Category Archives: Wildfires

Wildfires devastating richer areas but fewer hectares burned globally – study

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‘Megafires’ in California, Canada, South Korea and Europe in 2025, but changes to farming slowed spread in parts of Africa

“Devastating” wildfires ripped across the wealthier parts of the world in 2025, a study has found, even as globally, the area ravaged by flames fell.

Catastrophic blazes claimed lives, homes and jobs last year in California, Canada, Europe and South Korea. But the 335m hectares burned was the second-lowest since 2002, the review found, largely owing to the expansion of African farms that have fragmented landscapes and hampered the spread of large savannah fires.

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Fast-growing southern California brush fire prompts evacuation orders

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Fire reported in Simi Valley, north-west of LA, as mandatory evacuation orders were issued for over 20,000 residents

A fast-growing brush fire ignited on Monday morning in southern California, prompting evacuation orders and damaging at least one home.

The Sandy fire was reported just after 10am in Simi Valley, a city in Ventura county about 30 miles north-west of Los Angeles.

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Minnesota deploys national guard to help fight wildfires in northern region

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Tim Walz, the state’s governor, calls blazes ‘unpredictable and fast-moving’ as dry, windy weather fuels them

Minnesota’s national guard has been activated to help battle wildfires burning in the northern part of the state after the department of natural resources requested additional support.

Governor Tim Walz authorized the deployment by issuing an executive order that declared a peacetime emergency.

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California seeks millions in penalties from State Farm over alleged claims violations after LA wildfires

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State’s top insurance regulator says insurance company violated law while handling claims from 2025 wildfires

California is seeking millions of dollars in penalties from State Farm after an investigation found the insurance company was slow to investigate and underpaid claims from the 2025 Los Angeles-area wildfires, regulators announced on Monday.

State Farm violated the law hundreds of times in a sampling of 220 cases, the state’s insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, said. The maximum penalty amount allowed by law would be about $4m if State Farm is found to be “willful” in violating state law. Regulators may also temporarily suspend the company’s license, effectively prohibiting the state’s largest home insurer from writing new policies for a year in California.

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After destroying more than 120 homes, wildfires still a danger, Georgia officials say

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Blazes in US south-east have blown smoke over a wide area, and contributed to at least one death in Florida

Two wildfires in south-eastern Georgia that have destroyed more than 120 homes continued to threaten property and lives on Saturday as officials warned that strong winds could spread the flames.

The Brantley county manager, Joey Cason, called it a “dynamic situation” in a Saturday-morning video posted to social media and begged residents to “please evacuate” if they are ordered to do so.

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What counts as the woods? Judge axes Nova Scotia’s ban that defied ‘commonsense definitions’

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The court sided with a Canadian hiker who deliberately challenged the order imposed to curb spread of wildfires

As wildfires raged across Nova Scotia last summer, the Canadian province made a simple plea to residents: stay away from the woods.

As the situation deteriorated, authorities turned the request into a prohibition: anyone caught hiking under the shade of the forest canopy faced a C$25,000 fine – a figure more than half the average worker’s yearly salary.

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Massive tornado tears through homes in Oklahoma, injuring at least 10

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Homes were reduced to rubble as twister touched down for 30 minutes and carved out a trail of destruction

At least 10 people were injured after a tornado hit northern Oklahoma, as a strong weather system produced a dozen reported twisters that tore destructively through parts of the central US overnight.

Emergency services began assessing the most extensive damage in the rural town of Enid as dawn broke on Friday. Homes were reduced to rubble and splintered wood in the city of about 50,000 people near the state’s northern border. A number of videos showed terrifying wind funnels touching down and roaring across the land towards settlements. The largest tornado was reported to have stayed on the ground for 30 minutes, carving a snaking trail of damage.

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California protection crews contain parts of wildfire that burned 4,100 acres

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Springs fire, which had spread quickly by windy conditions, at least 45% contained on Saturday, say fire officials

California fire protection crews on Saturday were getting a handle on the wildfire that broke out the previous evening in Riverside county, fanned by high winds that quickly spread the flames to more than 4,100 acres.

The Springs fire, about 64 miles (103km) east of Los Angeles, was at least 45% contained on Saturday, a fire department spokesperson said. It was 25% contained late on Friday evening.

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Western Australian farmer dies trying to protect property from fast-moving bushfire

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Man in his 60s was fighting large blaze near Ravensthorpe, about 500km south-east of Perth

A farmer working frantically to protect his property from a fast-moving bushfire has died after his vehicle was engulfed in flames.

The man aged in his 60s was operating a front-end loader as he tried to create a fire break at West River, about 500km drive south-east of Perth on Monday afternoon.

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First rebuilt home in wake of LA fires celebrated in Pacific Palisades

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Fire-resistant upgrades are included in replacement structure less than a year after fires destroyed 13,000 homes

Less than a year after the Palisades fire destroyed nearly 7,000 structures in Los Angeles, the first completed rebuilt home is being celebrated in Pacific Palisades.

In a statement, mayor Karen Bass confirmed that the Los Angeles department of building and safety had issued the certificate on Friday, certifying that the home had passed inspection and was ready for occupancy.

