There's a fire in Australia the size of Manhattan
Source: CNN
(CNN)Three fires have combined to form a single blaze bigger than the New York borough of Manhattan, as Australian firefighters battle what has been predicted to the most catastrophic day yet in an already devastating bushfire season.
The fires joined overnight in the Omeo region in Victoria state, creating a 6,000-hectare (23 square mile) blaze, according to Gippsland's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
In neighboring New South Wales state, a fire in the Wollondilly region south of the capital Sydney remains "out of control," according to the Rural Fire Service. It has burned 264,000 hectares (1,020 square miles) of land in recent months.
Weather conditions are deteriorating rapidly on Saturday, with the country's Bureau of Meteorology warning that winds are picking up and temperatures increasing. "Today will be a day of severe to extreme fire danger through many districts," the bureau said.
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/03/australia/australian-fire-inferno-intl-hnk/index.html
West Sydney recorded record temperatures of 120F. Likewise the nation's capital, Canberra. 23 people dead, the biggest peace-time evacuation is underway.
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?It's devastating the wildlife too
They've then multiplied that by the amount of land hit by the fires.
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But he added that many of those that survived the actual fire would die later because of lack of food or shelter.
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Also, the three million hectares figure is somewhat out of date - the fires have spread since then. So it is likely that more animals have been affected than the estimate suggests.
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