Nearly half a billion animals are feared to have died in the Australian wildfires, including thousands of the koala population in their main habitat in the state of New South Wales. Australians have been left stranded due to the devastating fires. Here's all you need to know about it.

 Nearly 130 fires are burning and more than 14 million acres of land have been charred leaving at least 25 people dead and over 2,000 homes destroyed.

 

Each year there is a fire season during the Australian summer, with hot, dry weather making it easy for blazes to start and spread. Natural causes are to blame most of the time, like lightning strikes in drought-affected forests. 

Dry lightning was responsible for starting a number of fires in Victoria's East Gippsland region in late December, which then traveled more than 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) in just five hours.

Source: - Youtube