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‘Reckless’ behavior and dystopian AI: disturbing picture of suspect in Pacific Palisades fire emerges

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Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, allegedly used ChatGPT to create scenes of a city burning and to confide an obsession with fires

Just after midnight on New Year’s Day, a 29-year-old Uber driver named Jonathan Rinderknecht allegedly ignited what became the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history.

Nearly 10 months after the disaster, Rinderknecht’s arrest this week brought some closure to residents. Investigators say he was a troubled young man obsessed with fire, who tried to hide his role after setting a small blaze that reignited days later into a deadly inferno.

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Wildfires are getting deadlier and costing more. Experts warn they’re becoming unstoppable

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Of 200 fires in the past 44 years, half of the fires that cost US$1bn or more were in the last decade

Wildfires tore through central Chile last year, killing 133 people. In California, 18,000 buildings were destroyed in 2018 causing US$16bn (A$24bn, £12bn) in damage. Portugal, Greece, Algeria and Australia have all felt the grief and the economic pain in recent years.

As the headlines, the death tolls and the billion dollar losses from wildfires have stacked up around the world, so too have the rising temperatures – fuelled by the climate crisis – that create tinderbox conditions.

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Wildfire in Namibia is contained, says PM, after criticism of response

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A third of Etosha national park has been burned despite efforts of volunteers, who say troops were sent in too late

Wildfires that raged through one of Africa’s largest national parks have been brought under control, Namibia’s government has said, amid criticisms over the response mechanism and limited resources.

The fire broke out in Etosha national park, in the arid desert nation’s north, on 22 September. The government said it suspected charcoal production next to the park, which is home to 114 mammal species including the critically endangered black rhino, was to blame.

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Namibia deploys army to fight wildfire burning third of Etosha game reserve

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Vast tract of park that is home to 114 mammal species, including critically endangered black rhino, affected

Namibia has begun deploying hundreds of soldiers to fight a fire that has burned through a third of the vast Etosha national park, one of Africa’s largest game reserves, officials said.

The park in the north of the largely desert country is home to 114 species of mammals, notably the critically endangered black rhinoceros, and is a major tourist attraction.

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Maui officials knocked on doors to warn residents before wildfire threat receded

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Evacuation orders have now been lifted on fast-growing blaze near Paia, recalling Lahaina’s deadly 2023 fire

Officials on the Hawaiian island of Maui went door to door evacuating residents from a wildfire Tuesday and sounded emergency sirens. But evacuation orders were lifted later in the day, as the threat from the fire receded.

The fire, which on Tuesday grew to more than 100 acres (40 hectares), was first reported at 1.30pm near the north shore town of Paia, officials said.

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Spain and Portugal wildfire weather made 40 times more likely by climate crisis, study finds

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Wildfires were 30% more intense than would have been expected without global heating, scientists say

The extreme weather that fuelled “astonishing” blazes across Spain and Portugal last month was made 40 times more likely by climate breakdown, early analysis suggests.

The deadly wildfires, which torched 500,000 hectares (1.2m acres) of the Iberian peninsula in a matter of weeks, were also 30% more intense than scientists would have expected in a world without climate change, according to researchers from the World Weather Attribution network.

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Fast-moving wildfire destroys multiple structures in historic California Gold Rush town

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Blaze in Chinese Camp – a town settled around 1850 by Chinese miners – was caused by lightning, authorities say

Multiple structures burned in a historic Gold Rush town in northern California on Tuesday night, after thousands of lightning strikes ignited a spate of fast-moving fires in the rural dry foothills of the Eastern Sierra.

Chinese Camp, about 57 miles (92km) east of Stockton and named for the Chinese miners who settled there, is a registered California landmark filled with historic structures, and home to roughly 60 residents.

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Climate change kills, Spanish PM tells deniers at launch of plan to tackle crisis

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Pedro Sánchez says country’s deadly August wildfires show society needs to mobilise and take immediate action

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has announced a 10-point plan to prepare the country for the climate emergency, warning: “If we don’t want to bequeath our children a Spain that’s grey from fire and flames, or a Spain that’s brown from floods, then we need a Spain that’s greener.”

Sánchez said August’s heatwave-fuelled wildfires – which killed four people, burned through an area six times the size of Ibiza and required “the biggest human and technical deployment” ever seen in Spain – showed that immediate action must be taken to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis.

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Wildfires in California and Oregon destroy homes and prompt thousands of evacuations

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Pickett fire chars Napa wine country while predicted thunderstorms add to danger of Oregon’s Flat fire

Wildfires raging in northern California wine country and central Oregon have destroyed multiple homes and threatened thousands more as hot, dry weather created challenges for firefighters battles the blazes.

Ten structures – including four homes – have been destroyed in Oregon’s Deschutes County as of Monday, where a wildfire dubbed the Flat fire continues to burn.

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Heatwave that fuelled deadly wildfires was Spain’s ‘most intense on record’

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Country’s weather agency says 10-day period from 8-17 August was hottest since at least 1950, as fires still rage

A 16-day heatwave Spain suffered this month was “the most intense on record”, the country’s state meteorological agency (AEMET) has said.

Provisional readings for the 3-18 August heatwave exceeded the last record, set in July 2022, and showed an average temperature 4.6C higher than for previous such phenomena, the agency said on X.

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