By Aliza Snow, Social Media Editor
18 million acres, over half a billion animals, thousands of homes and at least 28 people. These are just a few of the casualties from the wildfires raging through Australia. And these numbers just continue to increase.
The fires have spread throughout all regions of the continent, but the state of New South Wales has been the site of most of the devastation. 12.1 million of the 18 million acres burned so far are part of New South Wales, and more than 3,000 homes have been destroyed there.
Firefighters are doing everything they can to put out fires, but there are still hundreds of fires burning despite their efforts.
Australia has thousands of firefighters, including volunteers, working day and night. The United States, New Zealand and Canada have sent hundreds more to help subdue the fires.
The largest infernos, which take up entire towns, have been burning for months, while others are able to be contained within a few days of their ignition.
Not only have at least 28 people been killed and thousands more affected, but many animals have been caught in the crossfire.
Scientists estimate that over one billion animals have been affected by the fires and that number will likely keep growing considering that Australia is only a little over halfway through their fire season.
Generally, these fires are started by natural causes such as lightning strikes in dry areas.
However, the New South Wales police are pressing charges against at least 24 people for starting bushfires that have spread and intensified.
Australia is currently going through one of the hottest and driest fire seasons it has ever seen. Climate change is partly to blame and is causing the fires to be extremely catastrophic. Rising temperature trends over the years paired with the severe drought in Australia are only fanning the flames.
As the fires roar through Australia, the damage becomes worse and worse every day. Not only are many people’s and animal’s homes being destroyed, but the air quality continues to worsen.
The smoke has caused the air quality in certain parts of the country to be up to 11 times the hazardous level. This is equivalent to smoking almost 40 cigarettes when breathing the air.
In total, thousands of people’s homes and health have been disrupted, almost one billion animals have been killed and massive areas of land have been torched. This will leave permanent damage in Australia.
You can help by donating to some of the organizations that are helping and spreading awareness of the situation.
Some of the organizations that are accepting donations for relief in Australia are the Australian Red Cross, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, the Country Fire Service Foundation, Country Fire Authority, Salvation Army Australia and GIVIT.
If you would like to donate to organizations primarily helping animals, you can do so at the World Wildlife Fund Australia, Australian Koala Foundation, WIRES, Wildlife Victoria, RSPCA Australia and Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park.
In the long run, there isn’t much else we can do other than making sure we are making conscious efforts every day to do little things that will prevent further detriment of the environment You can do this by reducing your water waste, food waste, electricity waste and just waste in general.
Australia is in incredible danger. The flames are devastating the country, therefore, they are accepting help of any kind and donations of any size.
Junior Aliza Snow can be reached at 21snowal92@daretolearn.org.
