In Australia, Stubborn Fires Shroud Cities In Smoke, Char Terrain And Menace Koalas

Fires are laying waste to wide swathes of land across Australia on scales that are tough to comprehend. In the southeastern state of New South Wales alone, where about 60 fires remain ablaze, the infernos have consumed some 4,000 square miles of land — or an area roughly eight times the size of Los Angeles.
Authorities say the fires there have left at least six people dead and around 600 homes destroyed, and New South Wales is far from being the only region racked by fire. Scores more bushfires have torn through thousands of square miles in the states of South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, where a single blaze — among many — has claimed dozens of square miles and continues to burn.
All this, and Australia still hasn't reached the peak of its traditional fire season, which usually doesn't happen until January and February.