Australia is the sixth-largest country in the world, the largest island within the southern hemisphere and also home to the biggest reef system; The Great Barrier Reef. All over the country, there are different ranges of landscapes, from urban cities, beaches, mountain ranges, dry deserts, and even rain forests! 

In recent months, Australia has been experiencing extremely hot weather, such as 50 °C (122 °F). This extreme heat was causing huge bushfires as you’ve probably heard of. Australia is no stranger to these bushfires. Bushfires have killed approximately 800 people in Australia since 1851, and an estimated 1 billion animals. However, this particular fire season had been detrimental, and one of the worst in Australian history. With at least 15 people dying and hundreds of homes were destroyed. 

The reason these fires started and were so hard to put out was the record-breaking temperatures, extended droughts and strong winds creating fires with dry vegetation. The fire season began in September 2019, and ended in January 2020 with flooding. The main reason the fires are so difficult to extinguish is that one of the most common trees is eucalyptus. Eucalyptus are beautiful trees that home and feed millions of Koalas, however, they contain a lot of natural oils. Unfortunately, these oils are perfect for keeping fires going. They would catch, and trail from one tree to another, creating huge smoke plumes covering the sky. Eventually, the smoke plumes would create thunderstorms, causing lightning to strike trees and cause even more fire, into a continuous cycle.