BROADCASTS.com

Wildfires are devastating Australia, incinerating an area roughly the size of West Virginia and killing 24 people and as many as half a billion animals. Today, we look at the human and environmental costs of the disaster, its connection to climate change and why so many Australians are frustrated by Prime Minister Scott Morrison\u2019s response.\xa0\n\nGuest: Livia Albeck-Ripka, a reporter for The Times in Melbourne a reporter for The Times in Melbourne who spoke with Susan Pulis, a woman who fled the fires with kangaroos and koalas in her car. For more information on today\u2019s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.\xa0\n\nBackground reading:\xa0After Australia\u2019s hottest and driest year on record, Mr. Morrison has minimized the connection between the wildfire crisis and climate change and declined to make moves to curb the country\u2019s carbon emissions.Many Australians entered the new year under apocalyptic blood-red skies as smoke from the fires choked the country\u2019s southeastern coast. \u201cI look outside and it\u2019s like the end of the world. Armageddon is here,\u201d one woman in Canberra said.The fires have burned through dozens of towns, destroying at least 3,000 homes. Now, unbridled by continuous fire fighting, the blazes have returned to some scorched areas to level what is left.\xa0Rupert Murdoch controls the largest news company in Australia, and his newspapers have contributed to a wave of misinformation about the cause of the fires.