The 201920 Australian bushfire season commenced with serious uncontrolled fires in June 2019.
, fires this season have burned an estimated ,
destroyed over 5,900 buildings (including 2,779 homes)
and killed at least 34 people.
An estimated one billion animals were killed and some endangered species may be driven to extinction.
Air quality has dropped to hazardous levels. The cost of dealing with the bushfires is expected to exceed the $4.4 billion of the
2009 Black Saturday fires, and tourism sector revenues have fallen more than $1 billion. By 7 January 2020, the smoke had moved approximately across the South Pacific Ocean to
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
and
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
.
As of 2 January 2020, NASA estimated that of CO had been emitted.
From September 2019 fires heavily impacted various
regions of the state of New South Wales. In
eastern and
north-eastern
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...
Victoria large areas of forest burnt out of control for four weeks before the fires emerged from the forests in late December.
Multiple
states of emergency have been declared across
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
and Victoria. Reinforcements from all over Australia were called in to assist fighting the fires and relieve exhausted local crews in New South Wales. The
Australian Defence Force
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...
was mobilised to provide air support to the firefighting effort, and to provide manpower and logistical support.
Firefighters and equipment from
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
,
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, among others, helped fight the fires, especially in New South Wales.
An air tanker
and two helicopters have crashed as of 23 January 2020, the air tanker crash resulting in the deaths of the three crew. Two fire trucks have been in fatal incidents caused directly by fire conditions, killing three fire fighters.
There has been considerable debate regarding the underlying cause of the intensity and scale of the fires, including the role of fire management practices and climate change, and has attracted significant international attention. Politicians have received very mixed receptions when visiting areas devastated by the fires. Many millions of dollars has been donated by the public at large, international organisations, public figures and celebrities for victim relief and wildlife recovery. Convoys of donated food, clothing and livestock feed have been sent to affected areas.
Overview
From September 2019 fires heavily impacted various
regions of the state of New South Wales, such as the
North Coast,
Mid North Coast, the
Hunter Region
The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River (New Sout ...
, the
Hawkesbury and the
Wollondilly in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
's far west, the
Blue Mountains,
Illawarra
The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...
and the
South Coast,
Riverina
The Riverina ()
is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
and
Snowy Mountains with more than 100 fires burnt across the state. In
eastern and
north-eastern
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...
Victoria large areas of forest burnt out of control for four weeks before the fires emerged from the forests in late December, taking lives, threatening many towns and isolating
Corryong
Corryong is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, east of Albury-Wodonga, near the upper reaches of the Murray River and close to the New South Wales border. At the , Corryong had a population of 1,348.
The post office opene ...
and
Mallacoota. A
state of disaster was declared for
East Gippsland.
Significant fires occurred in the
Adelaide Hills
The Adelaide Hills region is located in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. The largest town in the area, Mount Barker, South Australia, Mount Barker, is one of Australia's fastest-growi ...
and
Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island (, ) is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest of Adelaide. Its closest point to the mainland is Snapper Poi ...
in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
. Moderately affected areas were
south-eastern Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
and areas of
south-western Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
, with a few areas in
Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
and the
ACT being mildly impacted.
On 12 November 2019, catastrophic fire danger was declared in the
Greater Sydney
Greater Sydney is the most populous metropolitan area in Australia and Oceania. Located in the state of New South Wales, it encompasses the City of Sydney (the state capital), its neighbouring local government areas and surrounding regions. I ...
region for the first time since the introduction of this level in 2009 and a total fire ban was in place for seven regions of New South Wales, including Greater Sydney. The Illawarra and Greater Hunter areas also experienced catastrophic fire dangers, and so did other parts of the state, including the already fire ravaged parts of northern New South Wales. The
political ramifications of the fire season have been significant. A decision by the
New South Wales Government
The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...
to cut funding to fire services based on budget estimates, as well as a
holiday
A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...
taken by
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Scott John Morrison (born 13 May 1968) is an Australian former politician who served as the 30th prime minister of Australia from 2018 to 2022. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party and was ...
, during a period in which two volunteer firefighters died, and his perceived apathy towards the situation, resulted in controversy.

, was burnt or is burning across all
Australian states and territories
The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereign, administrative divisions that are self-governing polities, having ceded some sovereign rights to the fede ...
.
Ecologists from
The University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
estimated 480 million mammals, birds, and reptiles were lost since September with concerns that entire species of plants and animals may have been wiped out by bushfire, later expanded to more than a billion.
Since the start of the season, the ongoing bushfires have destroyed 2,176 homes, as well as 48 facilities and more than 2,000 outbuildings in New South Wales alone.
Twenty-five people were confirmed to have been killed in New South Wales since October. The latest fatality reported was on 23 January 2020 following the death of a man near
Moruya.
In New South Wales, the fires burnt through more land than any other blazes in the past 25 years, in addition to being the state's worst bushfire season on record. NSW also experienced the longest continuously burning bushfire complex in Australia's history, having burnt more than , with flames being reported. In comparison, the
2018 California wildfires
The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season in List of California wildfires, California history. It was also the largest on record at the time, now third after the 2020 California wildfires, 2020 and 2021 Ca ...
consumed and the
2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires burnt of land.
Whereas these bushfires are regarded by the
NSW Rural Fire Service as the worst bushfire season in memory for that state, the 1974 bushfires were nationally much larger consuming .
However, due to their lower intensity and remote location, the 1974 fires caused around 5 million (approximately 36.5 million in 2020) in damages.
In December 2019 the
New South Wales Government
The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...
declared a
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...
after record-breaking temperatures and prolonged
drought
A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
exacerbated the bushfires.
Due to safety concerns and significant public pressure,
New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...
fireworks displays were cancelled across New South Wales including highly popular events at
Campbelltown,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
,
Parramatta
Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...
, and across Sydney's
Northern Beaches
The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the ...
, and as well in the nation's capital of
Canberra
Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
. As temperatures reached , the
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian called a fresh seven-day state of emergency with effect from 9am on 3 January 2020.
On 23 January, a
Lockheed C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...
air tanker crashed at Peak View near
Cooma while waterbombing a blaze, resulting in the death of the three American crew members on board.
It was one of eleven large air tankers brought to Australia for the fire season from Canada and US. An investigation is underway by the
ATSB to determine the cause of the accident.
Reaching the crash site proved difficult due to the active bushfires in the area.
The crash site was located in dense bushland, and spanned approximately one
kilometre
The kilometre (SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, American and Philippine English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is the ...
.
Fire potential
The
Garnaut Climate Change Review
Professor Ross Garnaut led two climate change reviews, the first commencing in 2007 and the second in 2010.
The first Garnaut Climate Change Review was a study by Professor Ross Garnaut, commissioned by then Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd and ...
of 2008 stated:
To describe emerging fire trends the study by Lucas and others defined two new fire weather categories, "very extreme" and "catastrophic".
The analysis by the Bushfire CRC, the
Australian Bureau of Meteorology
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Australian Government that is responsible for providing weather forecasts and meteorological services to Australia and neighbouring countries. It was established in 1906 unde ...
, and
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research found that the number of "very high" fire danger days generally increases 2-13% by 2020 for the low scenarios (
global increase by ) and 10-30% for the high scenarios (
global increase by ). The number of "extreme" fire danger days generally increases 5-25% by 2020 for the low scenarios and 15-65% for the high scenarios.
In April 2019 a group of former Australian fire services chiefs warned that Australia was not prepared for the upcoming fire season. They called on the next prime minister to meet the former emergency service leaders "who will outline, unconstrained by their former employers, how climate change risks are rapidly escalating".
In August 2019 the federally funded
Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC published a seasonal outlook report which advised of "above normal fire potential" for southern and southeast Queensland, the east coast areas of New South Wales and Victoria, for parts of Western Australia and South Australia. In December 2019, the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC updated their advice of "above normal fire potential".
Regions affected
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
reported that the area burned in 2019–2020 was "well below average", pointing out that 30 million hectares less than the Australian annual average burned that year.
More specifically, the early part of the season (2019) had "near average" burn area, whereas the area burned in the late part of the season (2020) was "unusually low".
New South Wales
The NSW statutory Bush Fire Danger Period normally begins on 1 October and continues through until 31 March. In 2019–20, the fire season started early with drought affecting 95 percent of the state and persistent dry and warm conditions across the state.
Twelve
local government areas
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory.
The ph ...
started the Bush Fire Danger Period two months early, on 1 August 2019, and nine more started on 17 August 2019.
North Coast
On 6 September, the northern parts of the state experienced extreme fire dangers. Fires included the Long Gully Road fire near
Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals and creatures
* A male duck
* Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...
which burnt until the end of October, killing two people and destroying 43 homes; the Mount McKenzie Road fire which burnt across the southern outskirts of
Tenterfield, and severely injured one person, destroyed one home and badly damaged four homes; and the Bees Nest fire near
Ebor which burnt until 12 November and destroyed seven homes.
Mid North Coast
At the
Port Macquarie
Port Macquarie, sometimes shortened to Port Mac and commonly locally nicknamed Port, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane, on the Tasman Sea coast at the mouth of the ...
suburb of Crestwood a fire started on 26 October from a dry electrical storm.
Water bombers were delayed the following day in attempts to bring the fire burning in swampland to the south west of Port Macquarie under control. A
back burn on 28 October got away from
New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSWRFS) volunteers after a sudden wind change pushing the fire south towards
Lake Cathie and west over
Lake Innes. Port Macquarie and surrounding areas were blanketed in thick smoke on 29 October with ongoing fire activity over the following week caused the sky to have an orange glow. During this time the Lindfield Park fire burning in dry
peat swamp flared up and threatened homes at Sovereign Hills and crossed the
Pacific Highway at Sancrox. These fires burnt .

