Houses were reduced to piles of ash and cars to twisted metal as the blaze rushed through the El Dorado county town
Continue reading...Category Archives: Wildfires
Caldor fire turns sky red in California and Nevada – video
The sky over parts of Nevada and California turned red and orange as the Caldor fire, which erupted over the weekend, exploded in size on Tuesday and ran through the town of Grizzly Flats, destroying many buildings and forcing residents to leave. Two were injured. Officials estimated that the blaze had blown through 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres)
- Surging wildfire tears through northern California town and threatens others
- Caldor fire levels northern California town as dry weather fuels blazes
Two people found dead in French wildfire near Saint-Tropez
As many as 1,200 firefighters and a dozen aircraft try to contain blaze in Var region
Two people have died during France’s biggest wildfire of the summer, local authorities have confirmed as the blaze continued to rage in the countryside behind Saint-Tropez.
At least one man is among the deceased, local prosecutor Patrice Camberou told the TV channel France 3. He said the other body, found in a destroyed home in the village of Grimaud, was too badly burned to identify.
Continue reading...Surging wildfire tears through northern California town and threatens others
Caldor fire explodes in size as Pacific Gas & Electric begins shutting off power to 51,000 customers
Critically dangerous fire weather was forecast across northern California from Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday evening, threatening to intensify several large blazes and increasing the risk of new ones, as a small rural town in the Sierra Nevada was ravaged by a fire that grew with devastating speed.
The Caldor fire, which erupted over the weekend, exploded in size on Tuesday and ran through the town of Grizzly Flats, destroying many buildings and forcing residents to leave. Two were injured. Officials estimated that the blaze had blown through 30,000 acres – up from 6,500 acres reported by the California department of forestry and fire protection (Cal Fire) earlier that day.
Continue reading...Algeria: 61 arrested after mob kills man falsely accused of starting deadly fires
The man had handed himself in to authorities, but was dragged out of a police van and set on fire
Algerian police have announced another 25 arrests over the lynching of a man falsely accused of starting deadly forest fires last week, taking the total number of suspects to 61.
The latest arrests were made in several provinces across the country, police said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that the suspects were also accused of damaging public and police property.
Continue reading...‘My animals burned alive’: the man putting his life back together after Greece’s wildfires – video
Shepherd Giannis Tsiboukas, 36, confronts the ‘total destruction’ caused after a wildfire ravaged his land on the island of Evia in Greece. Tsiboukas lost more than 40 animals to the fire that destroyed more than 50,000 hectares. Peoples homes and livelihoods have been decimated.
Hundreds of wildfires have torn through Greece this month on the heels of its most severe heatwave in decades, which left its forests tinder dry. Other Mediterranean countries – Turkey, Italy, Algeria and Spain among them – have suffered similar problems.
Scientists say there is little doubt that climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is driving more extreme weather events.
Continue reading...Drone footage shows aftermath of Evia wildfires in Greece – video
Greek and foreign firefighters continued to tackle flare-ups in northern Evia from a blaze which has already burned more than 50,000 hectares of forest. Drone footage shows kilometres of charred, blackened hillsides and damaged homes in a region known for agricultural production as well as tourism
Continue reading...Turkey flood deaths rise as fresh fires erupt on Greek island of Evia
Twenty-seven killed in Turkish flash flooding, with southern Europe bracing for more extreme weather
The death toll from flash floods in Turkey has reached 27 and fresh wildfires erupted on the ravaged Greek island of Evia, as southern Europe braces for more extreme weather events caused by human-made climate change.
Record Mediterranean heatwaves fuelled blazes that have devastated parts of Italy, Turkey and Algeria, with Spain and Portugal on high alert, while Turkey’s Black Sea region has been hit by some of the worst floods in living memory.
Continue reading...‘All that’s left are ashes’: Italian communities count cost of wildfires
Blazes raging in southern regions have ravaged mountain area of Calabria that is home to Unesco world heritage site
As with most farmers living in the remote towns of the Aspromonte mountain range in Calabria, southern Italy, Nicola Fortugno’s land was his life. The 79-year-old refused to be evacuated when flames engulfed Piraino, a hamlet surrounded by pine forest above the town of Cardeto, on Wednesday. Instead, he stayed at home to try to save his animals and crops. His burnt, lifeless body was found by firefighters.
“I used to see Nicola whenever he came to town to go to the chemist or see the doctor,” said Francesca Crea, owner of the newspaper shop in Cardeto. “His death is very painful as we’re a community of mostly farmers, people who make great sacrifices for a small patch of land – the animals are their treasures.”
