To help dry-forests, fire needs to be just the right intensity, and happen more than once

One blaze can’t restore species composition to its historical norm in a forest that evolved amid frequent, low-severity fires, the scientists found. “Landscapes have likely…

Extreme wildfires are turning the world’s largest forest ecosystem from carbon sink into net-emitter

The new study showed a significant increase in emissions from boreal fires over the past two decades. Things were particularly dramatic in 2021, when they…

Western US wildfires destroyed 246% more homes and buildings over the past decade

Why scientists are using the word scary over the climate crisis

More and more scientists are now admitting publicly that they are scared by the recent climate extremes, such as the floods in Pakistan and west…

Arctic fires could release catastrophic amounts of carbon dioxide

Global warming is responsible for bigger and bigger fires in Siberia, and in the decades ahead they could release huge amounts of carbon now trapped…

Megadrought in the American south-west: a climate disaster unseen in 1,200 years

Caption for figure above: Grid-cell specific rankings of 22-yr negative soil moisture anomalies (drought rank) in 2000–2021 compared to the driest 22-yr period in each…

World heading into ‘uncharted territory of destruction’

The world’s chances of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown are diminishing rapidly, as we enter “uncharted territory of destruction” through our failure to…

‘Nothing left to burn’: Wildfires blaze through the Arctic

Smoke from hundreds of wildfires has darkened skies over the Alaskan interior this summer with the state experiencing its fastest start to the fire season…

Warming of up to 5°C in this century projected for the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East

Unprecedented and societally disruptive extreme weather events, including heat waves, droughts, dust storms and torrential rains, will soon become a reality unless immediate, ambitious, and…

Brazil records worst day for Amazon fires in 15 years

The number of forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon hit a nearly 15-year high this week, according to official figures that provided the latest warning…

Forest fires burn twice as many trees as two decades ago

Researchers found that a typical forest fire season now burns 3 million more hectares (7.4 million more acres) than in 2001. Forest fires accounted for…

Climate change driving unprecedented forest fire loss

Forest fires supercharged by climate change are burning twice as much global tree cover as 20 years ago. The equivalent of 16 football pitches are…

2022 sets record fire activity in southwest Europe

Blazes that have torched tens of thousands of hectares of forest in France, Spain and Portugal have made 2022 a record year for wildfire activity…

Wildfires destroy almost all forest carbon offsets in 100-year reserve

Wildfires have depleted almost all of the carbon credits set aside in reserve by forestry projects in the US to protect against the risk of…

Extreme weather caused $65 billion in losses in first half of 2022

Extreme weather events linked to climate change caused about $65 billion in total losses in the first half of 2022, roughly half of which hit…

Italy heatwave peaks with 16 cities on red alert as Tuscany burns

Italy faced the hottest day of the current heatwave Friday with red extreme heat warnings issued for 16 cities across the country, as firefighters battled…

Humanity faces ‘collective suicide’

Wildfires and heatwaves wreaking havoc across swathes of the globe show humanity facing “collective suicide”, the UN secretary general has warned. António Guterres told ministers…

Firefighters tackle southern Europe wildfires as heatwave passes 45˚C

France, Portugal and Spain are among the European countries particularly affected, with temperatures of more than 45˚C (113˚F) recorded during a heatwave that is also…

Burning planet

Scientists have been able quickly to prove that record-breaking temperatures are no natural occurrence. A study published last month showed that the south Asian heatwave…

Forest Service says it failed to account for climate change in New Mexico blaze

When the U.S. Forest Service started an intentional fire in the Santa Fe National Forest in early April, the aim was to reduce the risk…

Spain, Germany battle wildfires amid unusual heatwave in Europe

Firefighters in Spain and Germany are struggling to contain wildfires amid a heatwave in Western Europe, unusual for this time of year. The worst damage…

Europe’s five hottest summers since 1500

In just more than two decades, the continent has experienced its five hottest summers since 1500. 2021: Hottest ever Last year was Europe’s hottest summer…

A ‘Perfect Recipe for Extreme Wildfire’:
New Mexico’s Record-Breaking, Early Fire Season

Fueled by abnormally dry, warm conditions and spread by strong winds, wildfires have burned more than 600,000 acres across New Mexico this spring — making…

US fires have become 4 times larger, 3 times more frequent since 2000

Work published in Science Advances shows that large fires have not only become more common, they are also spreading into new areas, impacting land that…

Increasing frequency of El Niño events expected by 2040

The study examined four possible scenarios for future carbon emissions, and found increased risk of El Niño events in all four. This means El Niño…

Amazon rainforest tipping point is looming

The Amazon is approaching a tipping point, data shows, after which the rainforest would be lost with “profound” implications for the global climate and biodiversity.…

Florida wildfires force hundreds to evacuate their homes

Hundreds of residents in the US state of Florida were evacuated from their homes after a rash of wildfires that ignited dead vegetation swept through…

