Viral picture puts Australian fires into perspective for Yorkshire

The whole of Yorkshire would have been destroyed by today due to overnight fires

By Alicia Hannah

Published 5th Jan 2020, 15:55 BST

Updated 5th Jan 2020, 16:09 BST

This picture went viral yesterday, but due to the fires spreading overnight, even more of the UK would now be affected.

A picture that went viral has put Australia’s bushfire crisis into perspective for many Britons.

It depicts how much of Britain would be engulfed in flames, if it were in the same position as Australia.

The image went viral as UK residents could not believe the sheer scale of the fires.

The picture was made by John Colebrook, a visual technology specialist from Perth, Australia. John said at the time of making the map a day ago, 15 million acres of land had been affected by the fires.

However, the scale of the damage has since grown, and due to overnight fires last night (January 4), the area equivalent to the whole of Yorkshire would have been destroyed.

One person on Twitter said of the picture: “The map of the UK really puts some scale around the disaster.”