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Fires in eastern Australia, 100 kilometers north of Sydney, December 7, 2019 SAEED KHAN / AFP

The fires that have ravaged eastern Australia since mid-October are gaining ground. Canberra, the capital, is now covered with a thick toxic fog, which worries the population.

Eastern Australia has been experiencing devastating fires for three months, the causes of which could be related to prolonged drought and global warming . Since the beginning of the week, firefighters have been battling more than 140 bushfires that are gaining ground. After Sydney , Canberra is now facing fires. This Sunday morning, residents of the Australian capital have seen toxic clouds above their heads.

The flames threaten the bush city

As the flames ravage a part of the country, the concern is felt among the inhabitants. Thomas Lefèvre, a winemaker living in Canberra for twenty years, begins to worry about these uncontrollable fires that stretch over more than 40,000 hectares about fifty kilometers from the city.

" Canberra prides itself on being the bush city, which is the capital of the bush, so the city is really surrounded by the forest. In 2003, there were fires that ravaged a certain part of the city, to the point where it was raining hot coals and it was one of the only times we were ready to evacuate. Today, we know that it is also a possibility ".

For this inhabitant, the threats are real. " It's a sword of Damocles weighing on everyone's head ." Thomas Lefèvre confirms that everyone in Canberra is anxious: " traders, neighbors, people in the street and rightly so ".

Favor confinement despite the heat

Faced with this thick smoke surrounding Canberra, local media recommend that residents avoid going home if it is not necessary. " The smoke is now thicker than it was this morning and we smell in the air the smell of eucalyptus fire ," explains Thomas Lefèvre.

But facing high temperatures, it is not necessarily obvious to stay indoors, said this resident of Canberra, because it is very hot. " Today it's 32 degrees and next week the temperatures are going up to 38 degrees ".

Meteorological Services warned that these fires are sometimes too great to be extinguished at this time and nearly 50 reinforcements from the United States and Canada have been flown in the last few days.

The extent of the devastated areas this year is incommensurate with previous years. About two million hectares have already gone up in smoke, the equivalent of half the size of Switzerland, 700 houses have also been destroyed and six people have died since the fires began in September.