This Tuesday, Australian authorities are fighting dozens of forest fires in the southeast of the country, a region hit by an unusual heat wave in the middle of the southern spring.
About 600 firefighters are fighting against time to contain fires in the town of Briagolong, more than 250 kilometers east of Melbourne, which is currently authorities’ main concern, and in neighboring towns in Gippsland, on the other side. Australia.
High winds, expected to reach speeds of more than 100 kilometers per hour throughout the day, caused the Briagolong fire to grow significantly, reaching an area of 170 kilometers.
Records continue to fall all over the world: France, Spain, Germany, Australia, all over Africa, hardly any coverage #ClimateEmergency https://t.co/iLVweuC9Yj
-Matthew Todd (@MrMatthewTodd) October 2, 2023
The fire, which is advancing with the wind, threatens to endanger the lives of residents and their homes. Authorities have ordered residents of Briagolong and surrounding areas to take shelter indoors because “it is too late to travel.”
In the neighboring island state of Tasmania, fire broke out on Flinders Island and in New South Wales firefighters are battling 82 bushfires, 16 of which are out of control, on a day when temperatures are expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius in some jurisdictions.
New South Wales was the scene of devastating bushfires in the so-called ‘black summer’ of 2019-2020, killing 33 people.
These fires also burned about 24 million hectares in the east of the country and affected about three billion animals.
Experts confirmed last month that Australia will experience rising temperatures and a drier than normal climate this year due to El Nino, a natural meteorological phenomenon caused by currents in the Pacific Ocean that, exacerbated by global warming, is causing devastating could cause fires.
Source: DN
