Smoke on the Breeze in Central Australia

As I step outside the tinge of smoke edging the breeze in Alice Springs hits me. Weeks of grass fires around Alice and the huge blazes north have thickened the air and turned sunsets into blood. Summer has arrived, the Red Centre bakes beneath its fierceness, and we watch news reports of other places likes Queensland succumbing to the fire front.

At least half of the Tanami is alight. A huge fire bigger than most cities is chewing up the desert. Tennant Creek has been battling ongoing bushfires for weeks. The Northern Territory is on high alert. Fire bans are in place. In many parts of the NT, if you have respiratory issues such as asthma, you are advised to stay inside to spare yourself the smoke.

Bushfire Smoke in the Outback (Photo credit: Manny Becerra) 

Fires fray nerves. The psychological stress of watching one progress until it swallows your home and property does not fade easily. Resources are thin across the ground. For many across Australia at the moment, the apocalypse has come. Tomorrow is far away. Let’s just deal with today and hopefully get through it in one piece.

Every summer is written on the dust of the Red Centre. Some are tales of swimming holes and sudden storms that uproot trees and draw rivers to flood. This year, the scars of bushfires will etch themselves into the layers of the Central Desert. This too, will pass. Until it does – hold on. Our communities are resilient. We have what it takes.

It will not break us.