Australia's NSW state calls end to brutal fire season

FILE PHOTO: Personnel from Fire and Rescue NSW work as a bushfire approaches a home in Bredbo, New South Wales, Australia, February 1, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - New South Wales, the Australian state most severely affected by last summer's wildfires on Tuesday marked the official close to its worst ever bushfire season, which burned more than 6% of the state's land area and killed 25 people.

The country's devastating fire season, which lasted from September until torrential rains hit in February, killed 33 people and a billion native animals nationally. It destroyed some 2,500 homes and a wilderness area the size of South Korea.