Australia’s fires intensify as prime minister calls up army reservists to help contain the crisis
< < Go Back
As southeast Australia burned Saturday, the word carried on the wind was “unprecedented.” The continent has seen massive wildfire outbreaks before, but this one has been different. There are so many fires in so many places — about 200 at last count — and many are in novel terrain, including rainforests and the suburbs of Sydney.
The flames have taken the lives of a dozen people in the past week, killed untold numbers of koalas and other animals, destroyed more than a thousand structures, forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate, choked cities with smoke and rendered the famed Sydney Opera House nearly invisible on the city’s harbor. The smoke has reached the lower stratosphere and crossed 9,000 miles of ocean to pollute the skies of South America.
Saturday was one of the worst days yet … It was the hottest day on record in metropolitan Sydney
More From The Washington Post (subscription required):
Rss Feed