Australia faces intense ‘mega fire’ challenge
Australia’s bushfire crisis worsened Thursday night into Friday as hot, dry and windy conditions redeveloped across the country’s hard-hit southeast, causing two large blazes to merge into one. The new “mega fire” measures about 605,000 hectares, roughly eight times as large as New York City.
The blaze, located south of the Snowy Mountains along the border between Victoria and New South Wales, merged near the village of Tooma, southwest of Canberra, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Fire officials issued an emergency warning for the mega fire on Friday.
An emergency warning was also issued for a blaze in the Southern Highlands region, known as the Morton Fire, that threatened populated areas.
As of midday Friday, firefighters were battling 147 fires in New South Wales alone, with one at the emergency level, the highest warning category, as a wind shift moved from south to north along the coast.
The strong winds were reaching speeds of up to 88 km/h, lofting embers out ahead of fires to start new spot fires, and propelling the front edges of fires forward at high rates of speed, breaching containment lines.
The emergency warning issued for the Morton Fire near Bundanoon advised residents to seek shelter, noting, “It is too late to leave.”
“Protect yourself from the heat of the fire,” the Rural Fire Service said.
Emergency warnings were also issued for fires in parts of Victoria on Thursday night and Friday.
While Australia has had fire seasons that have burned more acreage overall, these fires are unprecedented for their locations.
According to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, the fires in New South Wales are the largest in state history, and the burned area is the most extensive ever documented in eastern Australia.
Ecosystems that typically don’t see major fires, such as rainforests, have been scorched, and these fires are affecting the most populous reaches of the already hot and dry continent.
At least 25 people have died in the fires, which have destroyed at least 5.9 million hectares. According to one estimate by the University of Sydney, up to one billion mammals, birds and reptiles may have been affected or killed by the fires.