For the first few weeks of January, Australia has been on fire. Many wildlife species, environments and even people have faced the flames and burned from it.

What caused these fires to begin is uncertain, but it’s uncommon that the fires have gotten this bad. Australia has a fire season and tends to experience fires on a minor scale due to lightning or from hot temperatures.  The fires are usually just bush fires, but recently these fires have erupted and burned at least 17.9 million acres of land. This has resulted in more than 2,000 homes destroyed, killed more than 10 people and has caused many animal casualties.

Many people have donated money including celebrities like Selena Gomez, Pink, Australian native Keith Urban and more. These donations have helped people who have lost their homes and will help to rebuild in the future. Many animals have been rescued and treated by multiple organizations. Many people affected by the fire have been given a place to stay and lost items have been donated as well.

Recently, Australia received rain which helped put an end to some fires. The rain had become severe in some parts of Australia and even resulted in flooding. Given the hot climate, some believe that these bush fires are more likely to start up and spread again. Many Australians are led to believe that climate change is the cause of the extreme fires, but according to BBC News, scientists believe climate change isn’t the cause of the fires. Scientists believe that the hot and harsh climate of Australia has led to the fires being more threatening than before and believe over the years that the climate will get hotter and drier. The fire seasons have also begun to start earlier. “We find it very difficult in general to attribute climate change impacts to a specific event, particularly while the event is running,” said Dr Richard Thornton, chief executive of the Bush-fires & Natural Hazards Co-operative Research Centre. “But what we do know is that the average temperature in Australia now is running about 1C above the long-term average.”Australian National University climate scientist Dr Imran Ahmed called it a direct link, “because what climate change does is exacerbate the conditions in which the bush-fires happen.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50341210

Hopefully these fires cease and soon the people and animals of Australia can rebuild and recover from these hardships.

Australia has a long way to go before all the fires are put out. Here are a couple of organizations to consider donating to that help raise money for this cause.

1. Australian Red Cross: https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-donate
2. Australian Wildlife Zoo and Hospital: https://wildlifewarriors.org.au/support/united-states
3. Zoos Victoria: https://donate.zoo.org.au/donation
4. GIVIT: http://www.givit.org.au/disasters
5. First Nations Community: https://au.gofundme.com/f/fire-relief-fund-for-first-nations-communities

featured image: https://www.mtlblog.com/news/canada/qc/montreal/we-spoke-with-granby-zoos-curator-about-the-true-cost-of-the-australian-fires