urged to evacuate.  “A thousand fires have been reported over the past 24 hours and 39 of those are still listed as going,” confirmed Victoria Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley.

Extreme heat has forced Australian Open officials to postpone matches being played on courts without retractable roofs. (© Bob Martin, Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)

Demand for electric power is at record levels, causing blackouts in some areas. At least 10,000 households lost electric power in Melbourne yesterday, and Victoria officials warn that 100,000 households may face power cuts through the end of the week.

The authors of the Climate Council report project that the number of heat waves in Australia will “increase significantly,” and they attribute the higher temperatures to global warming, caused by the emission of greenhouse gases. “Both the duration and frequency of heat waves had increased between 1971 and 2008,” note the authors of the report. “As greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, more heat is trapped in the lower atmosphere.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Australia 2009 (a Back in Time article)
• Global warming 2012 (a Back in Time article)
• The Great Meltdown (a special report)
• Meltdown: Climate Change in the Arctic (a special report)

October 23, 2013

The Australian state of New South Wales is braced for another day of devastating bushfires. The commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service has urged people not to travel in various parts of the state due to conditions that are set to be “as bad as it gets.” Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warned that today’s weather forecast—temperature in the mid to high 80′s °F (30′s °C), humidity down to 10 percent, and winds of 50 to 60 miles (80 to 100 kilometers) per hour—is worse than previously thought, making it the most dangerous day yet in the bushfire emergency that began last week.

Dozens of bushfires are burning to the north, south, and west of Sydney, and the city is wreathed in smoke. “You can smell smoke inside buildings,” National Public Radio correspondent Stuart Cohen reported yesterday, noting that health authorities were expecting a surge in cases of people with respiratory problems. Since the start of the bushfires, more than 200 homes have been destroyed, and wildlife experts believe that thousands of koalas, opossums, reptiles, and other animals have been killed. However, only one life has been lost in the disaster.

A dangerous wildfire in the Blue Mountain region was started by the Australian army testing explosives in a military training exercise. (World Book map)

Firefighters from three states are battling the fires through backburning—that is, starting a fire that burns in the opposite direction to the line of the advancing wildfire. Australian fire officials say the threat to the Blue Mountain area west of Sydney “has been averted” for today, but warn the crisis is far from over. In total, 73 fires are burning across the state, 29 of them out of control. Meteorologists note that the severity of the bushfires is due to extremely dry conditions following Australia’s hottest September on record.

Additional World Book articles:

• Hakea
• Australia 2009 (a Back in Time article)

January 18, 2013

Sydney, Australia, is experiencing its hottest day on record, with temperatures reaching 114.4 °F (45.8 °C). The previous recorded high in Sydney–113.5 °F (45.3 °C)–was in January 1939. The heat has caused extensive damage to Sydney’s urban railway lines, causing delays to much of the network. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has advised Australians to “take the appropriate precautions to stay safe and monitor information from local emergency services as they work to protect lives and property.”

A record high of 104 °F (40 °C) set on January 8 prompted the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to add two new colors to its temperature charts to extend their range to 129 °F (54 °C) from the previous cap of 122 °F (50 °C). David Jones, manager of climate monitoring prediction at the Bureau of Meteorology, declared last week that Australia was undergoing the “largest heat event in the country’s recorded history.”

According to public safety officials, four months of record-breaking temperatures combined with widespread drought conditions and high winds have created “catastrophic” fire conditions along the heavily populated eastern and southeastern coasts of the country. These areas include Australia’s three largest cities, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, as well as the capital, Canberra. A bushfire in Victoria state has left one man dead. He was found in his burnt-out vehicle outside the town of Seaton, which is 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of Melbourne. Firefighters continue to battle dozens of wildfires sparked by the intense heat in Victoria and New South Wales, and whole towns and sheep ranches are reportedly cut off  by fires and endangered. (A bushfire is an uncontrolled fire in bush areas, especially the Australian bush.) Very similar conditions on Feb. 7, 2009, came to be known as Black Saturday, during which wildfires in Victoria state left 173 people dead and caused $4.4 billion in damage.

Additional World Book articles:

• Celsius scale
• Fahrenheit scale
• Why Fires Need to Burn (a special report)
• Australia 2009 (a Back in Time article)

January 9, 2012

Temperatures in Australia topped 104 °F (40 °C) on January 8, and the mean national temperature climbed to the highest in history, breaking a record set just the day before, on January 7, reported the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The new record prompted meteorologists at the bureau to take the extraordinary step of adding two new colors to its temperature charts to extend their range to 129 °F (54 °C) from the previous cap of 122 °F (50 °C).

“If you look at yesterday, at Australia as a whole, it was the hottest day in our records going back to 1911,” noted David Jones, manager of climate monitoring prediction at the Bureau of Meteorology. “From this national perspective, one might say this is the largest heat event in the country’s recorded history.”

According to public safety officials, four months of record-breaking temperatures combined over the past week with widespread drought conditions and high winds have created “catastrophic” fire conditions along the heavily populated eastern and southeastern coasts of the country. These areas include Australia’s three largest cities, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, as well as the capital, Canberra. Firefighters and emergency crews in the state of New South Wales are facing a highly dangerous situation battling 130 separate bushfires. (A bushfire is an uncontrolled fire in bush areas, especially the Australian bush.) Very similar conditions on Feb. 7, 2009, came to be known as Black Saturday, during which wildfires in Victoria state left 173 people dead and caused $4.4 billion in damage.

Additional World Book articles:

• Celsius scale
• Fahrenheit scale
• Why Fires Need to Burn (a special report)
• Australia 2009 (a Back in Time article)

January 7, 2013

Firefighters and emergency crews in the Australian state of New South Wales are facing a highly dangerous situation battling bushfires. (A bushfire is an uncontrolled fire in bush areas, especially the Australian bush.) With temperatures in Sydney expected to reach 110 °F (40 °C) today and severely dry, hot winds blowing from central Australia, fire departments, volunteer brigades, and emergency authorities were bracing for the worst. Very similar conditions on Feb. 7, 2009, came to be known as Black Saturday, during which wildfires in Victoria state left 173 people dead and caused $4.4 billion in damage.

Bushfires are currently burning in 5 of Australia’s 6 states, with 90 fires currently out of control in New South Wales and in the mountain forests around the capital, Canberra. “Any fire that burns under the predicted conditions–110 °F (40 °C ) temperatures, below 10 percent humidity, winds gusting over  43 miles (70 kilometers) per hour–those conditions are by any measure horrendous,” Rob Rogers, deputy commissioner of the New South Wales rural fire service, told NBC News. Speaking on NBC News, New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell warned, “Tomorrow [January 8] is not going to be just another ordinary day. Tomorrow will be perhaps the worst fire danger day this state has ever faced.”

Australia's current bushfires are being made worse by unusually hot temperatures, e.g., 110 °F (40 °C) in Sydney. The average January temperature in Sydney is 65 to 75 °F (18 to 24 °C). (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

After touring the island state of Tasmania yesterday, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard promised emergency aid for fire victims, who told of exploding trees and fireballs that engulfed whole communities on January 5. A number of people remain accounted for.

Additional World Book articles:

• Celsius scale
• Fahrenheit scale
• Why Fires Need to Burn (a special report)
• Australia 2009 (a Back in Time article)