Climate: Sydney’s skyline in smoke: preparing for wildfire season

climate
Sydney’s skyline in smoke: preparing for wildfire season

A pall of smoke hangs over parts of the Australian metropolis of Sydney. photo

© Dean Lewins/AAP/dpa

Because the authorities expect violent fires in the Australian spring and summer, vegetation is already being burned in vulnerable areas. There is great concern about a catastrophe like 2019-2020.

Over parts of the Australian metropolis There has been a cloud of smoke in Sydney for days, which has caused fine dust levels to rise sharply. The background is controlled bush fires in the area, which are intended to protect the city of millions from worse events in the upcoming summer season. The fire service has burned thousands of hectares of vegetation in bushfire-prone areas in recent weeks, the ABC quoted a spokesman for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) as saying on Wednesday.

Authorities had previously warned that the upcoming spring and summer could be the most intense bushfire season since the devastating “Black Summer” of 2019-2020. At that time, weeks of bushfires devastated more than twelve million hectares of land. WWF estimates that more than three billion animals have been killed or displaced.

According to the Australasian Fire Authorities Council (Afac) forecast, very high temperatures and little rainfall are expected in the coming months – significantly increasing the risk of another disaster. The authorities were asked to prepare and take countermeasures. In the past three years, heavy rain and flooding have led to dense undergrowth and thick grass growth in large parts of the country, the Guardian recently wrote. Burning vegetation in a controlled manner reduces the risk of fire.

dpa

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