QUEENSLAND, Australia: Australia’s bushfire season has taken a tragic turn, marking the most serious season since the devastating “Black Summer.”
As more than 100 fires raged across the country, Queensland officials reported two fatalities in major blazes near Tara. In New South Wales (NSW), two people lost their lives while fighting fires last week. Authorities have been cautioning about the extreme danger of this year’s bushfire season for months.
In a briefing, the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services disclosed that around 350 people were evacuated from the Tara region. An out-of-control fire in the area has already consumed over 11,000 hectares of land and destroyed 16 homes. A man lost his life on Tuesday night while attempting to defend his property, and a woman passed away on Wednesday due to a cardiac arrest while preparing to evacuate.
Dry lightning storms overnight ignited several new blazes in the same region, with most of them now under control. However, one has prompted an emergency warning. Conditions are predicted to worsen on Thursday, with rising temperatures and wind speeds.
Rural Fire Service acting assistant commissioner Peter Hollier stated, “[It] will again be another challenging day for us today, as we head into areas of extreme fire danger.” Firefighters in other states, including NSW, Victoria, and the Northern Territory, are also battling ongoing blazes.
Last week in NSW, a veteran volunteer firefighter succumbed to a medical episode while on duty in the state’s north. Another man died while defending his property on the mid-north coast. Authorities suspect that three large fires in the area were deliberately ignited earlier this week.
Australia has been on high alert due to the risk of bushfires, driven by years of rain-induced plant growth that is now drying out following the warmest winter on record. The country is also experiencing an El Niño-affected summer, promising more hot and dry months.
In recent years, Australia has faced a series of natural disasters, including bushfires, floods, and droughts, all of which are linked to climate change. Earlier this month, towns in Victoria were threatened by bushfires and then had to prepare for floods within hours.
This bushfire season follows years of record-breaking floods, which came after the devastating Black Summer bushfires in 2019-20, following years of severe drought. Top climate scientists have issued warnings about the likelihood of worsening disasters in the future unless urgent action is taken to address climate change.
