Australia Bushfires Are Burning Koalas To Death. Humans, Kangaroos Are Running For Their Lives

Bushfires are raging across eastern Australia and pictures of them going viral on social media are devastating to say the least. Firefighters are scrambling with planes and helicopters to douse the raging wildfires. According to experts, the present conditions in Australia is the worst in many years. The spring temperatures have risen toward 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and winds topped 80 kilometres (50 miles) per hour across a zone which has been plagued by persistent drought.

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Koalas are one of the most revered species in Australia. The deadly bushfires in the country has already wiped out 350 koalas with wildlife rescuers declaring the losses a 'national tragedy'.

According to several media outlets, four persons have already died with million others affected.

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Although the bushfire season is in its infancy, scientists predict it to be one of Australia's toughest ever, with climate change and unfavourable weather cycles helping created a tinderbox of strong winds, low humidity and high temperatures.

Twin blazes in the north shore suburb of Turramurra -- around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the centre of Australia's largest city -- tore through a eucalypt forest park and sparked spot fires in homes, before eventually being brought under control.

As night fell, authorities said they were bringing another "clearly suspicious" blaze in a national park in the city's southern suburbs under control.

Throughout the day, more than 300 bushfires burned up and down Australia's east coast, fanned by gale-force winds, scorching temperatures and tinder-dry bushland that has brought some of the most dangerous conditions the country has seen.

Residents were shocked to see the impact of the bushfires.

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"It was the embers that floated up that actually went across and set off spot fires in the front yards" resident Nigel Lush told news agency AFP, adding that one roof had been set alight.

Another resident, Julia Gretton-Roberts, said the blaze spread shockingly quickly.

"Next thing I know the fire was opposite our house and it was massive and the police came and grabbed our kids and took them away," she said.

"My daughter is pretty freaked out."

Firefighter Andrew Connon told AFP "a number of homes were threatened but it was contained by the aerial bombing".

From early morning thousands of firefighters spread out across New South Wales in anticipation of what they called "off the scale" fire risk and "catastrophic" conditions.

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They were unable to prevent several bushfires from breaching containment lines and trapping residents who had not already evacuated.

New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said so far only a dozen buildings had been damaged Tuesday and a handful non-life-threatening injuries were reported, but the crisis was far from over.

Firefighters will be "working on these fires for days and weeks given the enormity of the firegrounds," he said.

Even before unfavourable weather hit, days of fires had killed four people and destroyed at least 150 homes.

The town still bears the scars of a 2013 blaze that destroyed 200 homes, and residents are acutely aware that with few roads in and out of the mountains, a decision to leave late can be fatal.

Efforts to burn fuel in a controlled way have been limited by months of drought-like conditions that made it too dangerous.

Wind movements around Antarctica and sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean can also help determine fire-friendly conditions in Australia.

But warming provides key ingredients for fires to thrive: high temperatures, low humidity, strong winds and drought.

"Bushfires are not directly attributable to climate change," said Janet Stanley of the University of Melbourne. "However, the fast-warming climate is making bushfires more frequent and intense."

"The mountain of irrefutable evidence linking global warming to bushfires makes the federal government's failure to act -- or even talk about the problem -- extremely hard to explain," she said.

Away from the political bickering, a growing number of Australians appear to agree.

A 2019 survey by think tank The Australia Institute found 81 per cent of people are concerned climate change will cause more droughts and flooding, while 64 per cent want the government to set a target of net-zero emissions by 2050.

These fires are proof that climate change has already started wreaking havoc and now is the time to take action else humanity may just cease to exist in the coming times.