One minute read. Written by a grade 6 student.

Wildfires have been raging in Australia for the past four months. Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes and, it is believed, that as many one billion animals have died, which include between 20 and 100 threatened species. The area burned is about 15 million acres.

This is being called one of the worst fires ever seen in Australia and the military has sent ships and aircrafts to rescue thousands of people trapped by fires in coastal areas – people were stuck on beaches.The fire started in September last year and became very bad in December. More than 100 wildfires are still burning.

How this this happen?

Bushfires are common in Australia and the fires season is always dangerous. They happen every year in the Australian summer (which is in opposite months as India. When there is winter here, it’s summer there – October to February). The hot, dry weather makes it easy for fires to start and spread.

Fires also start when lightning strikes in drought-affected forests, and this year Australia is going through one of its worst droughts in many decades. This December many fires were caused by lightning.  Also, this year has seen some terrible record-breaking heat waves and those have caused lots of fires which have been made worse by strong winds. Apart from the heat, many people have also been arrested for starting bushfires.

Will the fires end soon?

Although many states have declared emergency and thousands of fire fighters are working overtime to fight the fires, it will not mean that the fires will stop. January and February are the hottest months, and this means that it could take another few months!