On the Carrai Plateau west of
Kempsey, a fire burnt in wilderness areas where locked up and poorly maintained fire trails made combating it difficult. This fire joined up with the Stockyard Creek fire and together with the Coombes Gap fire and swept east towards Willawarrin, Temagog, Birdwood, Yarras, Bellangary, Kindee and Upper Rollands Plains. Land around
Nowendoc and Yarrowich was also burnt. This fire burnt more than , destroying numerous homes and claiming the lives of three people.
North-west of near the Cattai Wetlands a fire started on 28 October, this fire threatened the towns of Harrington,
Crowdy Head and
Johns River as it burnt north towards Dunbogan. This fire claimed one life at Johns River, where it also destroyed homes, and burnt more than .

At Hillville, a fire grew large due to hot and windy conditions, resulting in disorder in the nearby town of
Taree, to the north. Buses were called in early to take students home before the fire threat became too dangerous. On 9 November, the fire reached
Old Bar and Wallabi Point, threatening many properties. The following two days saw the fire reach
Tinonee and
Taree South, threatening the Taree Service Centre. Water bombers dropped water on the facility to protect it. The fire briefly turned in the direction of
Nabiac before wind pushed it towards Failford. Other communities affected included Rainbow Flat, Khappinghat, Kooringhat and
Purfleet
Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England.
It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater ...
. A spot fire jumped into Ericsson Lane, threatening businesses. It ultimately burnt .
At Dingo Tops National Park a small fire turned into a massive bushfire emergency as it impacted the small village of
Bobin; numerous homes and the Bobin Public School were destroyed in the fire. Fourteen homes were lost on one street in Bobin. The NSWRFS sent out alerts to people in Killabakh, Upper Lansdowne, Kippaxs,
Elands, and
Marlee to monitor conditions.
2019 Rally Australia, planned to be the final round of the
2019 World Rally Championship, was a
motor racing
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...
event scheduled to be held in
Coffs Harbour
Coffs Harbour, locally nicknamed Coffs, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 a ...
across 14–17 November. A week before the rally was due to begin, the bushfire began to affect the region surrounding Coffs Harbour, with event organisers shortening the event in response to the deteriorating conditions. With the situation worsening, repeated calls from competitors (most of which were European-based) to cancel the event prevailed with the event cancelled on 12 November.
In late December 2019, fires started on both sides of the Pacific Highway around the
Coopernook region. They burnt before they were brought under control.
Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury

A large fire in November at Gospers Mountain in the
Wollemi National Park
The Wollemi National Park () is a protected national park and wilderness area that is located in the Central West and Hunter region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The park, the second largest national park in New South Wales, conta ...
burnt over and threatened homes in the
Hawkesbury and
Lithgow areas. The fire was projected to burn towards the
Central Coast and potentially threaten properties in
Wisemans Ferry and other townships.
In an attempt to protect the Blue Mountains from the Gospers Mountain bushfire, firefighters commenced a large backburn on 14 December in the and area. Due to heavy fuel loads and erratic weather conditions, the backburn quickly grew out of control, threatening houses in Mount Wilson and Mount Irvine. The fire eventually jumped Mount Irvine Road and on 15 December, under deteriorating conditions, the fire impacted
Mount Tomah,
Berambing and . The fire destroyed numerous houses and buildings in this area, and then jumped the
Bells Line of Road into the
Grose Valley.

On 19 December the Gospers Mountain fire impacted on the Darling Causeway between and , it later jumped the Darling Causeway and impacted the Grose Valley and the fire would be split into two fires: Grose Valley fire and Gospers Mountain fire. On 21 December, a catastrophic day, the Grose Valley fire impacted Mount Victoria, , Bell, , Dargan and
Bilpin with resultant destruction of dozens of homes. On the same days both the Gospers Mountain fire and the Grose Valley fire moved towards . Back burning operations were put in place to save Kurrajong and surrounds and to save all Blue Mountains towns from
Katoomba to .
By 15 December, the Gospers Mountain fire had grown to , making it the biggest forest fire in Australian history. As of 27 December, the Gospers Mountain fire had burnt over ; and, after burning approximately across the Lithgow, Hawkesbury and Central Coast local government areas, the NSW Rural Fire Service reported the fire as contained on 12 January 2020, stating that the fire was caused by a lightning strike on 26 October.
Sydney

On 12 November, under Sydney's first ever catastrophic fire conditions, a fire broke out in the
Lane Cove National Park south of
Turramurra. Under strong winds and extreme heat the fire spread rapidly, growing out of control and impacting the suburban interface across
South Turramurra. One house caught alight in Lyon Avenue, but was saved by quick responding firefighters. As further crews arrived and worked to protect properties, a C-130 Air Tanker made several fire retardant drops directly over firefighters and houses, saving the rest of the suburb. The fire was ultimately brought under control several hours later, with one firefighter injured suffering a broken arm.
Because of the bushfires occurring in the surrounding regions, the Sydney metropolitan area suffered from dangerous smoky
haze for several days throughout December, with the
air quality
Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...
being eleven times the
hazard
A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that ...
ous level in some days, making it even worse than
New Delhi
New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
's, where it was also compared to "smoking 32 cigarettes" by Associate Professor Brian Oliver, a respiratory diseases scientist at the
University of Technology Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a Institute of technology, ...
.
On 10 December the fire impacted the
south-western Sydney suburbs of and , followed by and , threatening hundreds of houses and resulting in the destruction of one building. The fire continued to flare up sporadically, coming out of the dense bush and threatening properties in Oakdale and Buxton on 14 and 15 December. The fire moved south-east towards the populated areas of the
Southern Highlands and impacted the townships of
Balmoral, ,
Bargo,
Couridjah and
Tahmoor in far south-western Sydney. Substantial property losses occurred across these areas, in particular multiple fire trucks were overrun by fire, with several firefighters taken to hospital and two airlifted in critical condition. Later that night, two firefighters were killed when a tree fell onto the road and their tanker rolled, injuring three other crew members. The situation deteriorated on 21 December when the fire changed direction and attacked Balmoral and Buxton once more from the opposite side, with major property losses in both areas. On New Year's Eve there were fears of this fire impacting the towns of
Mittagong
Mittagong () is a town located in the Southern Highlands (New South Wales), Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town acts as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. Mittagong is si ...
, Braemar, and surrounding areas.
On 31 December, a grass fire broke out in the sloped woodlands of
Prospect Hill, in
Western Sydney, where it headed north towards
Pemulwuy
Pemulwuy ( /pɛməlwɔɪ/ ''PEM-əl-woy''; 1750 – 2 June 1802) was a Bidjigal warrior of the Dharug, an Aboriginal Australian people from New South Wales. One of the most famous Aboriginal resistance fighters in the colonial era, he is n ...
along the
Prospect Highway. The fire impacted a large industrial area and threatened numerous properties before being brought under control by 9:30pm. Approximately and a number of historic
Monterey pine
''Pinus radiata'' (synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''Pinus insignis''), the Monterey pine, insignis pine or radiata pine, is a species of pine native to the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California and Mexico (on Guadalupe Island and Ced ...
trees were burnt.
The
Sydney City fireworks display was allowed to continue with a special exemption from fire authorities, despite protests. Despite warnings from authorities, numerous fires were sparked across Sydney as a result of
illegal fireworks, including a blaze which threatened properties at
Cecil Hills in Sydney's south west.
On 4 January, Sydney's western suburb
Penrith recorded its hottest day on record at making it the hottest place on Earth at the time.
On 5 January, a fire broke out in bushland at
Voyager Point in Sydney's south-west, spreading rapidly under a strong southerly wind and impacting numerous houses in Voyager Point and
Hammondville. As the fire moved north, authorities closed the
M5 Motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...
due to smoke conditions and prepared for the fire to impact the New Brighton housing estate. Firefighters on the ground assisted by numerous waterbombing aircraft held the fire south of the motorway and prevented any property losses, containing the fire to .
Southern Highlands
In late October, a number of fires started in remote bushland near
Lake Burragorang in the
Kanangra-Boyd National Park south-west of Sydney. Due to the extreme isolation of the area and rugged inaccessible terrain, firefighters struggled to contain the fires as they began to spread through the dense bushland. These multiple fires ultimately all merged to become the Green Wattle Creek fire. The fire continued to grow in size and intensity, burning towards the township of
Yerranderie. Firefighters undertook backburning around the town whilst helicopters and fixed wing aircraft worked to control the spread of the fire. The fire passed Yerranderie but continued to burn through the national park towards south-western Sydney. On 5 December under severe weather conditions, the fire jumped the Lake Burragorang and began burning towards populated areas within the
Wollondilly area.

On 19 December, the fire continued east towards the
Hume Highway
The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of t ...
(resulting in its closure for several hours), impacting the township of
Yanderra. Over the following days as the fire continued to progress to the south east, both and were threatened by the fire.
As well as expanding to the south and east, the fire also spread in a westerly direction, headed towards . The
Oberon Correctional Centre was evacuated in anticipation of the advancing fire impact along its western flank. On 2 January, the fire hit the popular and historic
Jenolan Caves
The Jenolan Caves (Tharawal language, Tharawal: ''Binoomea'', ''Bindo'', ''Binda'') are limestone cave, limestone caves located within the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve in the Central Tablelands region, west of the Blue Mountains (New Sout ...
area, destroying multiple buildings including the local fire station. The centrepiece of the precinct,
Jenolan Caves House, was saved.
