Look back at 2020: Wildfires tear through Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia – It was a devastating and deadly wildfire season in Australia, dubbed the “Black Summer.”

Record-breaking temperatures and months of severe drought in a number of cities — including Sydney and Adelaide — fuelled the fires, which left 34 people dead across the country.

Tens of millions of acres of land were scorched and three billion animals were impacted during the bush fire season.

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Fires cut off coastal towns and military ships had to be deployed to access the towns and evacuate thousands of people.

WATCH: State of emergency declared in Australian state as bushfires spread

The mid-north coast of New South Wales was home to up to 28,000 koalas, but wildfires in the area significantly reduced their population. Koalas are native to Australia and are one of the country’s most beloved animals, but they’ve been under threat due to a loss of habitat.

Images shared of koalas drinking water after being rescued from the wildfires went viral on social media. Images and videos of the raging blazes were described as apocolyptic.

“There has been such a loss of wildlife, of livestock,” Gabby Marchant, a reporter with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation based in south Australia, told NEWS 1130 in January.

READ MORE: ‘These fires are so ferocious’: Mass evacuations underway in Australia due to wildfires

“Horrifying pictures of kangaroos, like little joeys, that have been burned to death, and thousands and thousands of cows and horses that have just had to be abandoned because the fires have moved so quickly.”

Celebrities donated millions of dollars to relief efforts and countries around the world, including Canada, sent firefighting teams to give local firefighters a small reprieve.

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In mid-January, the Associated Press reported Australian fire crews were ready to switch from a defensive battle to a more aggressive offensive tactic to get the fires under control. This was mainly due to a helpful change in the weather.

Some scientists and forestry experts doubt that reseeding and other intervention efforts can match the scope of the destruction.

“The normal processes of recovery are going to be less effective, going to take longer,” said Roger Kitching, an ecologist at Griffith University in Queensland, in a previous interview. “Instead of an ecosystem taking a decade, it may take a century or more to recover, all assuming we don’t get another fire season of this magnitude soon.”

RELATED: Hotter climate upped risk of Australia’s record fires by 30%

The fires and the destruction left in their wake drew more attention to global climate change.

The fires were the costliest natural disaster in Australia’s history — with economists estimating the fires may have cost over $100 billion in property damage and economic losses.

-with files from CityNews, NEWS 1130, The Associated Press and the Canadian Press