#wildfires

#wildfires

In Yosemite National Park, hikers were surprisingly soaked this weekend as summer storms blew through the area. Meanwhile, thunderstorms across California's mountains launched rapid-fire lightning strikes that sparked several forest fires. And as Burning Man kicked off in Nevada's desert northwest, a major dust storm forced traffic to a halt as attendees tried to avoid the desert's wrath. The impetus for this widespread wild weather was a late-arriving monsoonal pattern, fueled by the region's lingering heat that pulled atmospheric moisture north - and, with it,

Have you gone outside recently and smelled an acrid odor, perhaps accompanied by a hellish orange sky? Check the news, and you were likely downwind of massive wildfires like those in the Canadian province of Manitoba or the Florida Everglades- an increasingly regular event as millions of people find themselves in the path of noxious smoke, sometimes from a country away.

Wildfires have so far ravaged more than one million hectares of land in European Union countries this year, a record since recording began in 2006, according to AFP analysis of official data. Surpassing the annual record of 988,524 hectares burnt in 2017, the figure reached 1,015,731 hectares on Thursday, an area larger than Cyprus. This calculation is based on a total compiled by AFP from estimates by country from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), at a time when Spain and Portugal are still battling wildfires.

In the early days of December 2024, Michelle Pierce, the owner of the recently opened indie bookstore Malibu Village Books, was finally starting to feel like her little shop was finding its footing. Opened the year before, the store had just launched a big book fair at a Malibu school, and was well into making inroads with other local institutions to collaborate on events.

Choking smoke spewed by wildfires is far more dangerous than previously thought, with death tolls from short-term exposure to PM2.5 underestimated by 93%.

Smoke from wildfires in Southern Europe has brought hazy conditions to the UK, disrupting the current heatwave, with areas experiencing temperatures above 33C.

Many politicians love to play fireman, often visiting disaster scenes and advising real firefighters on how they can do things better. No politico does this more than President Trump, who frequently advises California governors they need to rake the forests to prevent fires.

Today is another very difficult day with the level of fire risk remaining very high across many parts of the country, fire service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis said on Wednesday, adding that at least 15 firefighters needed medical treatment for injuries and exhaustion.

European leaders find reasons to hope after a coordination call with Trump, but their fate depends on the outcome of his meeting with Putin in Alaska tomorrow.

Kravitz said, 'She was kind enough to let me stay at her house.' Swift's Beverly Hills estate is 'a very beautiful house' that you 'want to preserve.'

The wildfire on Mount Vesuvius, close to Naples, broke out a few days ago, stretching to about 3km wide, destroying hundreds of hectares of woodland.

"Sometimes, recovery is not rebuilding. […] the ethos of #strong - measuring success with how quickly we can raise up houses on scorched earth - is snake oil."

The blaze in southern France's Aude region has killed one person and injured nine, marking the country's largest wildfire this season, consuming over 15,000 hectares.

In 1910, after a series of catastrophic wildfires in the northwestern United States, fire managers adopted a policy of total suppression: preventing ignitions as much as possible. The aim was to extinguish any blaze by 10 a.m. the next day.

The wildfires that have engulfed Turkiye for weeks have surrounded the country's fourth-largest city, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,765 people and causing the tragic death of one firefighter.