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Australian Bushfires Update: I want to thank everyone for their concerns about my safety. I'm 100% safe from the bushfires. I live in the inner city of Sydney and no where near the fires. The smoke haze is the only hazard.
As to why these fires are so ferocious: Australia is in a severe drought and has been for quite some time. The heat + tinder dry forests, it was ripe to explode. That's what happened. Thousands have been displaced and many have lost their homes, ten have died, animals have been burnt/died in record numbers, we've have fire crews from New Zealand, Canada and the US come in to help us. This is a beast that continues to grow because it's finding fuel to feed the hunger. In New South Wales (my home state) there are over 100 fires and this has been raging for 122 days.
To give you a perspective about the damage of the fires:
NSW: OVER 4 MILLION hectares have been burnt since 1 July 2019
and if we compare it to other big fires:
The Amazon: 900,000 hectares were burnt in 2019
The US / California Fires: 800,000 hectares were burnt in 2019
To give you an idea how high these flames are: 70 METERS - The Sydney Opera House at it's tallest sail is 65 Meters in height.
In Victoria (the state south of NSW), more than 800,000 hectares have been burnt. Fires have been burning since late November
How can you help?
Here's a list of organisations (legit and the ones to pick)