Wildfires and other fire incidents

weatheriscool
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2 dead in the McKinney Fire in Northern California, the state's largest blaze this year
Source: CNN

By Nouran Salahieh and Claudia Dominguez,

(CNN)[Breaking news update at 7:46 a.m. ET]

Two people were found dead inside a vehicle that burned in the path of the McKinney Fire, the Siskiyou County sheriff's office said.

The two were found Sunday morning on a residential driveway along Doggett Creek Road near Highway 96, the sheriff's office said in a news release posted Monday morning on Facebook.

Officials have not released any further information on the two people found.

[Previous story, published at 5:29 a.m. ET]

A wildfire in Northern California exploded in size over the weekend, triggering evacuations and becoming the state's largest wildfire so far this year, according to Cal Fire.



Flames from the McKinney Fire burn beyond firefighters in California's Klamath National Forest Saturday.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/01/weather/ ... index.html
weatheriscool
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Dry lightning sparks some of the most destructive and costly wildfires in California, study finds
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-lightning ... ornia.html
by Institute of Physics
A new study has found dry lightning outbreaks are the leading cause of some of the largest wildfire outbreaks in modern California history. Despite this, dry lightning has remained largely understudied across this region—until now.

Researchers from the School of the Environment at Washington State University, Vancouver, have developed the first long-term climatology of dry lightning—lightning which occurs with less than 2.5 mm of rainfall—in central and northern California, published today in the journal Environmental Research: Climate.

"Wildfires are a growing threat in California as the climate continues to warm. Unlike human-caused fires that originate in a single location, lightning outbreaks can strike multiple locations and start numerous simultaneous wildfires, creating a substantial challenge for fire response," says Dmitri Kalashnikov, a doctoral student and lead author of the paper. "This happened recently in 2020 when multiple lightning-caused fires burned nearly one million hectares across this region, and other prominent widespread lightning-caused wildfire outbreaks also occurred in 1987 and 2008."
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France firefighters battle 'monster' wildfire near Bordeaux

20 minutes ago

More than 1,000 firefighters are battling a "monster" wildfire in the south-western France that has already destroyed nearly 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of forest, officials say.

The raging blaze near the city of Bordeaux has gutted a number of homes and forced 10,000 residents to flee.

"It's an ogre, it's a monster," firefighter representative Gregory Allione told France's RTL Radio.

Strong winds and high temperatures are hampering the firefighting operation.

This summer France and a number of other European countries have seen a wave of deadly wildfires, triggered by record temperatures and droughts across the continent.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62503775


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weatheriscool
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Five more EU nations to help France combat wildfire

Issued on: 11/08/2022 - 11:05
https://amp-france24-com.cdn.ampproject ... ern-france
As French officials warned Thursday that flare-ups could cause a massive wildfire to further spread in the country's parched southwest, President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that five more European allies are providing help for firefighters battling eight major wildfires across the country.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will meet with authorities battling the Landiras blaze south of Bordeaux, and further reinforcements are expected for the 1,100 firefighters on site, the prefecture of the Gironde department said.

Currently eight major wildfires are raging in France and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who was also heading to meet Gironde officials Thursday, said Sweden and Italy were sending fire-fighting aircraft to help.

President Emmanuel Macron added via Twitter that Germany, Greece, Poland, Romania and Austria are also providing help. "Our partners are coming to France's aid against the fires. Thank you to them. European solidarity is at work!'
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caltrek
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Carbon Market Could Offset Australia’s Huge Fire Recovery Bill
August 15, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) Scientists have put a dollar figure on the cost of recovery and restoration of native flora and fauna after the 2019-2020 summer bushfires.

Research led by The University of Queensland and WWF-Australia found an investment of $16 billion a year is needed to restore habitat across 16 million hectares in southern Australia, to prevent species extinction.
Dr Michelle Ward from UQ’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and WWF said the study pinpointed 114 priority species, along with a mechanism to offset part of the cost through the carbon market.

“The fire season hit native plants and animals already under threat of extinction from habitat loss,” Dr Ward said.

