You know you’re in Australia when the second lowest category of fire risk is “High” and “Extreme” isn’t the highest.
Everyone in the world has heard about this year’s Australian bushfires. The worst ever, they said. But I read an article the other day — an article full of official government statistics — that said the number of acres burned this year is actually far lower than in an average year.
The difference, according to the stats, is that this year’s fires were in highly-populated areas instead of the middle of the outback.
Of course, that doesn’t make the fires any less tragic nor make the loss of human and animal life any less horrifying, but it’s an interesting perspective.
And, as Mark Twain said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”