Marjon Uni Journalism essay
Australian wildfires
One of the largest unfortunate events that have occurred during the end of 2019 and start of 2020 has been the outbreak of serious wild bushfires which have started in the state of New South Wales of Australia. The devastating fires have caused an immensely horrific amount of damage to not only the beauty of Australia’s nature, but the animals who inhabit the areas. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes to the coastline as the country experiences the tragic bushfires evident as being the worst of the decade.
There are a few running theories constructed by the police and people who currently live in the affected areas on how these fires were initially started. On Monday, January 6th, the police announced that the fires were intentionally started by 24 people who have now been charged. NSW police have also taken legal action against 183 people and 40 of these people are of a young age ranging from teenager to young adults. Some people believe the fires were used as a cover up for the attack launched by America on Iran as the media’s attention was interested in the disastrous events happening in Australia. Although these fires have initially been said to have started by people, it doesn’t help that Australia is a particularly hot and dry country. The hot, dry weather along with the drought and strong winds created the perfect condition in order for a fire to spread quickly and efficiently.
As of the 14th of January, the fires have spread extravagantly over the land of Australia causing immense damage to the wild life and the homes of many creatures and people who inhabit the affected area. The fires have destroyed around 18.6 million hectares of land over the course of a few months causing major destruction to 5,900 buildings including 2,779 homes. the fires started in the regions of the New South Wales state, such as North Coast, Mid North Coast, the Hawkesbury and the Wollondily. The inhabitants of these areas have been evacuated due to the dangers of the fires. Large areas of forest have been burnt out of control for four weeks before the fires emerged due to the parched, dry land.