New research links Australia’s forest fires to climate change

The research published in Nature Communications is the first of its kind and combines analysis of previous forest fire sites with eight drivers of fire…

Almost 17 million vertebrates killed in the 2020 wildfires in Brazil

Scientists estimate that 16.9 million vertebrates were killed by fires in the Pantanal wetlands, Brazil, between Jan & Nov 2020. Sampling likely excluded species incl.…

We are professional fire watchers, and we’re astounded by the scale of fires in remote Australia right now

While southern Australia experienced a wet winter and a soggy spring, northern Australia has seen the opposite. Extreme fire weather in October and November led…

Drought and heatwaves in Australia cause widespread tree death

The drought and heatwaves that seared eastern Australia in the lead-up to the 2019-20 black summer bushfires killed as much as 60% of the trees…

Forest fires in Australia are worsening

The Black Summer forest fires of 2019–2020 in Australia burned more than 24 million hectares (59 million acres), directly causing 33 deaths and almost 450 more from…

US wildfires have killed nearly 20% of world’s giant sequoias in 2 years

Sequoias are the largest trees by volume and are native in only about 70 groves scattered along the western side of the Sierra Nevada range.…

Floods and wildfires are now normal life in small-town Canada

Three of British Columbia’s worst wildfire years have taken place in the last four years, and the widespread floods and mudslides last week took place…

2021 wildfires in western U.S.

What the US Forest Service once characterized as a four-month-long fire season starting in late summer and early autumn now stretches into six to eight…

Russia forest fire damage worst since records began

Russia has endured its worst forest fire season in the country’s modern history. Fires have destroyed more than 18.16 million hectares (45 million acres) of…

California continues to burn

A severe drought, coupled with extreme temperatures, have sustained several major fires for much of August. As of 14 September, more than 7,000 wildfires have…

Wildfires in Russia spread to central regions

Russia’s forestry agency says fires this year have torn through more than 50 million acres (173,000 square kilometres, 67,000 square miles), making it the second-worst…

The changing climate in the U.S.

Wildfires devastate Bolivian nature reserves

The government said 200,000 hectares (495,000 acres) had burned in just two days.

Fires harming California’s efforts to curb climate change

John Battles, a professor of forest ecology at the University of California, Berkeley, said the fires are behaving in ways not seen in the past…

Fueled by winds, largest wildfire moves near California city

The Dixie Fire has scorched more than 940 square miles (2,434 square kilometers, 602,000 acres) in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades since it…

Dixie fire burns 550 more homes, becoming one of most destructive in California history

The Dixie fire raging through northern California has destroyed another 550 homes, becoming one of the most destructive in state history. The fire, the largest wildfire burning in the…

In a summer of smoke, a small town wonders: ‘How are we going to do better than survive?’

As of Friday, more than 100 large fires were burning across 14 states. Smoke from Oregon’s Bootleg Fire, one of the nation’s largest at more…

Mediterranean faces fiercer heatwaves, drought, fires: UN draft report

The Mediterranean will be hit by ever fiercer heatwaves, drought and fires supercharged by rising temperatures, according to a draft United Nations assessment that warns…

Dixie Fire destroys much of California town as officials warn: ‘You MUST leave now’

The fire is one of 100 active large blazes in the United States, mostly torching parts of Western states that have been plagued by exceptional heat…

Wildfires continue to rage across southern Europe

Since 28 July, 180 fires have broken out in Turkey, while more than 100 were still burning in Greece. In Italy, the number of large wildfires is…

Fighting Siberia’s wildfires – in pictures

With more than a month to go in Siberia’s annual fire season, wildfires fuelled by summer heatwaves, have swept through more than 1.5 million hectares.

More residents flee as fires ravage western Canada

British Columbia declared a state of emergency on Monday, with more than 5,700 people under an evacuation order. “I have been living here in Ashcroft for…

New York air quality among worst in world as haze from western wildfires shrouds city

‘Airpocalypse’ hits Siberian city as heatwave sparks forest fires

The Siberian Times reported the first fire in the beginning of May outside Oymyakon in north-east Yakutia, which is known as “the pole of cold” for its…

The Bootleg Fire in Oregon is among more than 60 wildfires in the U.S.

918,000 acres were burned by 67 large fires across the Western United States. So far this year, 2 million acres has been burned by 34,000 fires.…

Siberia wildfires: Russian army planes and thousands of firefighters battle blazes

In Siberia, 2 million acres of forest has been destroyed. The city of Yakutsk hit 35˚C at one point; and the region’s city of Verkhoyansk, seen as…

American west stuck in cycle of ‘heat, drought and fire’

The intensity of the fires in California and Oregon is “not something you used to see” so early in the season.

Drought-hit ‘tinderbox’ California braces for fires in months ahead

“In the past, we may have had one fire in the summer that was notable. Now 50% of our fires are notable—and what I mean by…

Preparing for summer wildfire season

“Nothing looks good.”