New Australia Fires Destroy 40% of Island Inhabited by Rare Animals

The fire on the world's largest sandy island off the east coast of Australia has been raging for over six weeks.

Fire captures all new areas of uniqueforests of the island. The situation is not expected to improve. Temperatures are predicted to reach 34 ° C in the near future. A new heat wave will sweep the region and experts fear that hotter conditions will increase the area of the fire.

The problem is aggravated by the fact that the vegetation on Fraser Island is very dry and very easy to ignite. Now about 70% of Queensland, including the unique island, is in drought.

According to a recent report from leading nationalAgencies of Science and Meteorology, climate change is causing more droughts and wildfires in Australia. Experts stress that the situation will only get worse with the global rise in temperature.

Now the firefighters on Fraser Island are not onlystruggling with challenging weather conditions, but also stumped by limited fire access in the far north of the island. The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service said the fire covered 74,000 hectares, or 42% of the island.

Fraser Island before the fire

Fraser Island, famous for its largehas been designated a World Heritage Site by the dingo population, or native wild dogs, for its rainforests, freshwater dune lakes and a complex system of sand dunes that are still developing.

It is also called K'gari, which translates as “paradise” in the language of the local Buchulla tribe. This picturesque place attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists a year.

Australia still hasn't recovered from the devastatingthe 2019-2020 fires that burned an area roughly the size of the UK, killing 33 people and leaving tens of thousands of their homes. Wildlife damage has affected people all over the world.