Tourists and staff at the UNESCO World Heritage site have been forced to evacuate as the fire approaches local attractions and the island’s unique forests are covered in smoke.
On Tuesday morning local time, the eastern state of Queensland fire and emergency services issued a “prepare to depart” warning for the Kingfisher Bay Resort and Village on the island, as fires in several locations threatened the area.
Emergency crews used water pumps to stop the fire, but the fire service warned that conditions could worsen.
“Fire crews are working to contain the fire, but firefighters may not be able to protect all property. You should not wait for a firefighter at your door,” the directive said.
The Queensland Bureau of Meteorology said the fire danger is likely to be compounded by high winds and extreme conditions from heat waves.
what are predicted to continue in the state for the next few days.
The fire on Fraser Island was started by an illegal campfire. In six weeks it has traversed 76,000 hectares (187,800 acres) of completely dry brush land, according to CNN affiliate Nine News.
Also known by its indigenous name K’gari, the island was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1992 for its unique forests and natural beauty. It is the largest sand island in the world and has the only tall rainforest that grows on sand.
But the composition of the sand island was making it difficult for the more than 30 crews fighting the fire on the island, the Queensland fire service said.
Incident Controller James Haig said in a
video message posted on Twitter that “conditions are very challenging” but firefighters were doing “the best they could” to try to mitigate the damage caused by a fire of this magnitude.
Crews are also fighting fires in dozens of other areas on mainland Queensland and New South Wales.
Record heat could spawn another devastating wildfire season
It comes as parts of eastern Australia suffocate through a spring heat wave, with temperatures rising above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Sydney on Saturday. Meanwhile, swaths of western New South Wales, South Australia, and northern Victoria baked at even higher temperatures close to 45 ° C (113 ° F).
Sydney experienced the hottest November night on record on Saturday, with a minimum overnight temperature of 25.3 ° C (77.54 ° F), followed by a second consecutive day of over 40 ° C (104 ° F) on Sunday.
The Bureau of Meteorology said on Tuesday that spring this season was the warmest on record in Australia and the hottest November.
Wildfires are common in Australia, but conditions have become more dangerous in recent years. Australia has been getting hotter and drier for decades, and there has been a long-term decrease in rainfall from South Australia.
Last year was the hottest on record in Australia, with the seven years from 2013 to 2019 ranked in the nine warmest years.
The devastating 2019-2020 wildfire season, known as Black Summer, was Australia’s worst, burning nearly 12 million hectares (30 million acres), directly killing at least 33 people and an estimated 1 billion animals.
New South Wales wildfire research found in March that the unprecedented fire season was exacerbated by climate change and warned that devastating wildfires are likely to reoccur. The report found that extreme dryness in forested regions; large amounts of fuel cargo, such as litter; and the hot, dry weather led to the fires, which spread rapidly over large areas.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO’s State of the Climate 2020 report, released last month, said that climate change is influencing the frequency and severity of these dangerous wildfire conditions in the country by affecting the temperature, the relative humidity and associated changes in the moisture content of the fuel. . In the future, Australia can expect an increase in the number of dangerous fire days and a longer fire season for southern and eastern Australia, according to the report.
“The Bureau of Meteorology and others have predicted another extremely dangerous fire season on the east coast and also in south-west Australia,” Bill Hare, director of the climate science and policy institute Climate Analytics, said on Tuesday.
“If that explodes again, it will be very damaging economically and also psychologically. I think people are just recovering from the wildfires last year and early this year. So when you look at these regions now, you can see that the damage has it has not been undone. “
