At the turn of the year, Australia was a mist of embers. Now, for the first time in 240 days, New South Wales isn’t burning.
At least 33 people killed, millions upon millions of hectares ruined, billions of animals killed: for months, the bushfire crisis Down Under would have felt like an apocalypse.
The infernos really kicked off in September last year, sparking what seemed like an endless onslaught of flames. But with mercy (and heavy rain), the blazes have finally been contained, and there’s currently no active bushfires in NSW.
NSW Rural Fire Service, a volunteer-based firefighting agency that’s been pivotal in the relief efforts the past few months, confirmed the miracle on Twitter today, March 2.
The account wrote: ‘For the first time since early July 2019, there is currently no active bush or grass fires in #NSW. That’s more than 240 days of fire activity for the state.’
On February 13 earlier this year, RFS Assistant Commissioner Rob Rogers confirmed that all fires burning at the time had been contained, ‘after what’s been a truly devastating fire season for both firefighters and residents, who’ve suffered so much this season’.
More rainfall is on the way, too. Neale Fraser, a senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, told ABC News that the upper atmospheric patterns are set to drag rain up through the continent in the coming days.
‘It should reach the north-west of NSW by Thursday morning. With that, it’s bringing lots of tropical moisture down and plenty of rainfall. The western half of the state, especially, is going to see some really good rainfall figures,’ he explained.
With no active bushfires, the fire service will now focus on ‘helping people reboot’ after a ‘very traumatic, exhausting and anxious time’.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.