South Coast
On 30 November weather conditions drastically deteriorated across the south-eastern areas of the state, with major fires breaking out and escalating in the Dampier State Forest,
Deua River Valley,
Badja,
Bemboka,
Wyndham, Talmalolma and Ellerslie, hampering firefighters already stretched by the Currowan,
Palerang and
Clyde Mountain fires. As temperatures were forecast to reach on the South Coast, Premier Berejiklian declared a seven-day state of emergency on 2 January 2020 with effect from 9am on the following day, including an unprecedented "tourist leave zone" from to the
edge of Victoria's northern border.
A blaze on the South Coast started off at Currowan and travelled up to the coastline after jumping across the
Princes Highway
Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...
, threatening properties around Termeil. Residents in
Bawley Point,
Kioloa, Depot Peach,
Pebbly Beach, North Durras and
Pretty Beach were told to either evacuate to
Batemans Bay
Batemans Bay is a town in the South Coast region of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Batemans Bay is administered by the Eurobodalla Shire council. The town is situated on the shores of an estuary formed where the Clyde River meets the ...
or
Ulladulla
Ulladulla () is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia in the City of Shoalhaven local government area. It is on the Princes Highway about south of Sydney, halfway between Batemans Bay to the south and Nowra to the north. Ulladulla has cl ...
or stay to protect their property. One home was lost. , the Currowan fire was burning between Batemans Bay in the south, Nowra in the north, and east of in the west. The fire had burnt more than and was out of control. The Currowan fire had merged with the Tianjara fire in the
Morton National Park to the south west of Nowra; and the Charleys Forest fire had grown along the fire's western flank; and on the fire's southern flank, the fire had merged with the Clyde Mountain fire.
By 26 December, the Clyde Mountain fire was burning on the southern side of the
Kings Highway, into the Buckenbowra and Runnyford areas. Around 4am on 31 December, the fire had crossed the Princes Highway near , and the highway was closed between Batemans Bay and . Around 7am on 31 December, the fire impacted the southern side of Batemans Bay, causing the loss of around ten businesses and damage to many others. The fire also crossed the Princes Highway in the vicinity of Round Hill and impacted the residential suburbs of Catalina, as well as beach suburbs from Sunshine Bay to Broulee. Residents and holiday makers were forced to flee to the beaches.
On the 23 January this fire escalated back to emergency level as the blaze roared towards the coastal town of Moruya, a town largely unaffected by bushfires in recent weeks.
At nearby
Lake Conjola
Lake Conjola is a small town situated on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the region of Ulladulla, in the City of Shoalhaven. At the , Lake Conjola had a population of 437. Lake Conjola is a popular tourist destin ...
, numerous homes were lost as the embers jumped across the lake, landing in gutters and lighting up houses. On one street there were only four houses still standing. , at least two people died and a woman was missing. Isolated hamlets of
Bendalong and
Manyana and
Cunjurong Point were additionally ablaze, with holiday-makers evacuated on 3 January 2020. , all are still without power.
, in the
Bega Valley Shire, the border fire that started in north-eastern Victoria was burning north into New South Wales towards the major town of , and had impacted the settlements of and surrounding areas including Kiah, Lower Towamba and parts of . Part of the fire was burning in inaccessible country and continued to head in a north-westerly direction towards as well as northerly to just south of Nethercote. The fire had burnt more than and was out of control.
Riverina
On 30 December, the Green Valley fire burning east of
Albury
Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...
near
Talmalmo (which had started the day prior) developed into an unprecedented fire event for the Snowy Valleys as a result of extreme local conditions. The smoke plume rose to an estimated and developed a
pyro-cumulonimbus cloud, becoming a
firestorm
A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...
. The result was extreme, the wind was described by crews on the ground as in excess of , with spot fires starting over ahead of the main fire front.
Firefighters described what they believed to be a tornado generated by the fire storm, which began flattening trees and flipped a small fire vehicle. The tornado then impacted a crew of firefighters working to protect a property, flipping their tanker over and trapping the crew inside, who were then overrun by fire. One firefighter was killed with multiple others injured, with one airlifted to
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
and two to
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
.
Snowy Mountains
The Dunns Road fire was believed to have been started by a lightning strike on 28 December in a private pine plantation near Adelong. In the
Snowy Valleys local government area, by 2 January 2020 the Dunns Road fire had burnt south of the
Snowy Mountains Highway in the Ellerslie Range near . Over was burnt and the fire was out of control. The NSWRFS issued an evacuation order to residents in the and areas. Residents and visitors to the
Kosciuszko National Park
The Kosciuszko National Park ( ) is a national park and contains mainland Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, for which it is named, and Cabramurra, New South Wales, Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia. Its borders contain a mix o ...
were evacuated and the national park was closed. 155 inmates from the
Mannus Correctional Centre near were evacuated.
On 3 January 2020, the Dunns Road fire burnt from
Batlow into Kosciuszko National Park, burning much of the northern part of the park. The fire caused significant damage, severely damaging the
Selwyn Snow Resort, destroying structures in the town of
Cabramurra and almost completely destroying the heritage-listed precinct (and birthplace of skiing in Australia) of
Kiandra. Kiandra's
historic former courthouse was left with only its walls standing after a fire so hot that the glass and aluminium in the windows melted.
A number of
high country huts, including Wolgal Hut and Pattinsons Hut near Kiandra, were also feared to have been destroyed. By 11 January three fires had mergedthe Dunns Road fire, the East Ournie Creek, and the Riverina's Green Valley fireand had created a "mega-fire", burning south of the Snowy Mountains.
On 23 January, a
Lockheed C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...
large air tanker crashed near
Cooma while waterbombing a blaze, resulting in the death of the three American crew members on board.
Victoria
On 21 November, lightning strikes ignited a series of fires in East Gippsland, initially endangering the communities of
Buchan
Buchan is a coastal district in the north-east of Scotland, bounded by the Ythan and Deveron rivers. It was one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It is now one of the six committee areas of Aberdeenshire.
Etymology
The ge ...
, Buchan South and Sunny Point. On 20 December, the Marthavale-Barmouth Spur expanded, greatly endangering the community of Tambo Crossing.

The first day of two-day cricket tour match between a Victoria XI and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
in Melbourne was cancelled due to extreme heat conditions.
On 30 December, there were three active fires in East Gippsland with a combined area of more than , and another in the north-east of the state near
Walwa heading south-east towards
Cudgewa. An evacuation warning was issued for the East Gippsland town of
Goongerah, which is surrounded by high-value old growth forests, as well as Cudgewa. On the same day, a fire broke out in the Plenty Gorge Parklands, situated in Melbourne's northern suburbs between
Bundoora,
Mill Park
Mill Park is a small suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 18 km north-east of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, central business district, located within the City of Whittlesea Local government areas of Victoria ...
,
South Morang,
Greensborough and
Plenty.
Fires reached the town of
Mallacoota by around 8 am AEDT on 31 December 2019. At 11 am AEDT 31 December, fires had begun to approach the vacation town of
Lakes Entrance. Despite the recommendation that large portions of East Gippsland be evacuated, approximately 30,000 holiday makers chose to remain in the region. Approximately 4,000 people, including 3,000 tourists, remained in Mallacoota as the fire began making its closest approach to the town, cutting off roads in the process; Mallacoota had not been issued with an evacuation warning on 29 December. On 3 January, approximately 1,160 people from Mallacoota were evacuated on naval vessels
HMAS ''Choules'' and ''
MV Sycamore''.
On 2 January at 11 pm AEDT Victorian Premier
Daniel Andrews
Daniel Michael Andrews (born 6 July 1972) is an Australian former politician who served as the 48th premier of Victoria from 2014 to 2023. He held office as the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2010 and ...
declared a state of disaster under the provisions of the ''Victorian Emergency Management Act'' for the shires of
East Gippsland,
Mansfield
Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...
,
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
,
Wangaratta Rural,
Towong, and
Alpine, and the alpine resorts of
Mount Buller
Mount Buller is primarily a resort town on the slopes of Mount Buller (Victoria), Mount Buller, within Mount Buller Alpine Resort, an unincorporated area of the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It is located approximately n ...
,
Mount Hotham, and
Mount Stirling. Emergency Management Commissioner
Andrew Crisp stated that had burnt including near Corryong in the state's north-east and that fifty fires were burning. On 3 January, Premier Andrews said two people were confirmed dead from the East Gippsland fires.
On 6 January Premier Andrews said that bushfires had burnt through in Victoria's east and north-east and that 200 homes were confirmed lost.
On 13 January, two bushfires were burning at emergency level in Victoria despite milder conditions, one about 8 km east of Abbeyard and the other in East Gippsland affecting Tamboon, Tamboon South and Furnel.
On 23 January, there were still 12 fires burning in Victoria, the strongest in East Gippsland and the north-east. The Buldah fire in East Gippsland was at watch and act level and the rest were on advice level. Most of the 44 fires sparked by dry lighting were quickly dealt with by firefighters. Heavy rain in the Melbourne region brought little relief to bushfire-affected regions. Premier Daniel Andrews said that the rains could bring new dangers for firefighters, including landslides.
On 30 January, four days of hot weather were forecast for Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia bringing high fire danger with several uncontrolled bushfires still burning.
Queensland
On 7 September 2019 multiple out of control blazes threatened townships across
south-eastern and
northern Queensland, destroying eleven houses in , seven houses in
Stanthorpe, and one house at . On the following day the heritage-listed lodge and cabins at the iconic Australian nature-based
Binna Burra Lodge were destroyed in the bushfire that consumed residential houses in Beechmont the previous day.
A large fire impacted the
Peregian Beach area on 9 September, on the
Sunshine Coast, severely damaging ten houses. In December 2019 Peregian Springs and the surrounding areas came under threat by bushfires for the second time in a couple of months. No homes were confirmed lost in this bushfire.
Due to deteriorating fire conditions and fires threatening homes across the state, on 9 November a State of Fire Emergency was declared across 42
local government areas
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory.
The ph ...
across southern,
central, northern and
far-northern Queensland.
On 11 November a fire started in the
Ravensbourne area near
Toowoomba
Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...
, which burnt through over of bush across several days, destroying six houses. At 8 am the air quality in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
reached unprecedentedly poor levels (
Woolloongabba PM2.5 238.8
μg
In the metric system, a microgram or microgramme is a Physical unit, unit of mass equal to one millionth () of a gram. The unit symbol is μg according to the International System of Units (SI); the recommended symbol in the United States and Uni ...
/
m3). Queensland's chief health officer, Dr Jeanette Young, urged residents to stay indoors and to not physically exert themselves.
On 13 November a water bombing helicopter crashed while fighting the blazes threatening the small community of
Pechey. While the
Bell 214 helicopter was completely destroyed, the pilot walked away with minor injuries.
On 23 November the state of fire emergency was revoked and extended fire bans were put in place in local government areas that were previously affected under this declaration.
On 6 December a house fire broke out in and quickly spread to nearby bushland and was placed under a watch and act alert by the
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services that afternoon. The following day, after worsening conditions, the fire was upgraded to an emergency warning and began to threaten homes in the local community. The fire destroyed a shipping container filled with fireworks, and residents within the exclusion zone were ordered to evacuate. One home was destroyed.
On 8 November a bushfire broke out in forestry to the west of the township of Jimna, causing Queensland Fire and Emergency services to issue a "watch and act" alert. The fire caused the evacuation of the entire town.
South Australia
On 11 November 2019 an emergency bushfire warning was issued for
Port Lincoln
Port Lincoln is a city on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of South Australia. Known as Galinyala by the traditional owners, the Barngarla people, it is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, ...
in the
Eyre Peninsula
The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north.
Earlier called Eyre's Peninsula, it was named after e ...
, with an uncontrolled fire traveling towards the town. The
South Australian Country Fire Service ordered ten water bombers to the area to assist 26 ground crews at the scene.
SA Power Networks
SA Power Networks is the principal electricity distribution, electricity distributor in the state of South Australia, delivering electricity from high voltage transmission network connection points operated by ElectraNet. It is the successor t ...
disconnected power to the town.

A large fire broke out on
Yorke Peninsula
The Yorke Peninsula, known as Guuranda by the original inhabitants, the Narungga people, is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula ...
on 20 November 2019 and threatened the towns of and . It destroyed at least eleven homes and burnt approximately . The fire was believed to have started from a sparking electrical transformer. A
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...
water-bombing aircraft from New South Wales in addition to South Australian
Air Tractor AT-802s were used to protect the town of Edithburgh.
On 20 December fires took hold in the Adelaide Hills, and near in the
Mount Lofty Ranges. Initial south-easterly winds put the towns of
Lobethal and in the line of the fire, and by the next morning the winds had changed to north-north-west, threatening other towns. The fires killed one person,
more than 70 houses were destroyed, as well as over 400 outbuildings and 200 cars. Fires are still burning and the yearly Christmas celebrations at Lobethal were cancelled.
Also on 20 December, an out-of-control bushfire took hold near
Angle Vale, starting from the
Northern Expressway and burning through
Buchfelde and across the
Gawler River. At 11:07 am
ACDT the fire was burning under catastrophic weather conditions and an emergency warning was issued for
Hillier,
Munno Para Downs,
Kudla,
Munno Para West and Angle Vale. One house was destroyed.
Another emergency warning was issued on 3 January for a fire near
Kersbrook. At its largest extent, the warning area overlapped with areas that a few days earlier had been in warnings for the Cudlee Creek fire. Water bombers delivered 21 loads in just over an hour before darkness fell, and 150 firefighters on 25 trucks plus bulk water carriers and earthmoving equipment limited the advance of the fire to .
On Kangaroo Island starting in the
Flinders Chase National Park
Flinders Chase National Park (formerly Flinders Chase) is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located at the west end of Kangaroo Island about west-south west of the state capital of Adelaide and west of the municipal ...
, the Ravine bushfire burnt in excess of and a bushfire emergency warning was issued on 3 January 2020 as the fire advanced towards
Vivonne Bay and the town of was evacuated. On 4 January it was confirmed at least two people died. approximately , representing about a third of the island, had been burnt. Fires remained burning out of control, with firefighters working to contain and control fires before potentially hot windy weather scheduled for later in the week. Following fire damage to a water treatment plant, residents were asked to conserve water and some water was carted into island towns. There were concerns for the future of threatened wildlife, such as
glossy black cockatoos,
Kangaroo Island dunnarts, and koalas. Authorities stated that any koalas taken to the mainland for treatment cannot return to the island in case they bring diseases back with them.
Western Australia

Two bushfires burnt in
Geraldton
Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth.
As of the , Geraldt ...
on 13 November, damaging homes and small structures.
A fire broke out in
Yanchep at 2:11 pm on 11 December, immediately triggering an emergency warning for Yanchep and
Two Rocks. The fire led to a service station exploding. On 12 December, temperatures in excess of exacerbated the fire, and the emergency warning area doubled including parts of
Guilderton and Brenton Bay further north. On 13 December, increased temperature conditions resulted in the fire burning in excess of , with the fire front over in length. , the emergency warning area stretched from Yanchep north to
Lancelin over away. By 16 December, the fire was considered contained and the alert downgraded to watch and act.
Approximately were burnt; only two buildings were damaged, both within the first day of the fire starting.
In December fires in the region around
Norseman blocked access to the
Eyre Highway
Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 (Australia), Highway 1 and the National Highway (Australia), Australian Nat ...
and the
Nullarbor and caused the highways of the region to be blocked, so as to prevent any recurrence of the 2007 death of truck drivers on the
Great Eastern Highway.
Between 26 December 2019 and 1 January 2020, as a result of a lightning strike,
a fire tore through of land in
Stirling Range National Park
Stirling Range National Park is a national park in the Great Southern (Western Australia), Great Southern region of Western Australia, approximately south-east of Perth.
There is also an eponymous Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality, ...
in the southwest of the state, burning more than half of the park.
The pyrocumulus cloud from the fires could be seen south in
Albany.
By New Year's Day 2020 a crew of 200 firefighters brought the fire back to advice level without any loss of life or major property damage (a park ranger hut and hiking tracks were destroyed).
However, conservationists raised concerns for the potential loss of rare and unique flora and fauna that live in the park, which contains over 1500 such species within its boundaries, including a rare population of
quokkas (one of few in mainland Western Australia).
A local politician, firefighters, farmers and tourism operators called on Western Australian Emergency Minister
Fran Logan to invest in local firefighting assets for the area in order to make sure the tourist destination was properly protected.
Tasmania
In late October 2019, four bushfires were burning near
Scamander, Elderslie and Lachlan. Emergency warnings were issued at Lulworth, Bothwell and Lachlan. A large fire near also burnt over . Lighting strikes subsequently started multiple fires in
Southwest Tasmania. On 20 December 2019, a fire was started in the north east, which spread to and destroyed one home; a man was charged with starting the fire.
Two fires continued to burn in January 2020. A fire in the Fingal Valley, in north-eastern Tasmania, started on 29 December, and a fire at Pelham, north of Hobart, started on 30 December. the Fingal fire had burnt over and the Pelham fire over .
Australian Capital Territory

In the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...
(ACT), the national capital
Canberra
Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
was blanketed by thick bushfire smoke on New Year's Day from bushfires burning nearby in New South Wales. That day the air quality in the capital was the worst of any city in the world, at around 23 times the threshold to be considered hazardous. Conditions continued the next day, and
Australia Post
Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation and also known as AusPost, is an Australian Government-State-owned enterprise, owned corporation that provides postal services throughout Australia. Australia Post's head office is loca ...
stopped postal deliveries in the ACT to keep workers safe from smoke. The first death directly linked to the poor air quality was also recorded on 2 January. An elderly women had been travelling from Brisbane to Canberra by plane, when she exited the plane onto the smoke-flooded tarmac, she suffered respiratory distress and then died.
On 2 January 2020, the ACT declared a state of alert; that was extended on 12 January as the merged Dunns Road fire burnt from the Territory's south-west border.
From at least 6 January a bushfire near Hospital Hill in the
Namadgi National Park
Namadgi National Park is a protected area in the southwest of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), bordering Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. It lies approximately southwest of Canberra, and occupies approximately 46 percent of th ...
had started; it was extinguished on 9 January.
On 22 January a bushfire started in Redwood Forest; it reached emergency level threating and . The next day a second bushfire started, the Kallaroo Fire, which later during the day merged with the Redwood Forest fire forming the Beard Fire; the fire jumped the
Molonglo River
The Molonglo River is a perennial stream, perennial river that is part of the Murrumbidgee River, Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin. It is located in the Monaro (New South Wales), Monaro and Capital Country regions of New ...
and threatened the suburbs of , and as it burnt .
Canberra Airport was closed for a day.
The fire destroyed 1 facility, 4 outbuildings and 3 vehicles.
On 27 January a bushfire in the Orroral Valley in the
Namadgi National Park
Namadgi National Park is a protected area in the southwest of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), bordering Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. It lies approximately southwest of Canberra, and occupies approximately 46 percent of th ...
started. ACT Emergency Services Minister
Mick Gentleman reported, on behalf of the
Department of Defence, that the fire had been started by a landing light on a Defence helicopter, while it was conducting routine aerial reconnaissance and ground clearance work to support local firefighters.
By the morning of 28 January the fire had grown to 2,575 hectares in size and was 9 kilometres from the town of
Tharwa. An emergency warning was declared for Tharwa and the southern suburbs of Canberra just after 1:30pm AEST on 28 January.
Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...
Andrew Barr described the fire as the biggest threat to Canberra since the
2003 Canberra bushfires.
Northern Territory
The
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
went through a relatively average annual bushfire season with respect to area of land burnt, in comparison to the scale of bushfires witnessed in other areas of Australia. Despite this, approximately was burnt, an area which contributed significantly to the total area burnt by bushfires in the nation. Five homes were lost to bushfires in the Territory.
Precedents
While the full extent of the current bushfires is yet to be measured, there have been a number of large scale bushfires recorded in Australian history. The widespread
1938-9 fires in Victoria, NSW, South Australia and the ACT similarly gained international headlines when the fires entered the Sydney suburbs, as did the
1994 eastern seaboard fires. The 1851
Black Thursday bushfires shocked colonial Australia with their ferocity, burning a quarter of what is now Victoria (around five million hectares). Lesser known is that about 117 million hectares, or 15 per cent of Australia’s land mass, experienced fire in the summer of 1974-5. NSW was again badly affected, and three people killed, however the fires were mainly in sparsely populated inland areas. The five most deadly blazes were:
Black Saturday 2009 in Victoria (173 people killed, 2000 homes lost);
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...
1983 in Victoria and South Australia (75 dead, nearly 1900 homes);
Black Friday 1939 in Victoria (71 dead, 650 houses destroyed),
Black Tuesday 1967 in Tasmania (62 people and almost 1300 homes); and the
Gippsland fires and Black Sunday of 1926 in Victoria (60 people killed over a two month period.
[The worst bushfires in Australia’s history](_blank)
3 Nov 2011; Australian Geographic]
Environmental effects
In mid-December 2019, a
Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA analysis revealed that since 1 August, the New South Wales and Queensland bushfires had emitted of
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
(CO).
As of 2 January 2020, NASA estimated that of CO had been emitted.
By comparison, in 2018, Australia's total carbon emissions were equivalent to of CO.
[ While the carbon emitted by the fires would normally be reabsorbed by forest regrowth, this would take decades and might not happen at all if prolonged drought has damaged the ability of forests to fully regrow.][
In December 2019, the ]air quality index
An air quality index (AQI) is an indicator developed by government agencies to communicate to the public how polluted the air currently is or how polluted it is forecast to become. As air pollution levels rise, so does the AQI, along with the a ...
(AQI) around Rozelle, a west suburb of Sydney, hit 2,552 or more than 12 times the hazardous level of 200. The level of fine particle matters, known and measured globally as PM2.5, around Sydney was also measured at or the equivalent of 37 cigarettes. On 1 January 2020, the AQI around Monash, a suburb of Canberra, was measured at 4,650, or more than 23 times hazardous level and peaked at 7,700.
On New Year's Day 2020 in New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, a blanket of smoke from the Australian fires covered the whole South Island
The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
, giving the sky an orange-yellow haze. People in Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...
reported smelling smoke in the air. The MetService stated that the smoke would not have any adverse affects on the weather or temperature in the country. The smoke moved over the North Island
The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
the following day, but began breaking up and was not as intense as it was over the South Island the previous day; meanwhile, wind from the South Pacific Ocean dissipated the smoke over the South Island. The smoke affected glaciers in the country, giving a brown tint to the snow. On 5 January 2020, more smoke wafted over the North Island, turning the sky in Auckland
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
orange. By 7 January 2020, the smoke was carried approximately across the South Pacific Ocean to Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
, Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, and Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
.
Ecological effects
Prof. Chris Dickman, a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science from the University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
, estimated on 8 January 2020 that more than one billion animals were killed by bushfires in Australia; while more than 800 million animals perished in New South Wales. The estimate was based on a 2007 World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...
(WWF) report on impacts of land clearing on Australian wildlife in New South Wales that provided estimates of mammal, bird and reptile population density in the region. Dickman's calculation had been based on highly conservative estimates and the actual mortality would therefore be higher. The figure provided by Dickman included mammals (excluding bats), birds, and reptiles; and did not include frogs, insects, or other invertebrates. Other estimates, which include animals like bats, amphibians and invertebrates, also put the number killed at over a billion.
Ecologists feared some endangered species
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
were driven to extinction
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
by the fires. Though bushfires are not uncommon in Australia, they are usually of lower scale and intensity that only affect small parts of the overall distribution of where species live. Animals that survived a bushfire could still find suitable habitats in the immediate vicinity, which was not the case when an entire distribution is decimated in an intense event. Besides immediate mortality from the fires, there were on-going mortalities after the fires from starvation, lack of shelter, and attacks from predators such as foxes and cats that are attracted to fire-affected areas to hunt.
On Kangaroo Island, Australia's third largest island and known as Australia's "Galapagos Island", a third of the island was burnt. Large parts of the island are designated as protected areas and host animals such as sea lions, penguins, kangaroos, koalas, pygmy possums, southern brown bandicoots, Ligurian bees, Kangaroo Island dunnarts and various birds including glossy black cockatoos. NASA estimated that the number of dead koalas could be as high as 25,000 or about half the total population of the species on the island. A quarter of the beehives of the Ligurian honey bees that inhabited the Island were believed to have been destroyed. Both the Kangaroo Island dunnart and Kangaroo Island subspecies of the glossy black cockatoo are endangered and are only found on Kangaroo Island. Before the fires, there were only less than 500 Kangaroo Island dunnarts and about 380 Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoos.
Australian magpies, which are known to have the ability to mimic the calls of other birds and animals, were so frequently exposed to the sirens from fire trucks and ambulances caused by the bushfires that a magpie in was captured on video mimicking the sound of emergency sirens.
Domestic response
New South Wales
The two primary firefighting agencies for New South Wales, Fire and Rescue NSW and the NSW Rural Fire Service, formed the bulk of the primary response to the fires, mobilising thousands of firefighters and several hundred firefighting vehicles. They were heavily supported by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Forestry Corporation of NSW, who hold jurisdiction over national parks and forests across the state. Additional local firefighting resources were also utilised from agencies such as Air Services Australia and Sydney Trains
Sydney Trains is the brand name and operator of Railways in Sydney, suburban and intercity train services in and around Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia.
The metropolitan part of the network is a hybrid urban rail, urban-suburban r ...
.
Numerous interstate agencies deployed firefighting resources into New South Wales, including several hundred firefighters from the Victorian Country Fire Authority, along with crews from the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade, the South Australian Country Fire Service, the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service, the South Australian Department of Environment and Water, and the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service.
Despite the substantial loss of property and loss of life, firefighters have so far managed to save over 16,000 structures from direct fire impact in addition to countless lives.
Multiple other New South Wales emergency services assisted in the response, including NSW Ambulance that provided ongoing pre-hospital care to victims of the fires including firefighters, NSW Police
The New South Wales Police Force is a law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia, established in 1862. With more than 17,000 police officers, it is the largest police organisation in Australia, policing an area of 801,60 ...
that worked to ensure public safety was maintained through road closures and evacuations and the NSW State Emergency Service that assisted with logistical support. With brush-tailed rock-wallabies and much of the indigenous wildlife population in parts of New South Wales were left without food or water, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service airdropped approximately vegetables on the known habitats. A joint operation by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and NSW Rural Fire Service was mounted to protect the critically endangered Wollemia
''Wollemia'' is a genus of coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae, endemic to Australia. It represents one of only three living genera in the family, alongside ''Araucaria'' and ''Agathis'' (being more closely related to the latter). The ge ...
pines growing in Wollemi National Park. Fire retardant was dropped from air tankers, and an irrigation system was installed on the ground by specialist firefighters, who were lowered into the area by winch
A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension (physics), tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable").
In its simplest form, it consists of a Bobb ...
es from helicopters.
Commonwealth
On 24 December 2019, the Morrison Government
The Morrison government was the Australian Government, federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party of Australia, between 2018 and 2022. The Morrison governmen ...
announced that volunteer firefighters employed in the Commonwealth public service would be offered at least 20 working days paid leave. On 29 December 2019, it announced that volunteer firefighters who have been called out for more than 10 days would be able to receive financial compensation. On 4 January 2020, it announced that it would lease four waterbombing planes including two long-range DC-10s and two medium-range for use by state and territory governments.
On 5 January 2020, the Prime Minister announced the establishment of the National Bushfire Recovery Agency, funded initially with 2 billion, under the control of former Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the principal Federal police, federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government responsible for investigating Crime in Australia, crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth ...
Commissioner
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...
, Andrew Colvin.
Military
On 5 December 2019, the Australian Defence Force
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...
(ADF) commenced ''Operation Bushfire Assist'' to support state fire services in logistics, planning, capability, and operational support. Activities the ADF has undertaken as part of the Operation have included Air Force
An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...
aircraft transporting firefighters and their equipment interstate, Army
An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
and Navy
A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
helicopters transporting firefighters, conducting night fire mapping, impact assessments and search and rescue flights, use of various defence facilities as coordination and information centres and for catering and accommodation for firefighters, liaison between state and federal government services, reloading and refuelling for waterbombing aircraft, deployment of personnel to assess fire damage and severity, and provision of humanitarian supplies.
On 31 December 2019, the Defence Minister
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...
announced the ADF would provide assistance to East Gippsland, in particular the isolated high-fire-risk town of Mallacoota, deploying helicopters including a CH-47 Chinook
The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem-rotor helicopter originally developed by American rotorcraft company Piasecki Helicopter, Vertol and now manufactured by Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The Chinook is a Military transport helicopter, heav ...
and C-27J Spartan military transport aircraft to be based at RAAF Base East Sale and two naval vessels, and , with the vessels also able to assist in south-east New South Wales if required. On 1 January 2020, the ADF deployed additional military staff establishing the Victorian Joint Task Force 646 ( Army Reserve 4th Brigade) and the following day the New South Wales Joint Task Force 1110 ( Army Reserve 5th Brigade). On 3 January 2020, HMAS ''Choules'' and MV ''Sycamore'' evacuated civilians from Mallacoota bound for Westernport.
On 4 January 2020, following a meeting of the National Security Committee, the Morrison Government announced a compulsory call-out of Army Reserve brigades to deploy up to 3,000 reserve personnel full-time to assist with in the Operation. Additionally, Defence announced that it would deploy HMAS ''Adelaide'' to support other Navy ships in evacuations and relief, as well additional Chinook helicopters and military transport aircraft to RAAF Base East Sale. The same day, Chinook helicopters evacuated civilians from Omeo; and Spartan aircraft evacuated civilians from Mallacoota on 5 January.
Community organisations
The response of volunteer organisations and charities was also considerable, with WIRES Wildlife Rescue working to rescue and treat injured wildlife, Rapid Relief Team Australia raising money for victims, providing meals for firefighters and assisting with two bulk water tankers, Team Rubicon Australia providing debris removal and helping with the cleanup of fire affected areas, the Animal Welfare League fundraising and assisting injured animals, and St John Ambulance Australia and Australian Red Cross providing support at evacuation centres across New South Wales.
On 1 December 2019 WWF-Australia launched the “Towards Two Billion Trees” plan to aid the koala bushfire recovery. It aims to stop excessive tree-clearing, protect the existing trees and forests, and restore native habitat that has been lost. The ten-point plan for the next ten years foresees to grow 1.56 billion new trees and save 780 million trees.
Hundreds of Australian architecture firms offered their services pro bono
( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...
to communities affected by the bushfires as members of Architects Assist
Architects Assist (AA) is a national organisation of Australian architects, other built environment professionals and students providing pro bono disaster recovery and resilience advice to individuals and communities affected by natural disasters, ...
, an organisation established by architect Jiri Lev on 4 January 2020. the organisation represented 500 architecture practices and a further 1,400 architecture student and graduate volunteers.
International response
Political figures from outside Australia including Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
, Cory Booker
Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New Jersey, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of the Democ ...
, Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
, Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...
, Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...
, Greta Thunberg
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3January 2003) is a Swedish climate activist, climate and political activist initially known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action to climate change mitigation, mitigate the effec ...
, and Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A mem ...
[ all publicly commented about the fires. People in the entertainment industry such as ]Tina Arena
Filippina Lydia "Tina" Arena (born 1 November 1967) is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician, musical theatre actress and record producer. She is one of Australia's highest-selling artists and has sold over 10 million records worldwid ...
,[ ]Patricia Arquette
Patricia Arquette (; born April 8, 1968) is an American actress. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in ''A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors'' (1987) and has since received several awards, including an Academy Award, two P ...
, Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise Blanchett ( ; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor and producer. Regarded as one of the best performers of her generation, she is recognised for Cate Blanchett on screen and stage, her versatile work across stage and scre ...
, Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor and film director. Russell Crowe filmography, His work on screen has earned him List of awards and nominations received by Russell Crowe, various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Gold ...
, Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer.
She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...
, Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, producer, and businesswoman. Gomez began her career as a child actress, appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), a ...
, Halsey, Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...
, Lizzo
Melissa Viviane Jefferson (born April 27, 1988), known professionally as Lizzo (), is an American singer and rapper. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she moved to Houston, Texas, with her family at the age of ten. After college, she moved to Minn ...
, Bette Midler
Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...
, Pink
Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the Dianthus plumarius, pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, p ...
, Margot Robbie, Paul Stanley
Paul Stanley (born Stanley Bert Eisen; January 20, 1952) is an American musician who was the co-founder, frontman, rhythm guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss from the band's inception in 1973 to their retireme ...
, Jay Park
Jay Park (born April 25, 1987), Korean name Park Jae-beom (), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and dancer based in South Korea. He is a member of the Seattle-based breakdancing, b-boy crew Art of Movement (AOM), and founder and former ...
, Jonathan Van Ness, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge also made statements about the fires. Some of the aforementioned people have also donated or raised funds.
On 4 January 2020, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...
sent a message of condolence to Governor-General
Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...
David Hurley
David John Hurley (born 26 August 1953) is an Australian former senior officer in the Australian Army who served as the 27th governor-general of Australia from 2019 to 2024. He was previously the 38th governor of New South Wales from 2014 to ...
, sending their " thoughts and prayers to all Australians at this difficult time". The Queen indicated in her message that she was "deeply saddened" to hear of the fires and their devastating impact on the country, and expressed her thanks to emergency service workers. On 8 January 2020, Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms.
Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
issued a video message expressing his despair at the "appalling horror" of the fires. The Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...
and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...
and Duchess of Sussex also issued messages to Australia, Princess Mary of Denmark, who is of Australian heritage, published an open letter where she and her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, expressed their condolences to the victims and respect for the firefighters.
International aid
;Canada
Four deployments totalling 87 Canadian firefighters were sent through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. It was the first time since 2009 that Canadian personnel were deployed to Australia. The Canadian government also sent a CC-17 plane of the Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...
with 15 personnel on 27 January to further aid with transport and provide airlift support.
;Fiji
The government of Fiji deployed the Fiji Military Forces humanitarian assistance and disaster relief platoon and engineers to assist in the bush fire rehabilitation.
;France
On 6 January, French President Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
stated he could help out with the bushfires. A team of five French firefighting experts arrived in Australia on 9 January in order to determine possible options for French and European support.
;Japan
On 15 January, the Japanese government sent two C-130
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...
aircraft of the JASDF, along with 70 other Self-Defense Force personnel to assist in transport and other efforts in combating the bushfires. The aircraft left Komaki Air Base
, also known as Komaki Airport or Nagoya Airport, is an airport within the local government areas of Toyoyama, Komaki, Kasugai and Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Prior to 2005 it was an international airport, but is now a domestic secon ...
and flew to RAAF Base Richmond in New South Wales the next day.
;Malaysia
On 5 January, Malaysia offered its assistance through a statement by Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...
Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. On 13 January, Malaysia officially deployed over forty firefighters to assist with the bushfires. Twenty others from government agencies would also be involved with the mission.
;New Zealand
Over fifty New Zealanders were deployed to Australia in both direct fire fighting and support roles. In January 2020, New Zealand also deployed elements of the Royal New Zealand Air Force
The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF; ) is the aerial warfare, aerial military service, service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed initially in 1923 as a branch of the New Zealand Army, being known as the New Zealand Perm ...
and New Zealand Army
The New Zealand Army (, ) is the principal Army, land warfare force of New Zealand, a component of the New Zealand Defence Force alongside the Royal New Zealand Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Formed in 1845, as the New Zealand Mil ...
including three NH90 helicopters, two Army combat engineer sections, and a command element. A specialist six person animal disaster response team were deployed by non-profit Animal Evac New Zealand on 8 January to New South Wales, assisting with wildlife rescue and supported by SAFE. The team was the first international specialist animal rescuers to arrive and included vets, animal management officers as well as animal disaster and technical animal rescue experts. A second team of four arrived on 13 January. The teams partnered with local wildlife centres to successfully rescue and relocate several injured animals. as well as advising residents in fire danger zones on their animal evacuation plans.
;Papua New Guinea
The Government of Papua New Guinea offered to send 1,000 military and other personnel to Australia to assist with the response to the bushfires. Australia accepted 100 Papua New Guinea Defence Force personnel.
;The Philippines
The Philippine Red Cross pledged to donate $100K to Australia, while various Filipino personalities pledged support for the victims of the bush fires. The women-led Teduray people of Maguindanao initiated a sacred rain-making ritual for Australian victims, calling on the fire goddess Frayag Sarif's intercession to bring rain to the country.
;Singapore
Singapore deployed two Chinook helicopters and 42 Singapore Armed Forces
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A component of the Ministry of Defence (Singapore), Ministry of D ...
personnel stationed at Oakey Army Aviation Centre to RAAF Base East Sale in Victoria.
;United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates sent 200 volunteers from the Emirates Red Crescent to help fight the fire, including Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi. A Twitter campaign and hashtag #mateshelpmates was launched by the Dubai Expo 2020 aiming to raise donations to help those affected by the fires in Australia. To increase awareness, Burj Khalifa
The Burj Khalifa (known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration) is a megatall skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With a total height of 829.8 m (2,722 ft, or just over half a mile) and a roof height (excluding the antenna, but inc ...
in Dubai, the world's tallest tower, lit up in solidarity with Australia.
;United States
Twenty firefighters from the United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...
were deployed to Australia to help combat the fires. Fire fighters from other parts of the US also helped with the fires. On 23 January, three US firefighters died in the crash of a C-130
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...
fire fighting aircraft.
;Other countries
Several other countries have offered assistance:
*On 7 January, Denmark offered 50 firefighters via the Danish Emergency Management Agency that were on a standby and could move on a short notice, but it was deemed unnecessary by the Australian Government, which at that point said that they had sufficient material, manpower and organisation to deal with the remaining fires.
*On 6 January 2020, the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs responded to the Civil Protection Mechanism (EUCPM) and prepared 70 firefighters to be deployed in Australia through the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) of the European Union. Australia rejected this, as well as the EU call for more bushfire help.
* Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu tweeted that Turkey is ready to provide all required assistance, while Turkey's Melbourne consulate donated $14,500 to Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.
*The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine notified Australia that the Ukrainian government is ready to send 200 seasoned firefighters to help fight the fires. Ukraine's Foreign Minister also noted that "The fires in Australia have not left the Ukrainians indifferent."
