2019–20 Australian bushfire season
Also known as Black Summer, 2019–2020 Australian bushfire
fire season in Australia
Key facts
- Date s
- June 2019 – 31 March 2020
- Location
- Australia , mostly impacting the south-east coast in New South Wales and Victoria , and far-northern Queensland
- Total fires
- 11,774+
- Burned area
- Approximately 24 million hectares (59 million acres ; 240,000 square kilometres ; 93,000 square miles )
- Deaths
- 33 (direct), 417 ( indirect )
- Non fatal injuries
- 4,000+
- Evacuated
- 63,000+
- Livestock losses
- Three billion animals displaced or killed (estimated)
- Structures destroyed
- 3,000+
- Damage
- $100 billion (estimated)
- Cause
- Climate change Record-breaking heat Drought Lightning strikes Positive Indian Ocean Dipole Alleged arson Accident
via Wikipedia infobox
~40 min read
Article
The 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, also known as the Black Summer, was one of the most intense and catastrophic fire seasons on record in Australia. Exceptionally dry conditions, a lack of soil moisture, and early fires in Central Queensland led to a premature start to the bushfire season from June 2019. Over ten thousand fires burnt, mainly in the south-east of the country, until March 2020. The most severe fires hit from December 2019 to January 2020.
The fires burnt more than 24 million hectares (59 million acres; 240,000 square kilometres; 93,000 square miles) destroyed over 3,000 buildings, and directly killed 33 people. Bushfire smoke was responsible for an additional 417 deaths. An estimated three billion terrestrial vertebrates, mostly reptiles, were killed or displaced. Some species may have been driven to extinction. In all affected states, air quality dropped to dangerous levels, and smoke moved across the Southern Ocean to impact weather conditions in other continents. Carbon emissions exceeded 700 million tonnes.