You probably have seen the Australian wildfires in the news. The wildfires have spread all across the country. They have destroyed a lot of houses and killed a lot of animals. Since September 2019 at least 28 people have lost their lives because of those nationwide wildfires. Australia has experienced a lot of fires over the summer. The biggest was along the coast where most of the population lives. The fires started in the so called ‘fire season’, but this year the fires were extreme.

Some fires sometimes start from lighting strikes or accidentally by a spark. A spark in fire season is dangerous. The ground is dry and therefore fires spread easily. Fires also start deliberately.

Scientists expect Australian wildfires to get more extreme over the years. The rising levels of CO2 are warming up the planet, which causes higher temperatures. In 2019, Australia has set a new temperature record: in December 2019 Australia hit an average maximum of 41.9 celsius (107 Fahrenheit). Scientists are expecting the planet to get drier over the decades which causes more fires, extreme fires.

Firefighters are still spraying waters and fire retardant all over the country in the air as well as on the ground. Fighting bush fires is not that easy, sometimes fire fighters have to focus on not letting the fires spread rather than putting them out.

The fire fighters priority is saving human and animal lives. A lot of wild animals have suffered from these fires. Their homes are destroyed and there is no place to go. One study has estimated that half a billion animals have died ever since September 2019.