“We urgently need a restoration program to give these priority species a chance to recover, because more destructive fires are now a mainstay in Australia, but I am hopeful.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/961839

Read referenced study here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10. ... 26/ac83da
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wjfox
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Yikes...

-----

Spanish fires: Passengers injured fleeing train in Bejís

By Paul Kirby
BBC News

5 hours ago

Ten passengers were hurt, three seriously, when they tried to escape a train that became caught up in a sweeping wildfire north-west of Valencia in eastern Spain.

The fire near Bejís has been whipped up by fierce winds, leaving several firefighters running for their lives.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62574732


weatheriscool
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California wildfire destroys 100 homes, other buildings
Source: AP

WEED, Calif. (AP) — A wind-swept wildfire in rural Northern California tore through a neighborhood and destroyed about 100 homes and other buildings, fire officials said Saturday after at least two people were injured and thousands were forced from their homes.

The Mill Fire started shortly before 1 p.m. Friday just north of Weed, a city of about 2,600 people 250 miles (402 kilometers) north of San Francisco. The flames raced into the Lincoln Heights neighborhood where a significant number of homes burned and residents had to flee for their lives.

Two people were brought to Mercy Medical Center Mount Shasta. One was in stable condition and the other was transferred to UC Davis Medical Center, which has a burn unit.

Cal Fire Siskiyou Unit Chief Phil Anzo said crews worked all day and night to protect structures in Weed and in a subdivision to the east known as Carrick Addition.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-fi ... 959c92cef8
weatheriscool
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California fire fight persists as many neighborhoods reopen
Source: AP
WEED, Calif. (AP) — About 1,000 people in the rural Northern California community of Weed were still being kept from their homes Sunday as firefighters worked to contain a blaze that had sparked out of control at the start of the holiday weekend.

Power outages, smoky skies and uncertainty about what the day would bring left a feeling of emptiness around the town the morning after evacuation orders were lifted for thousands of other residents.

“It’s eerily quiet,” said Susan Tavalero, a Weed city councilor, who was driving to a meeting with fire officials.

She was joined by Mayor Kim Greene, and the two hoped to get more details on how many homes had been lost. A total of 132 structures were destroyed or damaged, fire officials said Sunday, though it wasn’t clear whether they were homes, businesses, or other buildings.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-fi ... position_3
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caltrek
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Because of Global Warming, Russia Now Must Fight Forest Fires Almost Year Around
by Paul Goble
September 7, 2022

Introduction:
(Eurasia Review) Because of global warming and the impact of current land use policies, Russia must now fight forest fires almost year around, Grigory Kuskin of Greenpeace Russia says. Moscow has been increasing spending on its fire-fighting units but even Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin concedes that “the situation remains complicated.”

When the fire fighting season was shorter, Russian officials at all levels were able to use the quiet times to recover; but now, they must fight fires every month and that is having a negative impact on their ability to do so (vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2022/08/1 ... 15834.html).

And it is not just that enormous areas are burning throughout the year but that these fires are both caused by and leading to a further drying up of rivers on which Russia depends for transportation in many places but also are having a negative impact on public health, given the smoke from them, and on the economy, because they are blocking roads.

Moscow has more than doubled the amount of money it devoted to fire-fighting in 2022 from six billion to 14.2 billion rubles (900 million to two billion US dollars); and Mishustin has now pledged to increase that figure by another 1.5 billion (20 million US dollars). Kuskin welcomes the increase. But given the size of the problem, it may not be enough.
Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/07092022 ... und-oped/
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Southern California wildfires grow with little containment
Source: AP

HEMET, Calif. (AP) — Two wildfires burned out of control in the inland Southern California region on Wednesday, forcing evacuations in communities and a mountain resort area.

The deadly Fairview Fire grew to nearly 8 square miles (20.7 square kilometers) near the city of Hemet in Riverside County, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Josh Janssen told a predawn briefing that the fire remained just 5% contained with “open fire on all sides of the fire still threatening several communities.”

The fire erupted Monday amid triple-digit heat and spread ferociously, killing two people who were found in a vehicle, severely burning another person while destroying seven structures and damaging several others.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-fi ... 0b80799d76
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