Wildfires and other fire incidents

[caltrek]

Driven by Increasing Dryness and Shrub Expansion, Fire Activity in the Northern Arctic Tundra Now Exceeds Late Holocene Levels
By Angelica Feurdean, Randy Fulweber, Andrei-Cosmin Diaconu, Graeme T. Swindles, and Mariusz Gałka
November 10, 2025

Abstract:

(European Geosciences Union) Tundra ecosystems are characterized by small, rare and infrequent fires due to cold, often waterlogged conditions, and limited biomass. However, ongoing climate warming and drying in northern soils and peatlands are contributing to increasingly frequent and extensive wildfires. To place recent fire regimes in the context of long-term variability and to better understand interactions between fire, moisture, and vegetation, we reconstructed wildfire history over the past 3000 years using a network of charcoal, vegetation, and hydrological records in combination with satellite-derived fire datasets from northern Arctic Alaska peatlands. The composite charcoal record shows minimal fire activity from ∼ 1000 BCE to 1000 CE, followed by a modest increase between 1000 and 1200 CE, and then a renewed decline. This long-term pattern shifted abruptly after 1900 CE, reaching its maximum between 1950 and 2015 CE, when fire activity exceeded any levels observed in the preceding three millennia. Individual charcoal records show a spatially heterogeneous pattern in fire occurrence before 1950 CE, and a more homogeneous one thereafter. Our findings suggest that the deepening of water tables and peatland drying associated with permafrost thaw have facilitated woody encroachment, especially by more flammable Ericaceous shrubs. These vegetation changes have increased fuel availability and flammability, ultimately driving the recent surge in wildfire activity, highlighting the growing vulnerability of Arctic tundra ecosystems to fire. We also found that the charcoal source area of our tundra fire reconstruction encompasses broader landscapes over tens of kilometres. Our study emphasizes the significance of long-term, multidisciplinary research in documenting moisture–vegetation–fire feedbacks that influence tundra fire regimes. Ultimately, this long-term fire dynamic study provides critical context for evaluating recent changes and incorporating tundra peatland fire risk into global climate mitigation strategies

Read more here: https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/6651/2025/

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

More on that by France 24:

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/2 ... ern-tehran

[caltrek]

Team Uncovers Secret to Fungi that Eats Charcoal
By Jules Bernstein
February 4, 2026

Introduction:

(Futurity) Wildfire causes most living things to flee or die, but some fungi thrive afterward, even feasting on charred remains.

New University of California, Riverside research finds the secret to post-fire flourishing hidden in their genes.

The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is among the first to investigate how fungi that are barely detectable in the soil before a fire are able to proliferate wildly once an area has burned.

“We knew certain fungi were heat resistant, that some could grow quickly in scars where competitors have been burned away, and that others could consume nutrients in charcoal,” says Sydney Glassman, UCR associate professor of microbiology and plant pathology and paper corresponding author.

Additional Extract:

Understanding how certain fungi are able to break down charcoal could ultimately benefit humans. Charcoal is chemically similar to a lot of pollutants left behind by human activities like oil spills, mining waste, and other industrial processes. If researchers gain a better understanding of the ways fungi digest such things, they could one day be used to clean up contaminated environments.

Read more here: https://www.futurity.org/fungi-eats-ch ... -3321622

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

>why is this being suppressed
>links to a mainstream outlet

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Dozens of Homes Destroyed in Georgia, Florida Wildfires

Source: WSJ

Wildfires burning across the Florida-Georgia border have destroyed dozens of homes, local officials said Wednesday.

Brantley County, Ga., an 18,000-resident area approximately 70 miles north of Jacksonville, Fla., is the hub of a blaze called the Highway 82 fire. It grew rapidly from 700 acres to nearly 5,000 in six hours on Tuesday, according to County Manager Joey Cason.

Officials on Wednesday urged the public to be prepared to evacuate quickly. Approximately 120 people had evacuated as of 9 a.m. that morning, Cason told local reporters. At least 25 people were at county shelters, officials said. Several pets had been reported killed in the fire, and 47 dwellings had been destroyed.

“These winds may shift rapidly, which will create unpredictable fire behavior,” Brantley County Sheriff Len Davis said.

Multiple fires have broken out in Southeast Georgia as a combination of extreme drought, low humidity and changeable winds created the perfect conditions for the outbreaks. Roughly 98% of the state is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission. A burn ban was ordered for 91 counties, essentially the entire southern half of the state, for at least 30 days.

Read more: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/climate-env ... s-e153e40f

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

Nebraska Wonders Which is Riskier: The Fires it Starts, or the Fires it Fights
By Anila Yoganathan
May 15, 2026

Introduction:

(Grist) As the fast-moving blaze rolled toward Fire Chief Jason Schneider’s district in Cozad, Nebraska, he and his crew faced a literal uphill battle.

The Cottonwood Fire was tearing through the Loess Canyons, an area defined by steep slopes, narrow valleys, few roads, and pockets of invasive eastern red cedar trees, which can throw embers and ash and even explode when they burn.

“You think you would have it put out, and you keep on moving north, and you’d look back south and it’s just going again behind you,” Schneider said of the March blaze.

But the situation started to improve when Schneider’s crew connected with the South Loup Burn Association, a group of landowners and ranchers who were also fighting the fire. They showed Schneider and his volunteer crew how to do back burns — setting controlled, low blazes in the path ahead of the Cottonwood Fire to consume any flammable material — to contain the wildfire. About 92 percent of Nebraska’s fire departments listed with the National Fire Department Registry are volunteer-based.

“It would have burned a lot more if they hadn’t showed up and helped us get it stopped where we did,” Schneider said.

Read more here: https://grist.org/extreme-weather/nebr ... -fights/

[caltrek]

Thousands Ordered to Evacuate as Southern California Wildfire Threatens Homes
Updated May 18, 2026

Introduction:

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP via Huffington Post) — Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate Monday as a wind-driven wildfire threatened suburban homes in Southern California.

The Sandy Fire was reported around 10 a.m. in the hills above Simi Valley, about 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

By mid-afternoon it had consumed more than 500 acres of dry brush and damaged at least one home, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.

The flames were pushed by morning gusts that topped 30 mph but were subsiding later in the day, said according to fire department spokesperson Scott Dettorre.

“As the sun sets, those winds will calm down even more,” Dettorre said.

Read more here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/souther ... 4e84e5ab