*Some Pacific nations have also stated that they could send some aid.
Causes
Australia is one of the most fire-prone continents on earth, and bushfires form part of the natural cycle of its landscapes. However, factors such as climate trends, weather patterns and vegetation management by humans can all contribute to the intensity of bushfire seasons, and the most destructive fires in Australian history have usually been preceded by extreme high temperatures, low relative humidity and strong winds, which combine to create ideal conditions for the rapid spread of fire. Scientific experts and land management agencies agree that severely below average fuel moisture attributed to record-breaking temperatures and drought, accompanied by severe fire weather, are the primary causes of the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, and that these are likely to have been exacerbated by long-term trends of warmer and dryer weather observed over the Australian continent. Nonetheless, the political nature of many of the crisis and its associated issues has also resulted in the circulation of large amounts of disinformation regarding the causes of the fire activity, at the neglect of credible scientific research, expert opinion, and previous government inquiries.
Ignition
The major cause of ignition of fires during the 2019-20 fire crisis in NSW and Victoria is reported to be lightning strikes. According to the ABC, arson has been of little impact – accounting for around 1% of NSW blazes and 0.3% of Victorian blazes by 18 January 2020.
Drought and temperature
A likely contributor to the bushfire crisis was the ongoing drought in eastern Australiathe most severe on record for some fire affected areas. Exacerbating the effects of diminished rainfall in this drought has been a record breaking run of above average monthly temperatures, lasting 36 months to October 2019. The combination of heat and drought caused critical low fuel moisture content, with Victoria Country Fire Authority Response Controller Gavin Freeman stating that the "underlying dryness" of the bush has led to exceptionally high fire danger. Although Australia has naturally experienced high rainfall variability and hot summers for millennia, the country has experienced an increase of nearly in average annual temperatures since 1900, decreases in average rainfall in southeastern Australia since 1990, with the country's worst recorded droughts occurring within the 21st century. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications.
CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...
(CSIRO) stated that on account of projected future climate change, hot days will become more frequent and hotter (very high confidence), and the time in drought is projected to increase over southern Australia (high confidence). In October 2019 David Littleproud, the Australian Minister for Water Resources, stated that he "totally accepts" the link between climate change and drought in Australia, as someone who has experienced it first hand.
Climate change
Climate and fire experts agree that climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
is a factor known to result in increased fire frequency and intensity in south east Australia, and although it should not be considered as the sole cause of the 2019-20 Australian fires, climate change is considered very likely to have contributed to the unprecedented extent and severity of the fires. The crisis has led to calls for more action to combat climate change. In December 2019, Australia had been ranked worst in terms of policy, and sixth worst overall, out of 57 countries assessed on the Climate Change Performance Index
The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) is a scoring system designed by the Germany, German environmental and development organisation Germanwatch Registered association (Germany), e.V. to enhance transparency in international Politics of cli ...
, with the Morrison government labelled "an increasingly regressive force." Originally downplaying the role of climate change in causing the fires, Prime Minister Morrison eventually conceded that climate change was one of "many factors" involved and added that Australia was "playing its part" in the international effort against climate change. That said, the Morrison government
The Morrison government was the Australian Government, federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party of Australia, between 2018 and 2022. The Morrison governmen ...
has received some criticism on its 2030 emission reduction targets. Several members of the governing Liberal Party were criticised internationally for climate change denial
Climate change denial (also global warming denial) is a form of science denial characterized by rejecting, refusing to acknowledge, disputing, or fighting the scientific consensus on climate change. Those promoting denial commonly use rhetor ...
, with backbencher Craig Kelly called "disgraceful" during an interview with the hosts of '' Good Morning Britain'' for denying any link between climate change and the fires, and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation receiving "angry" feedback from listeners after airing an interview in which former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott
Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parli ...
said the world was "in the grip of a climate cult." Prior to the worst phases of the bushfires, in an interview in November 2019, former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...
said the party had struggled with the issue of climate change denial for more than a decade because it had become an issue of "identity" rather than fact, and criticised News Corporation
The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
for being a "long-time promoter" of climate denialism. The chief executive of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia said bushfire preparations had been "stymied" by the federal government, because "there are people within government who firmly believe there is no such thing as climate change or that human beings don't have an impact upon it, and they are adamant that no extra work or extra effort should ever happen because they don't believe in climate change."
Disputed causes
In the midst of the crisis, conservative politicians and media blamed a lack of prescribed burning and fire break management, although such assertion has subsequently been heavily criticized and disproven by scientific experts. Accompanying this was the assertion that environmental groups were responsible for the crisis by inhibiting prescribed burning, despite environmental groups holding relatively negligible political power compared to the Liberal and National parties. Furthermore, the amount of prescribed burning in southeastern Australia has been stated to have increased in recent years, following the recommendation for increased prescribed burning from the 2009 Black Saturday Royal Commission. Experts suggested that prescribed burning has been more difficult to achieve given recent trends towards warmer and dryer conditions. Experts have also cast skepticism on the effectiveness of fuel reduction treatments, citing research that suggests that prescribed burning does little to stop bushfire and save property in south east Australia, with climate and weather conditions having primary influence.
The effect of previous prescribed burns in slowing the 2019-20 Australian fires and assisting fire suppression efforts remains unclear, although in many instances the fires were observed to burn through cleared agricultural land and forest recently affected by unplanned and prescribed burns, owing to the extreme weather conditions and dryness of vegetation. Of particular note, the damaging Currowan fire burnt though a large area of Morton National Park subject in 2017 to one of the largest prescribed burns ever successfully conducted in NSW. In relation to the blame of prescribed burning, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science David Bowman stated "These are very tired and very old conspiracy theories that get a run after most major fires," and that they were "an obvious attempt to deflect the conversation away from climate change." In the lead up to another Federal inquiry into state land management, Professor of Bushfire Behaviour and Management Trent Penman added "If there was a silver bullet on bushfires we'd have found it by now, after the 51 ushfireinquiries since 1939," and that "blindly putting money into prescribed burning won't stop the problem". Despite evidence to suggest that fuel loads played a minimal role in the 2019-20 Australian fires, there are calls to open up Australian protected lands to industry, particularly logging and grazing, to reduce fire fuel, with these calls having so far mainly stemmed from individuals and businesses with interests in such industries, and have resulted in the circulation of large amounts of disinformation
Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...
.
The NSW Rural Fire Service referred numerous individuals to the NSW Police
The New South Wales Police Force is a law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia, established in 1862. With more than 17,000 police officers, it is the largest police organisation in Australia, policing an area of 801,60 ...
; 24 people were charged with arson
Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...
, allegedly starting bushfires. Approximately one percent of the land burnt in NSW, and 0.03 percent in Victoria, was attributed to arson. Queensland police reported that 114 fires "were found to be deliberately or maliciously lit".
Disinformation and contested reporting
Incorrect reporting and social media claims about the extent of the fires, its precedents and causes, and matters like funding of fire fighting services have been circulated during the fire season. Media outlets of differing political allegiances have also disputed each other's coverage.
; Misleading maps and graphics:
A number of maps giving an exaggerated impression of Australia's fires have gone viral online, and have been published by major news outlets. It was reported by news.com.au that "Some bushfire maps have been criticised for misleading people about the location and size of the fires, with a map used by the ABC in the US appearing to show the entire east coast of Australia on fire, as well as a strange line of fires through the centre of the country... " One image created by Anthony Hearsey spread widely on Twitter and by celebrities including Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...
was wrongly interpreted as a map showing the live extent of fires, when in fact it sought to present one month of data of locations where fire was detected, according to NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System. Maps showing "hotspots" were spread online as comprehensive fire maps, giving an exaggerated impression of the extent of fires. Photographs of previous Australian bushfires were also being wrongly published as current. and maps that exaggerate the extent of the fires, or include both past and present fires.
; Exaggerated extent of arson:
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' newspaper wrote that "Bot and troll accounts are involved in a 'disinformation campaign' exaggerating the role of arson in Australia’s bushfire disaster, social media analysis suggests... The false claims are, in some cases, used to undermine the link between the current bushfires and the longer, more intense fire seasons brought about by climate change." The report cited a study by Queensland University of Technology
The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...
senior lecturer on social network analysis Dr Timothy Graham, who examined content published on the #arsonemergency hashtag on Twitter. Giovanni Torre wrote for The Telegraph that "Australia’s bushfire crisis has led to what appears to be a deliberate misinformation campaign started by climate-change deniers claiming arson is the primary cause of the ongoing fires... Social media accounts, including Donald Trump Jr's Twitter account, circulated the false claim that 183 people had been arrested for arson during the Australian fire crisis..." An opinion piece for '' The Conversation'' website stated "In the first week of 2020, hashtag #ArsonEmergency became the focal point of a new online narrative surrounding the bushfire crisis. The message: the cause is arson, not climate change. Police and bushfire services (and some journalists) have contradicted this claim ..We’ve observed both troll and bot accounts spouting disinformation regarding the bushfires on Twitter." The article also argued that a disinformation
Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...
was underway to downplay the role of climate change in causing the fires. The vice.com website wrote "Research conducted by the Queensland University of Technology
The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...
showed that Twitter accounts with the characteristics of bots or trolls were spreading disinformation about the responsibility of arsonists and Greens." ''The Guardian'' accused News Corp
The second and current incarnation of News Corporation, doing business as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company was formed on ...
of furthering arson disinformation.
