“Fires Gone Bad…”

Unprecedented bushfires are burning in Australia, prompting overwhelming support from the entire CrossFit Community.

The bushfire crisis by the numbers:

• Thousands of homes have been destroyed and the fires have burned through a landmass larger than the size of the Netherlands or Belgium.
• More than 20 people have been killed–including several firefighters–and it’s estimated 500 million animals have also been burned to death.
• Thousands of firefighters are currently battling fires with 3000 (and counting) of the country’s defense force deployed into the fire zones.
• Over the weekend, dozens of fires remained at an emergency level or “watch and act” with residents in several towns told it’s too late to leave, having to stay and defend their own properties.

The hard part is temperatures are soaring to 40 degrees celsius (104 degrees fahrenheit) with high winds; there is little rain or relief in sight.

A clean sweep of the top Australian CrossFitters have issued a call to arms to assist in both the firefighting and recovery effort.

• Fittest Woman on Earth Tia Clair Toomey wrote: “I’m stumped for words as I read all the tragedy that is happening back home in Australia. There is just TOO MUCH sadness for the people and animals affected.” James Newbury has posted the same heartbreaking image of a koala clinging to a firefighter.

• Kara Saunders said: “Land, homes and LIVES have been lost and we’re not even close to being in the clear. Please help however you can.”

• Games qualifier Khan Porter also described the devastation: “There has never been a fire in recorded history as devastating as what we are in the midst of right now.”