Wildfires scorched almost every continent in 2019, but the ongoing wildfires in Australia have caused unprecedented damage. As fires have blanketed more than 12 million acres of land in Australia, killing at least 20 people and leveling more than 1,000 homes, tens of thousands of people have evacuated to safer ground while many are missing. On Thursday, the Australian state of New South Wales — which includes Sydney, the country’s largest city — declared its third state of emergency since November, and experts say the flames are getting worse. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service issued a fire spread prediction map that shows where the flames are projected to expand over the weekend as weather conditions deteriorate.
The afternoon sky glows red from bushfires in the area around the town of Nowra in the Australian state of New South Wales on December 31, 2019 Saeed Khan / AFP via Getty Images
— source grist.org | Jan 3, 2020