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 now lost every minute.…Continue readingClimate change driving unprecedented forest fire loss
Tag: fire
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 in southwestern Europe. France…Continue reading2022 sets record fire activity in southwest Europe
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 trees being damaged over…Continue readingWildfires destroy almost all forest carbon offsets in 100-year reserve
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 uninsured assets, according to…Continue readingExtreme weather caused $65 billion in losses in first half of 2022
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 blazes up and down…Continue readingItaly heatwave peaks with 16 cities on red alert as Tuscany burns
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 from 40 countries meeting…Continue readingHumanity faces ‘collective suicide’
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 sweeping the UK. France:…Continue readingFirefighters tackle southern Europe wildfires as heatwave passes 45˚C
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 was made 30 times…Continue readingBurning planet
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 of a destructive blaze.…Continue readingForest Service says it failed to account for climate change in New Mexico blaze
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 in Spain has been…Continue readingSpain, Germany battle wildfires amid unusual heatwave in Europe
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 on record. Greece endured…Continue readingEurope’s five hottest summers since 1500
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 it one of the…Continue readingA ‘Perfect Recipe for Extreme Wildfire’:
New Mexico’s Record-Breaking, Early Fire Season
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 previously did not burn.…Continue readingUS fires have become 4 times larger, 3 times more frequent since 2000
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 events and associated climate…Continue readingIncreasing frequency of El Niño events expected by 2040
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. Novel statistical analysis shows…Continue readingAmazon rainforest tipping point is looming
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 the area. Dry conditions…Continue readingFlorida wildfires force hundreds to evacuate their homes
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 activity including climate, fuel…Continue readingNew research links Australia’s forest fires to climate change
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. jaguars, pumas & tapirs,…Continue readingAlmost 17 million vertebrates killed in the 2020 wildfires in Brazil
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 to bushfires across 120,000…Continue readingWe are professional fire watchers, and we’re astounded by the scale of fires in remote Australia right now
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 in some areas that…Continue readingDrought and heatwaves in Australia cause widespread tree death
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 smoke inhalation. Nearly 3…Continue readingForest fires in Australia are worsening
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. They were once considered…Continue readingUS wildfires have killed nearly 20% of world’s giant sequoias in 2 years
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 after roughly a month’s…Continue readingFloods and wildfires are now normal life in small-town Canada
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 months of the year.…Continue reading2021 wildfires in western U.S.
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 Russian forest in 2021,…Continue readingRussia forest fire damage worst since records began
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 been recorded, burning over…Continue readingCalifornia continues to burn
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 season since the turn…Continue readingWildfires in Russia spread to central regions
The government said 200,000 hectares (495,000 acres) had burned in just two days.Continue readingWildfires devastate Bolivian nature reserves
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 as flames churn through…Continue readingFires harming California’s efforts to curb climate change
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 ignited on July 13…Continue readingFueled by winds, largest wildfire moves near California city
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 US, has all but…Continue readingDixie fire burns 550 more homes, becoming one of most destructive in California history
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 than 413,000 acres burned,…Continue readingIn a summer of smoke, a small town wonders: ‘How are we going to do better than survive?’
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 the region is a…Continue readingMediterranean faces fiercer heatwaves, drought, fires: UN draft report
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 and drought, exacerbated by climate…Continue readingDixie Fire destroys much of California town as officials warn: ‘You MUST leave now’
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 estimated to have tripled…Continue readingWildfires continue to rage across southern Europe
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.Continue readingFighting Siberia’s wildfires – in pictures
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 almost 25 years now…Continue readingMore residents flee as fires ravage western Canada
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 record low temperatures. “Little…Continue reading‘Airpocalypse’ hits Siberian city as heatwave sparks forest fires
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. In Canada, fires have…Continue readingThe Bootleg Fire in Oregon is among more than 60 wildfires in the U.S.
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 one of the coldest…Continue readingSiberia wildfires: Russian army planes and thousands of firefighters battle blazes
The intensity of the fires in California and Oregon is “not something you used to see” so early in the season.Continue readingAmerican west stuck in cycle of ‘heat, drought and fire’
“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 notable is something that…Continue readingDrought-hit ‘tinderbox’ California braces for fires in months ahead
“Nothing looks good.”Continue readingPreparing for summer wildfire season
The nightmare scenario: Year 2100, global waming exceeds 4˚C:→ Massive frequent wildfires→ Dead coral reefs→ Frequent prolonged droughts→ Increased air pollution→ Ice-free Arctic summers→ Rapid sea level rise→ Abandoned small…Continue readingClimate change: how bad could the future be if we do nothing?