#i'm just.. heartbroken

More than the Notre Dame, more than the fucking Amazon. MILLIONS of hectares of land, livestock, wildlife (yes, the Koalas!!) farmland, towns, homes are fucking gone.

Families have lost every single possession they had, they’ve lost loved ones and so many are just trying to cling to whatever hope they can find.

Firefighters, so many of who are volunteers, are trying to find ways to protect their friends and family, all while trying to maintain an actual income at the same time. Volunteers have only one uniform and are spending over twelve hours doing everything they can, only to go home, and not even have time to wash their clothing before going back out again the next day. Their resources are limited, some masks are faulty and some helmets don’t even fit. But they’re out here, trying to save the country from hundreds of fires burning across several states. 

Towns are in complete darkness from the smoke, and glow of the fires themselves, too many people have been told that it’s simply too late to leave. That fires have become so uncontrollable in some areas that they simply didn’t have time, the people, or the resources to save homes. People are being told to leave what they have behind because there isn’t enough manpower to save entire towns. In some cases, as little as two firefighters have been allocated a 20km area (12 miles) to protect on their own, because so many went over to help with the worst of the fires in NSW. We are only one month into Summer, and I don’t need to tell you how hot it’s been here. The world knows how dangerous temperatures have become in Australia, but there’s still two months left of unbearable, unnatural and unpredictable weather waiting for us with the possibility of not seeing enough rain to ease the plight of those trying to fight the blazes until February. Cities are surrounded, towns have been left no choice but to take refuge by lakes and oceans just so they might have some hope of surviving if and when the fire’s close in.  Even places that aren’t even burning are suffering through the smoke-filled air while it blankets nearby towns and cities (you couldn’t see the Sydney Harbour Bridge) as a painful fucking reminder of what's going on right now. Nobody is given a moment to not think about it. We can’t stop thinking about it.

So while you’re somewhere else in the world, or maybe even right here, fighting, evacuating or watching in horror as our country turns so quickly from beautiful to burnt, spare Australia and the people that call this place home a thought. Think, Pray, Hope for the people suffering through the unthinkable and spread the word. 

I know the images below are awful, confronting and downright heartwrenching, but knowing what’s happening, and seeing it, are two different things.