Continue reading...Firefighters battle flames for 12 hours in worst night of southern Italy wildfires – video
Firefighters battled 300 different blazes across the southern regions of Italy, Calabria and Sicily in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Seven Canadair planes flew over the area, which has had 70% more wildfires than in the previous year, the majority breaking out in Sicily, Puglia, Calabria and Sardinia
- Video captures moment arsonist sets fire to grass in southern Italy – video
- Wildfires rage in Greece and Italy as EU mounts firefighting operation
Drone footage shows devastating aftermath of wildfires – video
Devastating wildfires have ravaged large areas in southern Europe as the region endures its most extreme heatwave in three decades. Several people have died in Greece, Turkey and Italy, with many more injured. Huge fires also have been burning across Peru as well as northern Russia, with smoke from forest fires in Siberia reaching the north pole
- Firefighters battling wildfires to save homes on Greek island of Evia
- Yes, the climate crisis is terrifying. But I refuse to abandon hope
‘I still feel it isn’t real’: Gold Rush town residents reckon with wildfire devastation
As flames approached, Kimberly Price fled her beloved California hometown of Greenville. An hour later, most of it was gone
After weeks of fire, smoke and warnings, Kimberly Price and her beloved town had run out of time.
With wind driving the Dixie fire directly into Greenville, Price’s longtime partner, John Hunter, told her she needed to leave. Price, 58, had spent most of her life in the close-knit Sierra Nevada community. She couldn’t bear the thought of leaving, but the flames were everywhere.
Continue reading...Video captures moment arsonist sets fire to grass in southern Italy – video
A video has been released by the Italian carabinieri military police showing a hidden camera capturing an arsonist starting a fire in the countryside.
The video released on 6 August showed a person light a match and place it on the grass before running away near Montesarchio, a town 31 miles (49km) from Naples in Italy. The man was arrested.
In Italy, the civil protection authority warned on Monday of more fires to come as temperatures in parts of the country reach 45C.
Continue reading...Wildfires rage in Greece and Italy as EU mounts firefighting operation
Week of blazes forces evacuations and brings devastating scale of destruction to large areas of southern Europe
The devastating scale of destruction from a week of wildfires in Greece and Italy was being assessed as the EU mounted one of its largest firefighting operations ever and smoke from forest fires in Siberia reached the north pole.
As UN experts on Monday said global warming was advancing faster than feared and that humanity was “unequivocally” to blame, firefighters and local residents battled massive blazes on the island of Evia, east of Athens, for a seventh straight day.
Continue reading...Thousands flee Greek island as wildfires raze forest and homes
Firefighters tackle blazes on two fronts on Evia as heatwave-driven devastation across southern Europe continues
Thousands of people have fled wildfires that are destroying vast swathes of pine forest and razing homes on Greece’s second-largest island, Evia, as devastating summer blazes rage from southern Europe to Siberia.
“We have ahead of us another difficult evening, another difficult night,” Greece’s deputy civil protection minister, Nikos Hardalias, said on Sunday, adding that nearly a week after the blazes started, strong winds were driving two major fire fronts in the north and south of the island.
Continue reading...Sky glows red over ferry evacuating people from Greek island fire – video
The sky over the island of Evia turned red and orange as people boarded an evacuation ferry after days of fires in the area.
Dozens of wildfires have burned in Greece after the longest heatwave in 30 years, which sent temperatures soaring to 45C.
The Greek coastguard said three patrol boats, four navy vessels, one ferry and various tourist, fishing and private boats were on standby to carry out more potential evacuations from villages on the island's northern tip.
Continue reading...‘Apocalyptic’ scenes hit Greece as Athens besieged by fire
The city is surrounded by flames. On the ground, there are tales of heroism – and fear for the future
Little had prepared any of us on the Athens-bound flight for the sight of the great fire-induced clouds that swept either side of the plane as it made its descent on Friday.
News of the extreme heat engulfing Greece had spread beyond its borders all week, packaged in increasingly desperate language. Temperatures were breaking records few had ever imagined. If Monday was bad, then Tuesday was worse. In some parts of the country, the mercury had hit 47C (117F), with thermal cameras on drones recording the ground temperature in downtown Athens at 55C.
Continue reading...Eulogy for Greenville, my beautiful home town lost to wildfire | Margaret Elysia Garcia
Every morning after moving here, I thought I must have done something right because I got to live in all this majesty. Then the Dixie fire took it away
My defiantly quirky, beautiful adopted hometown turned into a ghost town last night. There are so many things I could tell you about Greenville. There were over a thousand people and change, though the population sign still said 2,000.
We all have an opinion. About everything. We are a microcosm of America and often frustrated with each other. Greenville is filled with do-gooders, volunteers, retirees, hippies, bikers, and rednecks, ranchers, cowboys, and people who never felt like the town they were born in was quite the right fit for them. We were extended families and single moms and dads. We were drunks. We were sober. We tried not to be too judgmental lest someone judge us back. We were recent survivors of Paradise, too.
Continue reading...Wildfire tears through northern California gold rush town – video
The fast-moving Dixie fire has continued to burn through northern California, leaving much of the gold rush town of Greenville in ashes. The three-week-old fire has burned more than 500 sq miles and destroyed dozens of homes. Greenville was previously damaged by a significant fire in 1881 but maintained some buildings that were more than a century old
Continue reading...Eight dead as wildfires continue to rage across southern Europe
Deaths occur in Turkey with Italy and Greece also badly hit and thousands evacuated
Eight people have died and thousands have been evacuated from their homes as extreme wildfires continue to rage in parts of southern Europe.
Related: The photo that has come to define Turkey’s wildfires
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