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By Marion THIBAUT, with Michel COMTE in Ottawa Agence France-Presse MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Eastern Canada sweltered under a record-breaking heat wave on Thursday that risked inflaming wildfires ravaging the Atlantic coast and other parts of the country with “unprecedented” ferocity and scale. More than 210 fires were burning across Canada, including 82 out of control. And more than 2.7 million hectares have been scorched already this year, eight times more than the last three […]
OTTAWA, May 29, 2023 (AFP) – More than 16,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes in Canada’s eastern province of Nova Scotia, officials said Monday, as one of hundreds of wildfires raging across the country threatened the city of Halifax. The fire, still burning out of control along the northwestern edge of the city, has not grown since a state of emergency was declared late Sunday, forcing suburban residents out at a moment’s notice. […]
SYDNEY, May 25, 2023 (AFP) – More than 130 firefighters battled towering flames and thick smoke Thursday as a huge blaze consumed an unoccupied seven-storey building in central Sydney. The flames appeared to be dying down as firefighters poured in water from multiple hoses two hours after the fire took hold in the vacant building near the Central Station railway hub. “We’re on top of the fire but it’s still burning,” NSW Fire and Rescue […]
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP) — The weekend school dormitory blaze that killed 19 minors in central Guyana was started by a disgruntled pupil angry at having her mobile phone confiscated, a government source told AFP on Tuesday. An official police report confirmed that “a female student is suspected of having set the devastating fire because her cellular phone was taken away.” The official said the teenage pupil had admitted to the arson attack and was under […]
OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — A weeks-long battle against wildfires in western Canada finally reached a “turning point” on Monday with scattered rains reported over hotspots and more precipitation to come, officials said. The wildfires in Alberta province have displaced tens of thousands of people and scorched more than 945,000 hectares. “We have received rain, I understand, on almost every wildfire that’s currently burning in the province except those in the far north,” Christie Tucker of […]
By Denis CHABROL Agence France-Presse GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP) — At least 19 youths were killed in a schoolgirls’ dormitory blaze in Guyana, officials said Monday, with anger growing in the tiny South American country over the tragedy. It is not yet known how the fire started Sunday in a dormitory housing girls aged 11-12 and 16-17, a person who helped the emergency services said under condition of anonymity. The building was gutted by the inferno. […]
MONTREAL, May 15, 2023 (AFP) – With temperatures rising and little chance of rain, Canada’s Alberta province was preparing Sunday for the worsening of wildfires that have raged for over a week and forced thousands to flee. “We are continuing to see hot and dry conditions today with a low chance of rain throughout most of Alberta,” said Josee St-Onge with the western province’s wildfire agency. She said that in the north on Sunday, the […]
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Western Canada’s spreading wildfires prompted fresh evacuation orders on Sunday as authorities registered over 100 active blazes. Around 30,000 people have been told to leave their homes in Alberta, where more than two dozen fires have not yet been brought under control. Calling the situation “unprecedented,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith declared a state of emergency on Saturday. The province — one of the world’s largest oil-producing regions — “has been experiencing […]
OTTAWA, May 7, 2023 (AFP) – Alberta announced a state of emergency on Saturday as 103 wildfires flared across the Canadian province, forcing 25,000 people to flee their homes in what a top official said was an “unprecedented” crisis. Thousands more have been told to be ready to leave on a moment’s notice. “We’ve declared a provincial state of emergency to protect the safety, health and welfare of Albertans,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told a […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysian rescuers on Tuesday were searching for three missing crew members from an oil tanker that caught fire off the country’s southern coast. Thick, black smoke engulfed the Gabon-flagged ship when the fire broke out on Monday during its journey from China to Singapore, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said in a statement. Singaporean authorities identified the ship as the MT Pablo. The fire was extinguished and the vessel […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — An investigation was under way Wednesday after a fire ripped through a hospital in China’s capital Beijing, killing 21 people, state media reported. Emergency response teams first received word just before 1 pm (0500 GMT) Tuesday that a fire had broken out at the Beijing Changfeng Hospital in the capital city’s Fengtai District, the Communist Party-run Beijing Daily said. The fire was extinguished about half an hour later and rescue efforts […]
(AFP) A fire in a Beijing hospital has killed 21 people, the state-run Beijing Daily said on Tuesday. Emergency response teams first received word just before 1 pm (0500 GMT) that a fire had broken out at the Beijing Changfeng Hospital in the capital city’s Fengtai District, the Beijing Daily report said. The fire was extinguished about half an hour later and rescue efforts continued for about another two hours, by which time a total […]
