MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Emergency services battled several wildfires Thursday as Spain remained in the grip of an exceptional heatwave that has seen temperatures reach 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Farenheit). The most alarming blaze, near Baldomar in Catalonia, has already destroyed 500 hectares of forest but could spread to over 20,000, the government in the northwestern region said. No-one has been evacuated yet but the Catalan authorities have cordoned off several residential areas […]
Tag: wildfire
World must brace for more extreme wildfires: UN
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — The number of major wildfires worldwide will rise sharply in coming decades due to global warming, and governments are ill-prepared for the death and destruction such mega-blazes trail in their wake, the UN warned Wednesday. Even the most ambitious efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions will not prevent a dramatic surge in the frequency of extreme fire conditions, a report commissioned by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) concluded. […]
Three people missing in Colorado wildfire
Three people are missing after a wildfire tore through several Colorado towns, quickly destroying nearly 1,000 homes as part of the latest in a string of US natural disasters. “We’re very fortunate that we don’t have a list of 100 missing. But unfortunately we do have three confirmed missing people,” Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told a press conference. At least 991 homes are thought to have been destroyed as the blaze raced through the […]
New wildfire explodes near California state capital
by Patrick FALLON Agence France Presse SUSANVILLE, United States (AFP) — A wildfire that erupted outside California’s state capital just a few days ago had exploded to cover 54,000 acres by Wednesday, an eight-fold increase in 24 hours. At least two people had to be airlifted to hospital as the Caldor Fire tore through a small town around 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Sacramento. Thousands of people have been told to seek safety, with […]
California wildfire now second-worst in state history
by Josh Edelson GREENVILLE, United States (AFP) — The monstrous Dixie Fire in northern California has grown to become the second-largest wildfire in state history, authorities said Sunday, with three people reported missing and thousands fleeing the advancing flames. As of Sunday, the fire had destroyed 463,477 acres (187,562 hectares), up from the previous day’s 447,723 acres. It now covers an area larger than Los Angeles. The Dixie blaze is the largest active wildfire in […]
Five reported missing in huge California wildfire
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — US authorities said Saturday they were searching for five people missing as a huge wildfire raged in northern California, leaving two towns in little more than cinders. The Dixie Fire, the largest active wildfire in the United States, recently became the third-largest in California history. As of Saturday it had blackened 446,723 acres (180,782 hectares) in four counties, up from the previous day’s 434,813 and surpassing the vast […]
Dixie Fire becomes third-largest in California history
by Josh EDELSON Agence France Presse Greenville, United States (AFP) — A huge wildfire tearing through northern California became the third-largest in the state’s history Friday, and looked set to continue growing. A long-term drought that scientists say is driven by climate change has left the western United States parched — and vulnerable to explosive and highly destructive fires. The Dixie Fire, which this week razed the Gold Rush town of Greenville, has torched […]
Four dead as wildfires blaze in southern Turkey
Four people were reported dead and more than 180 injured as thousands of firefighters battled huge blazes spreading across the mediterranean resort regions of Turkey’s southern coast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvrMTg7zols
Major US wildfire grows, forcing new evacuations
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — With oppressively hot, dry weather looming over much of the Western US and Canada on Sunday, the enormous Bootleg Fire in Oregon grew again and authorities ordered new evacuations. Bootleg, the largest of 80 major fires now active in the US, spread overnight from 274,000 acres to 290,000 acres — three times the size of the metropolis of Detroit, officials said. Some 2,000 people have had to evacuate, […]
Huge fires rage in western US, Canada
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — More than a million acres of the western US and Canada were in flames on Wednesday as multiple blazes raged across the region, fueled by soaring temperatures and drought, and with little sign of letting up. Large areas of California were placed on red alert as several conflagrations continued to burn. The so-called River Fire had still not been brought under control as it burned near Yosemite National […]
Wildfires rip through California wine country, tens of thousands flee
by Samuel CORUM / with Andrew MARSZAL in Los Angeles Agence France Presse SANTA ROSA, United States (AFP) — Tens of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes in California’s Napa and Sonoma valleys on Monday as wildfires fanned by fierce winds ripped through the world-famous wine region. Under an opaque orange sky and a sweltering heatwave, vineyards were consumed and buildings devastated by the blaze that spread at a “dangerous rate” […]
15 killed, 500,000 evacuated in unprecedented western US bushfires
by Javier TOVAR Agence France Presse Firefighters were battling unprecedented wildfires up and down the US West Coast on Friday that killed 15 people and forced more than half a million others to flee their homes, with officials warning of more deaths to come in the days ahead. The true scale of destruction was impossible to count across wide stretches of California, Oregon and Washington cut off from the world by an apocalyptic wall of […]





