Australian Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a state of emergency this week in New South Wales due to a series of devastating bushfires forcing mass evacuations. This weekend, Australia’s coast is expecting temperatures of more than 100 degrees and continued high winds. So far, nearly $13 million acres have burned across the continent. The fires in Australia are all too familiar for Californians just coming out of a rash of bad wildfires.
Australia's catastrophic fires: takeaways for California
A volunteer from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service works to extinguish spot fires following back burning operations in Mount Hay, in Australia’s Blue Mountains, December 28, 2019. Credit: REUTERS/Jill Gralow.
Credits
Guest:
- Scott Stephens - University of California, Berkeley - @ESPM_Berkeley