Australia is burning:Update.
I assume that Pat (Aussie-man) is otherwise occupied with his volunteer duties so I've collected some further information on this disaster.
What is notable compared to previous seasons is the proximity of these very fierce fires to urban areas.
We are a 200+/- K from the fires and yet visibility in our coastal area is below 1.5 K.
Since the start of the season, the ongoing bushfires destroyed 1,298 homes, as well as 48 facilities and more than 2,000 outbuildings in New South Wales alone.
Eighteen people are confirmed to have been killed in New South Wales since October. The latest fatality was reported on 5 January 2020 following the death of a man in Batlow.
Ecologists from The University of Sydney estimated 480 million mammals, birds, and reptiles were lost since September with concerns entire species of plants and animals may have been wiped out by bushfires.
In New South Wales, the fires had burned through more land than any other blazes in the past 25 years, in addition to be being the state's worst bushfire season on record.
NSW also experienced the longest continuously burning bushfire complex in Australia's history, having burned more than 4 million hectares (9,900,000 acres), with 70-metre (230 ft) high flames being reported.
In comparison, the 2018 California wildfires consumed 766,439 hectares (1,893,910 acres) and the 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires burnt 900,000 hectares (2,200,000 acres) of land.
As of 1 January 2020, 3.6 million hectares (8.9 million acres) has been burnt or is burning in New South Wales alone.
As temperatures were forecast to reach 47 °C (117 °F), the New South Wales Premier called a fresh seven-day state of emergency with effect from 9am on 3 January 2020.
On 21 November, lightning strikes ignited a series of fires in East Gippsland, initially endangering the communities of Buchan, Buchan South and Sunny Point.
On the night of 20 December, the Marthavale-Barmouth Spur expanded, greatly endangering the community of Tambo Crossing.
On 30 December, there were three active fires in East Gippsland with a combined area of more than 130,000 hectares (320,000 acres), and another in the north east of the state heading south towards Cudgewa.
An evacuation warning was issued for the East Gippsland town of Goongerah, which is surrounded by high-value old growth forests.
On the same day, a fire broke out in the Plenty Gorge Parklands, situated in Melbourne's northern suburbs between Bundoora, Mill Park, South Morang, Greensborough and Plenty.
Fires reached the town of Mallacoota by around 9:00 AEDT on 30 December 2019. As of 11:00 AEDT 31 December, fires had began to approach the vacation town of Lakes Entrance.
Despite evacuation of large portions of East Gippsland being recommended, approximately 30,000 holiday makers chose to remain in the region.
Approximately 4,000 people, including 3,000 tourists, remained in Mallacoota as the fire began making its closest approach to the town, cutting off roads in the process; Mallacoota had not been issued with an evacuation warning on 29 December.
On 3 January, approximately 1,160 people from Mallacoota were evacuated on naval vessels HMAS Choules and MV Sycamore.
On 2 January at 23:00 AEDT Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declared a state of disaster under the provisions of the Victorian Emergency Management Act for the shires of East Gippsland, Mansfield, Wellington, Wangaratta Rural, Towong, and Alpine, and the
alpine resorts of Mount Buller, Mount Hotham, and Mount Stirling.
Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp stated that 780,000 hectares (1,900,000 acres) had burnt including 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) near Corryong in the state's north-east and that fifty fires were burning.
On 3 January, Premier Daniel Andrews said two people were confirmed dead from the East Gippsland fires.
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