Unfortunately, January of 2020 did not start the new decade off on the best note. We had a lot of global scares, with the bush fires in Australia being some of the most devastating. With many species facing extinction, and homes burned many thought it would be ages before we would finally see an end to the tragedy in Australia. However, officials just recently declared that the fires have been contained due to recent high volumes of rainfall. While the fires are not completely out, the rain has still helped to lead to a tremendous improvement and much more manageable conditions for the firefighters to finish off the job (GoodNewsNetwork).
Early on Thursday morning, The New South Wales Rural Fire Service sent out a tweet saying “In what has been a very traumatic, exhausting and anxious bush fire season so far, for the first time this season all bush and grass fires in NSW are now contained, it has taken a lot of work by firefighters, emergency services and communities to get to this point.” (The Hill).
I think the main thing to focus on in this story is the perseverance of the Australian community. Firefighters worked tireless for weeks to help manage the situation, so they could achieve the goal of returning the country to a safe place to live once again. Even though many risked their lives, these men and women put all of their efforts into combating these fires. Also, these fires received a tremendous amount of attention on social media with various people and companies starting campaigns to help donate anything they can to the cause. One of the more popular ones was Adopt a Koala, where people could donate money to receive a certificate of their “pet koala”. This money would go to various things such as medicine and bandages for injured koalas, or the planting of trees to help reestablish their destroyed ecosystem. Overall, even people that live thousands of miles away have been making the effort support the cause, and prevent any more lives from being lost.
At the end of the day, sometimes it is just luck that Australia received a historical amount of rainfall amongst the tragedy that was occurring. But without all the people across the world doing what they could to help in any way possible, even the rain alone would not have been enough. Hopefully, we can see continued progress in Australia as the days go on.
I saw the news about the Australia fire live as it was happening. Something I was really surprised about was the fact that at the beginning, there was very little international media coverage. Considering Australia is a developed country and one of the leading countries in the world, the fact that the media gave such little attention to this was frustrating and saddening at the same time. I think this would be due to the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who notoriously refused any outside help and was blowing off anything that was related to the fires. I am glad that the fire situation has been contained now, though.
I really enjoyed this good news! Similarly to Rabab, I’ve known about the first for a long time, it was absolutely devastating to see how long they carried on. Did you know they started in September of 2019?? It is been so long that these fires have started, so I am very glad to hear that they are finally being labeled as contained. I hope that this good news is spread over social media because social media played such a large role in helping this crisis.
I think the entire world can breathe a sign of relief. The devastation suffered by Australian citizens and wildlife is unbelievable – instead of pointing fingers at who’s at fault, I like your approach of seeing the positive in that the end is near. I’ve already adopted a koala and the best thing to do now is to thank the men and women who worked so hard to calm the fire. Thanks for sharing the light at the end of the tunnel 🙂