HASTINGS, Australia -- The evacuees walked down the gangway of the giant naval vessel to the dock, each carrying just a few items of luggage. Some held infants and others their dogs, whose legs were still shaky from the 20-hour voyage down the coast of Australia. They were weary, and their clothes smelled
HASTINGS, Australia — The evacuees walked down the gangway of the giant naval vessel to the dock, each carrying just a few items of luggage. Some held infants and others their dogs, whose legs were still shaky from the 20-hour voyage down the coast of Australia. They were weary, and their clothes smelled of smoke, but the terrible infernos were finally behind them.
More than 12 million acres have burned so far, an area larger than Switzerland, and the damage is expected to only get worse in the extremely arid conditions that are allowing the fires to spread. The fires are also so hot and so large that they are creating their own weather patterns, which can worsen the conditions.
Story continuesMorrison, who has been widely criticized for his response to the fires, had resisted a major intervention by the national government, saying firefighting has traditionally been the domain of the individual states. He has also minimized the link between global warming and the extreme conditions that have fueled the fires.
John Blaxland, a professor at the Strategic and Defense Studies Centre at the Australian National University, said the country had not seen a catastrophe on this scale, affecting so many people in so many different locations since Australia became independent in 1901. In southern Australia, fire tore through a popular nature reserve known for its koalas, sea lions and other wildlife, killing a man and his grown son.
“There’s nowhere safe,” said Liddy Lant, a hospital cleaner still in her uniform who had fled from her home Saturday. “I could seriously just sit down and cry.” And a great many of those species, like the koala, the southern brown bandicoot and the long-footed potoroo, have populations living in the regions now being obliterated by the fires. Because the fires this season have been so intense and consumed wetlands as well as dry eucalyptus forests, there are few places many of these animals can seek refuge.
Their two children had been traumatized by that experience. Back then, they had to flee the approaching flames, spending hours on the beach.
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