My lost australian paradise, world, dw

My lost Australian paradise

DW reporter Chloe Lyneman witnessed the Australian bushfires up close. She and her family had to flee twice from the approaching flames. An oppressive report.

Smoke over Broulee Beach near Batemans Bay, the Lyneham family’s favorite vacation spot

On December 30, my family and I were eating spaghetti in a small village south of Batemans Bay in New South Wales when my mother called. A huge fire is racing down Clyde Mountain towards us, she said. The authorities had asked people to leave the area, otherwise they risk being caught in the flames.

It was an eerie feeling to put our three children and hectic bags in the car as quickly as possible. Which roads were still passable? While we were on the phone with my brother in Canberra, we kept checking where the fire was going. Was the road to the south already closed? We could go north?

The southern route to Canberra via Brown Mountain was already tight – a fire roller pulled through the untouched nature of the national park. We made our way north, drove hundreds of miles through the Kangaroo Valley, and arrived home at 1:30 am.

We were lucky – we escaped. All roads were closed early in the morning and the flames ate their way through Batemans Bay and the surrounding villages throughout the day. Places I’ve visited all my life have now disappeared.

Memory of carefree days: Chloe Lyneham’s seven-year-old daughter on Broulee Beach at Batesman Bay

We were spared the horror of standing on a beach with our children and covering our heads with towels while the burning embers rained down. But the fires also took our breath away several times.

The new normal?

When we woke up in Canberra on New Year’s Day, the worst air quality in the world was there. We spent the next five days huddled in our apartment. I learned a lot during this time. For example, that when there is so much smoke outside the apartment, you cannot turn on the air conditioner because it sucks in the smoke. That children under the age of 14 are not allowed to wear P2 respirators that filter air particles due to the risk of suffocation. That the eyes start to burn within a minute if you go outside with so much smoke. That it is quite miserable to breathe in the same stale air for days and then to endure Canberra’s hottest day since the weather recording started on January 4th at 44 degrees Celsius.

Our apartment heated up like a sauna and we could not open the windows or turn on the air conditioning. Worse, we couldn’t go anywhere else. The situation was even worse in public buildings. They were so full of smoke that you might as well have been outside.

On January 5, after my daughter vomited most of the night from breathing smoke, we fled a second time. We bought expensive plane tickets to Adelaide in order to stay with relatives in the city, which is almost 1000 kilometers as the crow flies. Leaving Adelaide airport was like going back to everyday life, where you take a lot of things for granted – for example, reasonably clean air. My sister-in-law joked that we had become climate refugees. But the laugh got stuck in our throats.

If there is nothing left that can burn, then what?

The crisis is far from over, we are always reminded of it. I’m going back to Canberra in a week, but 130 fires are still blazing in New South Wales. It is anticipated that several large bushfires on the border to the neighboring state of Victoria will combine to form a mega-fire. And if it is deleted at some point and there is nothing left that can burn, what then? For years, climate researchers have been warning that the bushfire season in Australia will be longer and more deadly. Now you can say that you were right.

DW reporter Chloe Lyneham

It is bitterly ironic that the country with one of the worst climate footprints in the world has become a prime example of what climate change can do. But if anything can pull the Australians out of their comfort, it is this event.

My brother pointed out that it wasn’t just that "left ecos" are talking about global warming. Also "normal" Australians are now discussing it. That is perhaps the only glimmer of hope in this story. If the fires cause Australia – or any other country – to improve its climate policy, at least that’s something.

In the meantime, our beautiful primeval forests turn to ashes, while our unique and valuable animals burn alive. To those who have never been to Australia: it was a beautiful place with sky-high eucalyptus forests along the east coast. You would have loved him.

Australian inferno

Lichterloh

More than 180 fires are blazing across Australia. The state of New South Wales on the east coast is particularly hard hit. Bush fires are nothing unusual on the continent, but the intensity with which they hit Australia this time: The fire season started very early, namely in September. Since then, it has burned on seven million hectares, a fifth of the area of ​​Germany.

Australian inferno

Terrible new year

The situation has worsened again since the turn of the year: a new heat wave with temperatures far beyond the 40-degree mark is helping the fires to spread further. The firefighters are in constant use, and many residents like this couple in Nowra, New South Wales are worried about their home. Thousands of houses have already been burned, at least 24 people have died.