; Funding for the Rural Fire Service:
Incorrect reports were disseminated that the New South Wales Government, led by Premier Gladys Berejiklian, had cut funding to fire services. NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, in response to the funding cut claims, stated "that it is rubbish, it is misinformation, it's being misrepresented and I think it is disgracefully being misrepresented here today". He also stated that "not only has our budget not been cut, we are enjoying record budgets. We have got more money today than we have ever had before in the history of the organisation". Debate and controversy continue to surround previous funding cuts to fire management agencies, with other reports noting recent funding cuts to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which is responsible for the planning and enforcement of prescribed burns in NSW national parks.
; Hazard reduction activities:
''The Guardian'' newspaper has disputed claims that Greens have blocked hazard reduction, writing: "Despite the evidence a claim persists that a major contributing factor of Australia’s devastating fire season... is not climate change but a conspiracy by environmentalists to 'lock up' national parks and prevent hazard reduction activities such as prescribed burning and clearing of the forest floor".
; Other false reports:
* Fires would clear land to benefit a high-speed rail project.
* ISIS
Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...
was somehow responsible or involved.
* The fires were a false flag
A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misrep ...
operation deliberately lit by climate change activists.
Political response
Ongoing political and social debate has surrounded many aspects of the 2019-20 Australian fire crisis, particularly regarding the causes and future prevention of such fire activity, and the role of climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
. Amid a conservative government that has received noted criticism for its climate change inaction and support for fossil fuel industries, growing acknowledgement within the nation's politics and society of the issue of climate change in Australia
Climate change has been a critical issue in Australia since the beginning of the 21st century. Australia is becoming hotter and more prone to extreme heat, bushfires, droughts, floods, and longer fire seasons because of climate change. Climate ...
resulted in a highly political agenda to the crisis response. The governing Liberal and National parties, accompanied by numerous news outlets associated with climate change denial
Climate change denial (also global warming denial) is a form of science denial characterized by rejecting, refusing to acknowledge, disputing, or fighting the scientific consensus on climate change. Those promoting denial commonly use rhetor ...
, firmly deflected responsibility away from the record-breaking drought
A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
affecting the country and its associated links to climate change observations and projections. Conversely, scientific experts have asserted the influence of climate change, drought, prolonged fire weather, and contextualized the limited role of prescribed burning and arson in influencing the crisis. The political and social response to the crisis has been marked notably by political blame shifting, the circulation of large amounts of disinformation, and political disregard for scientific research, expert opinion, and previous government inquiries.
Criticism
Further controversy has surrounded Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Scott John Morrison (born 13 May 1968) is an Australian former politician who served as the 30th prime minister of Australia from 2018 to 2022. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party and was ...
for taking an overseas family holiday to Hawaii, United States, during the bushfires. These criticisms also applied to New South Wales Minister for Emergency Services David Elliott (politician), David Elliot, who went for a holiday in Europe. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was also criticised for holidaying on a cruise ship while fires were active in the state.
While travelling throughout fire-affected towns in New South Wales, Morrison was filmed attempting to shake the hands of two residents in Cobargo, New South Wales, Cobargo who had refused to shake his outstretched hand. Morrison was criticised for grabbing and then shaking their hands despite their refusals. In an interview with Andrew Constance, NSW Liberal MP for Electoral district of Bega, Bega, Constance described the incident stating "the locals probably gave him the welcome he probably deserved". Morrison did not appear concerned with the criticism, later stating, "people are angry, and if people want to direct that at me, that is up to them".
On 4 January, volunteer firefighter Paul Parker, from Nelligen, New South Wales, Nelligen, rose to fame after he stopped his firetruck next to a Seven Network, Channel 7 news crew, and used colourful language to denounce what he perceived as an inadequate response by Morrison. The video became Viral video, viral in the days after.
Soon after, Morrison released a video on behalf of the Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal Party regarding deployment of military assets to respond to the bushfire crisis, for which he was widely criticised. The video was perceived as an inappropriate and an untimely political advertisement, with former ABC broadcaster Barrie Cassidy calling it "absolutely obscene," journalist Peter van Onselen saying it was "beyond inappropriate", and British political commentator Piers Morgan characterising it as "one of the most tone-deaf things I've ever seen a country's leader put out during a crisis." The Australian Defence Association, a public-interest watchdog dealing with defence issues, said the video was "milking ADF support to civil agencies fighting bushfires" and was a "clear breach of the (reciprocal) non-partisanship convention applying to both the ADF & Ministers/MPs." NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Fitzsimmons said it was "disappointing" to learn of the announcement of military assistance from the media and not the government directly. Morrison was further criticised for a "donate" button on a Liberal Party website page which misleadingly led to a donations page for the Liberal Party itself, rather than bushfire relief; the button was later removed.
Donations
Philanthropists, corporate organisations, celebrities, and sportspeople donated to various fundraising appeals for bushfire victims and firefighters; estimated to total 500 million as of 19 January 2020. Following a representative sample, a report issued by the Fundraising Institute of Australia estimated that 53 percent of all adult Australians donated to a bushfire appeal.
Andrew Forrest and his wife, Nicola, donated A$70 million; and the Paul Ramsay, Paul Ramsay Foundation donated A$30 million. In November, James Packer pledged 1 million to support the NSWRFS. As the impact of the bushfire season spread, the Crown Resorts, Crown Resorts Foundation and the Packer family, Packer Family Foundation pledged a further 4 million to volunteer fire services in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia – all states in which Crown has resorts. The Murdoch family#Third generation, Murdoch family donated A$5 million; the Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation, A$1.5 million; and donations of A$1 million each were received from the Pratt Foundation, John Gandel, John and Pauline Gandel, Mike Cannon-Brookes, Scott Farquhar, and the David Hains, Haines and the Perich families. Justin Hemmes donated A$500,000.
Corporate organisations to make donations or pledges included the Seven Group Holdings, Seven Group and Kerry Stokes' private investment firm, ACE Capital Equity, a combined total of A$10 million; Tim Cook from Apple Inc., Apple, an undisclosed amount; the National Australia Bank, NAB and News Corp Australia, A$5 million each; Coles Group, A$4 million (of which A$3 million was in gift cards); the Australian Football League, A$2.5 million; BHP, A$2 million; Westpac and Woolworths Supermarkets, Woolworths, A$1.5 million each; Facebook, A$1.25 million; and Amazon (company), Amazon, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, ANZ Bank, the Atlassian, Atlassian Foundation, the Commonwealth Bank, Orica, Qantas, and Rio Tinto (corporation), Rio Tinto, A$1 million each; and Canva and the San Diego Zoo, A$500,000 each.
Leonardo DiCaprio donated 3 million (3.4 million) via Earth Alliance; Kylie Jenner, 1 million; Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer.
She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...
, A$1.5 million; and donations of A$1 million were received from Elton John, Sir Elton John and Chris Hemsworth and family. Pink
Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the Dianthus plumarius, pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, p ...
donated US$500,000 (720,000), tweeting that she is "totally devastated watching what is happening in Australia right now." Metallica donated 750,000; and donations of 500,000 were received from Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...
and her husband, Keith Urban, Kylie Minogue, Kylie and Danii Minogue and their family, and Bette Midler
Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...
. The Wiggles performed a concert on 17 and 18 January, and on 16 February at Stadium Australia in Sydney, the Fire Fight Australia concert will feature local and international acts.
Tennis players, led by Nick Kyrgios, pledged to donate money for every ace (tennis), ace served during the Australian summer of tennis. Many cricket players, such as international representatives Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, D'Arcy Short, Matthew Renshaw and Fawad Ahmed pledged to donate money for every Dismissal (cricket), wicket and/or Boundary (cricket)#Scoring runs, six during the remainder of the Australian cricket season. Shane Warne and Jeff Thomson, retired Australian cricketers, donated their baggy green Test cricket caps and Thomson also donated a playing vest for online auction. Warne's cap was purchased by the Commonwealth Bank with a bid of A$1,007,500; and Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor and film director. Russell Crowe filmography, His work on screen has earned him List of awards and nominations received by Russell Crowe, various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Gold ...
's South Sydney Rabbitohs, Rabbitohs cap was auctioned with a winning bid in excess of A$500,000. Footballer Mathew Ryan, Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., Brighton & Hove Albion and the Australia men's national soccer team, Australia national team announced he'll donate $500 for every registered save by an English Premier League goalkeeper on the weekend of 11–12 January 2020. Australian stars who were playing in the 2019–20 NBA season collectively donated in excess of A$1 million; and Lewis Hamilton, a Formula One driver, donated 500,000.
Comedian Celeste Barber launched a fundraising appeal with a target of raising 15,000, however it went on to raise over 50 million, making it the largest fundraiser ever held on Facebook. A telethon conducted with the Sydney New Year's Eve#2020–present, Sydney New Year's Eve fireworks raised more than 2 million.
Scams and fraud
Multiple media outlets reported that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) received 86 reports of bushfire-related scams. It came as increased requests for cash driven donations leveraging crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe, or as a result of false links posted on Twitter. It prompted some organisations to provide a list of approved and vetted charities online to reduce fraud.
See also
* List of bushfires in Australia
*
* List of wildfires
*
* Climate of Australia
* List of natural disasters in Australia
Notes
References
External links
EarthWindMap
– Current global map of airborne particulates less than 1 micrometer in diameter, including smoke, centered on Australia
MyFireWatch
– Government of Western Australia site mapping fires and vegetation every 2–4 hours from satellite data
{{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 Australian bushfire season
2010s in New South Wales
2010s in Queensland
2010s in South Australia
2010s in Tasmania
2010s in Victoria (state)
2010s in Western Australia
2019 disasters in Australia
2019 wildfires, Australian bushfire season
2020 disasters in Australia
2020 wildfires, Australian bushfire season
2020s in New South Wales
2020s in South Australia
2020s in Tasmania
2020s in Victoria (state)
2020s in Western Australia
Bushfire seasons in Australia
2020s in the Australian Capital Territory
Arson in Australia