HALIFAX -- As the deadly Australian wildfires continue to wreak havoc in that country, those who live abroad are carefully watching the developments and how it may impact their families back home.

"It's terrifying; it really is," said Jonah Scott.

That's the only way Scott can describe the images he's seeing from home.

Scott lives in Halifax but is from Victoria in southeast Australia.

He says his sister was supposed to leave on Christmas Day for Mallacoota, but their car broke down.

"By the time it was fixed, the warnings had gone out to stay away from Mallacoota and don't travel, so my sister and her partner didn't go and so did his family, who would normally be down there as well, partially because of that car breaking down," Scott said. "It was pretty crazy."

Scott says it's a yearly tradition for his sister -- and many others -- to go to Mallacoota on the country's southeast coast.

The area is typically home to about 1,000 people -- but there is a huge influx around the holidays.

"That's a big tourist destination this time of year," Scott said. "So a lot of people that are there, the population is probably way more than it normally is for that small town. So, it just makes this bush fire that much more extreme."

His sister is not the only one in Scott's family to experience a close call as wildfires rage on.

"My aunt and uncle and their sons with their partners and their infants and families and everything they all drove down," Scott said. "They were headed to the same area basically, just not Mallacoota specifically, and they got stranded in Orbust. The highways got caught off on either side, so they were stuck in Orbust for a night in an evacuation centre just watching the fire get closer and closer."

Scott says, thankfully, all his family is safe, but the fires have claimed multiple lives and are expected to wipe out tens of millions of animals.

"It's just heartbreaking and devastating  to see what's happening in Australia right now with all the wild animals that are being destroyed because of the fires," said Hope Swinimer of Hope For Wildlife."I just can't imagine how people are feeling about it. It's very, very sad to watch."

As for Scott, even though he's in Canada, his heart goes out to those affected by the fires and the first responders working tirelessly to help fight the flames.

"I can't even imagine what I can say to people going through it right now," he said. "There are no words for it at all. It's beyond what Australians are used to experiencing and I don't think any amount of preparedness can prepare us for facing that sort of thing, at all."