Australia - total area burned by bush fires by state 2020| ��ƽ��

Total area burned by bushfires in Australia as of January 2020, by state (in million hectares)

Characteristic	Area damaged in million hectares
New South Wales and ACT	12.8
Western Australia	2.2
Victoria	1.4
South Australia	0.49

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Release date

January 2020

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Region

Australia

Survey time period

as of January 22, 2020

Supplementary notes

Note: One hectare equals around ten thousand square meters.

Data unavailable for Queensland and Tasmania.

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The 2019/2020 bushfire season was one of the most devasting to occur in Australia. Between October 2019 and February 2020, almost 13 million hectares of land were burned in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. The last fires were extinguished in February 2020, however the damage was extensive across the country.

Flora and fauna

Across the entire country, the largest area of land burned was conservation land. The Blue Mountains and the Gondwana world heritage sites suffered widespread damage. Many threatened species were affected by the bush fires. Furthermore, an estimated 1.5 billion wildlife animals, who resided in habitats destroyed by the fires, were killed.

Property damage

As well as the loss of wildlife, the properties of many Australians were destroyed. In New South Wales alone, thousands of buildings were destroyed or damaged. Insurance claims directly in relation to bushfires across the entire country were valued at 1.9 billion Australian dollars as of January 2020. The full financial impact from these fires is yet to bet determined.