While much of the recent attention on the Australia fires has focused on the animals hurt or killed, the toll on people living in rural Australia has been heavy, as seen by CBS News correspondent Jamie Yuccas.
"There are so many fields burned, farmers are having a really hard time… there's a lot of people who live in rural Australia, their entire towns are gone,” she told News Talk 830 host Chad Hartman.
Yuccas said the situation had become more difficult for firefighters because the heavy smoke had made it impossible to fly near the fires, meaning they could not count on air support.
“They're having a battle all this on the ground right now, which is a tremendous undertaking when you see the terrain here,” she said.
NEW: Australian officials say police have arrested 24 people on arson charges in connection with the deadly bushfires sweeping across large areas of the country.Victims are now returning to their neighborhoods, and seeing the destruction firsthand.@JamieYuccas reports. pic.twitter.com/Jv2f4Yq1Rs
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) January 7, 2020Yuccas also spoke about the profile of some of the arsonists or “fire bugs” arrested for starting fires ( young white men between the ages of 18 and 34 or old white men over the age of 60), the political debate in Australia on the role of climate crisis and the lack of sophisticated fire fighting equipment, and how the fires, combined with a severe drought, were having an unexpected effect on eucalyptus trees.
Listen to the full conversation here:
