How many worries are behind the Australian wildfire?

At the end of November, Victoria, Australia, released the first red code representing the highest level of forest fire warning in nearly 10 years. At the same time, the record breaking high temperature in South Australia, unprecedented jungle fire in New South Wales, Queensland and other places, Australia issued fire alarms throughout the country, all six states and provinces are in a state of struggle.

The high-level warning did not contain the fire. Since December 6, the fire around Sydney has intensified, and the city continues to be shrouded in smoke and fog. Officials say the fire may continue to burn for several weeks. Why do Australian wildfires last so long? Is there any relationship between the underlying causes and climate change? Please read the report.

As smoke billowed, an Australian woman named Toni Doherty grabbed a burnt koala in her T-shirt and made a fast-moving video, which attracted attention on social platforms. "I could hear the little koala groaning in pain, and I could hold him with the burning breath of his body." Toni said she named the little koala Lewis and sent it to the koala hospital in Macquarie port for treatment. But in the end, the hospital recently announced the news of koala's death because of her serious injury.

There are fires every year. Why are they so serious this year?

From October to spring in the southern hemisphere, Australian forest fires have been raging throughout the southern continent. Two of the worst hit states: New South Wales and Queensland, are Australia

The most populous region in Australia. On December 3, Sydney citizens released a picture of the "blood red sun" on the Internet. Experts said that the "discoloration" of the sun was one of the signs of serious air pollution. Data on the day showed that Sydney's air pollution level was twice that of New Delhi, and the worsening air quality was closely related to the development of the mountain fire situation. The local fire department said that since December 6, there has been a huge fire around Sydney's New South Wales, which is a combination of multiple wildfires, and it is expected to take several weeks to control. So far, the area of wildfires in NSW has exceeded 850000 hectares, equivalent to the area of about 1 million football fields. Six people have been killed in the fire and 612 houses have been destroyed. In northern Sydney, a helicopter crashed during a fire fighting operation. The hiking wildlife park in northern Sydney also evacuated 300 animals due to the wildfire.

Wildfires have always been part of Australia's ecology, but after the "Black Saturday" fire in December 2001, such widespread fires are still rare in the continent. The reason behind this is related to many factors, such as landform and hardware facilities. "Australia has a high forest coverage, many hills, and many places are sparsely populated. There is no effective isolation belt to block the spread of the fire. The wind speed is fast, the fire is big, and the isolation belt is few. In addition, the trees are mostly flammable eucalyptus and there is no nearby fire-fighting resources, which makes it difficult to control the mountain fire once it occurs." In addition, due to the size and performance limitations of Australian fire trucks, it is impossible to work in the deep forest. Many fire spots can only be put out by helicopter, which is a drop in the bucket.

Without effective rainfall, could climate change be the main cause?

It is predicted that the haze will last until January 2020 before the fire is put out. Australian meteorologist Sarah Chadwick believes that although Sydney is in great need of rainwater, the rainfall in December may be lower than the average. According to the data, Australia has just experienced the driest November in 40 years. In the past, the average rainfall in November was about 100ml, but this year it is only 18ML. "The situation is expected to ease in January next year, but the level of precipitation is still very low, so there is no exact answer on when the fire will go out," Sarah said.

Shane Fitzsimons, an official with the NSW Rural Fire Department, also said: "we can't control the whole fire. We need rain, rain in the real sense. But there is not a bit of rain in the forecast. " Hot and dry weather will further worsen the situation, Australian Fire Department issued an early warning, in the next few weeks there will be dozens of fires around. It is reported that communities in fire prone areas have been urged to take measures.

The abnormal rainfall and hot and dry conditions have led Australian climate scientists to agree that climate change is one of the main reasons for the growing mountain fires. A new survey also shows that most Australians agree that the government is not doing enough to deal with climate change. But the Australian federal government refused to acknowledge that climate change played any role in the fire crisis, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted that there was no reliable scientific evidence that climate change was related to fire.

Despite the government's refusal to recognize the relationship between climate change and wildfires, the spread of wildfires has actually caused damage to the ecosystem and counteracted the climate environment. Dr. Bida Jones, chief scientist of the Royal Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals in Australia, said: "in addition to causing serious losses to human beings, large-scale fires also have a significant impact on biodiversity. Some animals feed on Eucalyptus, and many other species feed on nectar or insects. In the event of a fire, a large number of insects will be killed by the fire. "

It's true that the mountain fire can't all be attributed to climate change, but the rising temperature and extreme dryness will make the consequences of the mountain fire more serious, and the continuous spread of the mountain fire are also in line with the scenarios predicted by climate change. Bowman, head of the Tasmanian fire center, believes that the climate crisis has made the mountain fire more dangerous and lasts longer, so the government should take more actions immediately Answer.

Source: China Environmental News