Another challenge people face in the Outback but also even closer to the coast are bushfires. Bushfires are big fires that often start because the land is so hot and dry. Bushfires are like the forest fires that we see on the news in California. Since there are not a lot of trees, they are called bushfires, instead of forest fires. These fires destroy everything in their path, including people's homes. Right now, there are many fires in Queensland and in New South Wales. They are so bad, you can even see the smoke in Sydney.
Hot weather and dry conditions are common in Australia, so the people living here have adapted. They have different farming practices than we do. For example, we have a lot of apple orchards where we live, as well as corn fields and soybean fields. In Australia, they mainly grow crops like wheat, sugar cane and other grains because the weather conditions are good for these crops.
Australians have also adapted to the bushfires. They have a warning system in place that tells you how likely a bushfire is on a given day. There are signs all along the highways that show you how likely a fire is that day. Firefighters in Australia will also have designated burns. This is where they will burn part of an area to reduce the chance of a fire that will spread near homes. It might sound crazy for someone to set the grass on fire on purpose, but it helps control where the fires will start and how far they will spread.