Australian inferno

Sea of ​​flames

Lake Eucumbene in New South Wales can be seen on the right of this satellite image – on the left a fire that is eating through the forest. The photo was taken with special infrared technology, in which the short-wave infrared light of the fires is particularly apparent. Clouds of smoke can often be seen on photos from space, which, depending on the weather, can even reach New Zealand.

Australian inferno

Desperate and overwhelmed

With a towel this boy tries to smother the flames that eat through a meadow. Farmers struggle to continue feeding their cattle when pastures and fields have fallen victim to the flames. Many of them had to kill their farm animals, for example because of burns or stress. In total, researchers estimate that hundreds of millions of animals are dead in New South Wales alone.

Australian inferno

animals in need

This koala was saved, for many other animals all help came too late. For koalas, the fires are particularly devastating because they instinctively curl up in the trees. This way they could survive fires in the undergrowth – but the violent fires hit the treetops. In an area where the population has long been monitored, two thirds of the koalas have died.

Australian inferno

Scorched earth

When the flames find no food, bare land is often left behind – or charred trunks, like here in Old Bar in New South Wales. Aboriginal Australians used to set controlled bushfires in the undergrowth to fuel the hot summer fires. Many Australians are now demanding to revive this practice.

Australian inferno

Use in inferno

Australia is very sparsely populated away from the cities on the coasts – volunteer firefighters are accordingly important when fighting fires. Because of the extraordinarily long and violent fire season, they are to be paid for this year from a special fund: anyone who has been involved in the extinguishing work for at least ten days will receive the equivalent of around EUR 190 per day.

Australian inferno

Posthumous award

The use between flames, smoke and embers is primarily one thing: dangerous. Firefighter Geoffrey Keaton died on an assignment. When he was buried on January 2, his little son was awarded an Order of Merit instead. A total of three firefighters have already died in this year’s fire season.

Australian inferno

Escape from the flames

The fire in Coffs Harbor north of Sydney, from which this woman fled with her 18-month-old daughter in November, has since gone out. Elsewhere, new sources of fire are emerging: According to the authorities, around 67,000 people have had to leave behind their belongings in the state of Victoria, which also includes the city of Melbourne, in recent days.

Australian inferno

The army helps

The Australian Armed Forces help bring residents to safety – by air or by ship. Mallacoota was particularly affected by the flames. An additional 3,000 reservists have just been called in to help firefighters fight fires. New Zealand military helicopters are expected to arrive in the next few days for support.

Australian inferno

A drop on the hot continent

This man in front of the Australian parliament in Canberra does nothing with his pressure washer against the flames – and yet, from the point of view of many Australians, it could be a symbol of how small the measures taken by politicians towards the dimension of the fires are. Rauch polluted the air in the capital so much that residents were called on to stay at home.

Australian inferno

Hands in your pockets

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is particularly in the focus of criticism of not resolutely tackling and thus coping with the crisis – also for political reasons: The conservative politician is no longer denying man-made climate change, but is firmly on the side of the coal industry. Morrison is only gradually beginning to recognize the dimension of current fires.

Australian inferno

Shake hands – or not

Meanwhile, Morrison has admitted that his family vacation in Hawaii was a mistake in the middle of the fire season. Since then, he has become increasingly close to the people: this 85-year-old was consoled by Morrison – but social media mainly distributes shots of people who refused to shake the prime minister. Many are dissatisfied with its crisis management.

Australian inferno

Help for those who have lost everything

Morrison has announced the creation of a national agency to help those affected by the disaster. The equivalent of at least 1.2 billion euros is to be distributed over two years – to farmers, small businesses and local residents. Thousands of people, like this man 350 kilometers north of Sydney, have lost their homes in the fire.

Australian inferno

Symptom and cause

In the short term, Australia must hope to somehow cope with the fire. In the long term, there will be much more preventive and acute measures, because the conflagrations are likely to become more frequent and violent in the face of a heating planet. That is why tens of thousands of Australians take to the streets again and again to persuade their government to take ambitious climate protection measures.

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