Australia declares all-out war against bushfires, deploys Army, Navy and Air Force

Australian government claims to have provided 5 million P2 face masks to people to fight air pollution caused by bush fires. The land devastated by Australian fires is more than half of the England’s total area.

Under extreme pressure to make more efforts to control bushfires, the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Saturday tweeted that all the three services of armed forces have been deployed to contain the bush fires. The current bushfires which arises in November in New South Wales gradually spread in other parts of the country in which about 18 persons including two volunteer firefighters have died.

“We have deployed 3,000 defense for reservists, three Australian Navy Ships, defense planes and helicopters,” said Scott Morrison in a recorded video tweet on Saturday. The Prime Minister also claimed to have sanctioned USD 20 million to lease four new firefighting planes for current and future requirements in addition to USD 20 million already committed in the head. Now, over 140 aerial firefighting aircraft are in operation across Australia.

We’re putting more Defence Force boots on the ground, more planes in the sky, more ships to sea, and more trucks to roll in to support the bushfire fighting effort and recovery as part of our co-ordinated response to these terrible #bushfires pic.twitter.com/UiOeYB2jnv

— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) January 4, 2020

However, the volunteer firefighters lead the firefighting in Australia from the front but they are not paid employees of the government. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW-RFS) is the world’ largest volunteer firefighting service with over 72,491 members. Morrison has also announced USD 6,000 for the firefighter volunteers who had lost their income due to bushfires. The government has also announced emergency payment to those who lost homes or incomes due to fires.

However, the volunteer firefighters are getting more praise and donations than their government has committed. US Pop icon Pink on Saturday pledged whooping USD 500,000 directly to the Australian fire service to provide economic assistance to brave heart volunteers. Besides, Australian comedian Celeste Barber has raised USD 8.5 million donation for the Australian fire service.

The experts have estimated that about 6.3 million hectares of land have been affected by the fires in Australian which is more than the combined area affected in Amazon and California fires in 2019.