By Chan Eum
Staff Writer

Australia is currently experiencing devastating wildfires around the whole country. Twenty eight people have died and a half billion animals are being affected, the smoke is also damaging the country’s air quality.

The reasons for these on-going fires are uncertain, but experts accuse the Australian climate. Every year, Australia goes through the brushfire season, a period of natural wildfires that occur in the summer due to the hot and dry weather.
With the season’s unnatural national average temperature of 105.6F (40.9C), the brushfires became stronger and harder to extinguish. As fast and extremely hot winds blew on Australia’s dry surface, the condition for the brushfires to emerge and grow rapidly was made.
According to Bloomberg News, “The fire destroyed 2,000 homes and affected 25 million acres, about a quarter the size of California.”
ABC News stated, the fires are like “unbroken wall of flames burning from essentially the very bottom of Sierra near Lake Isabella to Chico.”
While these ongoing fires caused 28 confirmed casualties, it also affected approximately a half-billion animals, according to ecologists from the University of Sydney, who suggested that the actual number is likely higher.
Besides the direct effect of the fire, the smoke also covered Sydney with an orange sky, bringing the city’s air quality to 11 times the hazardous level, according to CNN. Many flights across Australia canceled and delayed due to the smoke.
Such air conditions raised concerns from civilians.
Emma Mauch stated to the Vancouver Courier, “I’m going to give birth any day now, literally, and I’m going to have a newborn baby that I’m going to protect from all this.”
More than 150 American firefighters have gone to help fight the brushfires.
Elden Alexander, one of the first Americans who landed in Australia last November, stated to The Washington Post, “Hundreds of American firefighters raised their hands to help.”
These extreme fires have also affected the ecosystem of Australia.
ABC News stated, “ [the fires] created it’s own weather system including several fire tornadoes.”
On Jan. 12, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, announced that he will be donating $690,000 to assist the recovery of the wildfires.
However, Vice News stated, “The donation hurts Amazon’s bottom line as much as it would hurt a person worth $50,000 to donate three cents,”