Its Jan 2020 and in Australia, you can't escape the news reporting of the horrendous bushfire that are destroying hectares of bushland, home, businesses and taking the lives of so many people as well as wreaking havoc on whole eco-systems.  Such tragic news, the public are united in their grief and amazing acts of generosity are being reported every day.  Celebrities, local, national and international businesses and ordinary people are digging deep to support the victims of these tragic events.  Australian firefighters (many of whom are volunteers) are being supported, not just with financial assistance, but many firefighters have travelled to Australia from overseas.  Truly when tragedy strikes you are able to see the good in mankind.  Ordinary people doing extraordinary things, first responders moving towards danger when every sense of self-preservation tells us to flee.

There was a recent tweet on Twitter where science host Kyle Hill posted a map of the bushfires compared to the size of the USA, many Americans had no idea how large Australia was and the extent of the fires.

I'm old enough to remember many other catastrophic fire events in Australia but not the severity of these current bushfires.  Time and again after these tragic events we have public inquiries into the cause and look for solutions to future proof our drought-prone country and time and again the results of these Inquiries and Royal Commissions seem to be ignored.  Just last week a farmer in Queensland was fined about $1,000,000 for making his fire breaks too wide - it beggars belief! 

In the meantime, hopefully, the rain that is being forecast for later this week gives some relief!