Emergency unfolds amid warnings throughout south-east over dry and windy conditions that exacerbate wildfires
Several wildfires were reported on Saturday in North and South Carolina, forcing evacuations.
The emergency unfolded amid warnings throughout the south-east over dry and windy conditions that exacerbate wildfires.
Continue reading...More than a thousand people have been evacuated near forest of Ofunato in northern region of Iwate
More than a thousand people have been evacuated as Japan battles its largest wildfire in more than three decades.
The flames are estimated to have spread over about 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) in the forest of Ofunato in the northern region of Iwate since a fire broke out on Wednesday, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
Continue reading...Beaches in southern California littered with timber, twisted metals, charred silt and urban runoff from Palisades fire
Los Angeles county beaches are contending with the aftermath of recent wildfires and winter storms as debris from the Palisades fire and urban runoff are carried to the shoreline.
After last week’s major rainstorm, beaches in southern California have been littered with timber, twisted metals, construction materials and charred silt and sediment originating from the Palisades fire in January. That blaze, along with the Eaton fire, killed at least 29 people.
Continue reading...Agencies say Trump’s latest push to trim government could impede firefighting efforts and create crises at national parks
The US Forest Service is firing about 3,400 recent hires while the National Park Service is terminating about 1,000 workers under Donald Trump’s push to cut federal spending and bureaucracy, according to a report on Friday.
The terminations target employees who are in their probationary employment periods, which includes anyone hired less than a year ago, according to Reuters, and will affect sites such as the Appalachian trail, Yellowstone, the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr and the Sequoia national forest.
Continue reading...Residents in Sierra Madre begin cleanup effort after strongest storm of year sweeps through southern California
Residents of a southern California mountain community near the Eaton fire burn scar dug out of roads submerged in sludge on Friday after the strongest storm of the year swept through the area, unleashing debris flows and muddy messes in several neighborhoods recently torched by wildfires.
Water, debris and boulders rushed down the mountain in the city of Sierra Madre on Thursday night, trapping at least one car in the mud and damaging several home garages with mud and debris. Bulldozers on Friday were cleaning up the mud-covered streets in the city of 10,000 people.
Continue reading...The singer paid tribute to her home city wearing an LA Dodgers baseball cap crafted by English woollen mill Moon
When Billie Eilish took to the stage at the 67th Grammy awards wearing a hat with the branding of the baseball team the Los Angeles Dodgers, few would have noticed the much smaller logo on the side with two tiny union flags and the word “Moon”.
But in a small town in West Yorkshire, Moon is a household name, as one of the last surviving woollen mills in the UK.
Continue reading...Hughes fire near Castaic Lake broke out on Wednesday and led to evacuation orders or warnings for more than 50,000
Firefighters fought to maintain the upper hand on a huge and rapidly moving wildfire that swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and resulted in more than 50,000 people being put under evacuation orders or warnings.
The Hughes fire broke out late Wednesday morning and in less than a day had charred nearly 16 sq miles (41 sq km) of trees and brush near Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area about 40 miles (64km) from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week.
Continue reading...Hughes fire ignites north of Los Angeles late Wednesday morning as Eaton and Palisades fires burn for third week
Additional evacuations were ordered for residents near a large fast-moving wildfire north of Los Angeles, as parched southern California endured another round of dangerous winds ahead of possible rain over the weekend.
The Hughes fire broke out late on Wednesday morning and quickly ripped through nearly 5,000 acresof trees and brush, sending up an enormous plume of dark smoke near Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area about 40 miles (64 km) from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week.
Continue reading...New report says more than 30m hectares burned, 79% more than in 2023, after country saw worst drought on record
After enduring its worst drought on record in 2024, Brazil closed the year with another alarming milestone: between January and December, 30.86m hectares of wilderness burned – an area larger than Italy.
The figure published in a new report is 79% higher than in 2023 and the largest recorded by Fire Monitor since its launch in 2019 by MapBiomas, an initiative by NGOs, universities and technology companies that monitors Brazil’s biomes.
Continue reading...Experts say fire weather likely to return as firefighters make progress containing wildfires and Trump plans trip to state
As firefighters in Los Angeles made progress on Sunday containing wildfires that have destroyed much of the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods, forecasters warned that fire weather is likely to return on Monday.
Donald Trump told NBC news he plans to travel to California to inspect the damage after his inauguration, “probably, at the end of the week”. California governor Gavin Newsom had initially invited the president-elect to visit more than a week ago, even as Trump attacked him on social media and spread misinformation about the state’s Democratic leadership response to the fires.
Continue reading...Private efforts to combat wildfires are not just for the superrich – many work for insurers seeking to minimize the policies they’d have to pay out
When a wildfire started spreading through the Pacific Palisades last Tuesday morning, employees of Wildfire Defense Systems, which provides “loss intervention services” to insurance companies, were already nearby, Dave Torgerson, the company’s founder, said.
Once they arrived at the scene, the private company’s workers stood back for a while, waiting for the government firefighters to complete the most urgent life-saving efforts. When they got clearance from public fire officials, they started their job, which focuses on protecting insured homes and businesses, Torgerson said.
Continue reading...Warning of ‘particularly dangerous situation’ with gusts expected as LA fire chief says: ‘We are not in the clear yet’
Firefighters battling the disastrous wildfires around Los Angeles were prepared for a return of dangerous winds that could again stoke the flames as the death toll in the tragedy has hit at least 24.
Fierce gusts known as Santa Ana winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into devastating infernos that leveled huge tranches of neighborhoods around America’s second-largest city, which has also been hit by drought.
Continue reading...Concerns that dangerous fine particle pollution can become embedded in bloodstream and lungs
The Los Angeles wildfires have claimed the lives of at least 24 people and have burned more than 100,000 structures. While the focus is understandably on avoiding the flames, another immediate danger lurks across the county and beyond, one more difficult to escape: smoke.
The most dangerous component of wildfire smoke is fine particle pollution, also known as PM2.5 or soot. These tiny particles, smaller than one 20th the width of a human hair, can, if inhaled, become embedded in the bloodstream and lungs. It is estimated that about one-third of all particulate matter pollution in the US now comes from wildfire smoke.
Continue reading...Australian mainland states permit killing of nearly 5 million annually as part of industry supplying meat and leather products
Wildlife advocates are calling for a halt to the commercial harvesting of kangaroos in Victoria’s Grampians region after bushfires there.
Wildlife Victoria warned of “long-term impacts” on native plants and animals due to the fires, which burned through 76,000 hectares of national park and farmland, and called for a stop to the controversial practice until the impact on kangaroo populations could be fully assessed.
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Continue reading...Neighborhoods now under evacuation orders include Encino and tony Brentwood in west Los Angeles
Evacuations have been ordered for areas of Los Angeles east of the uncontained Palisades fire – as the Santa Ana winds that initially fueled the four-day inferno are expected to moderately pick up.
The Los Angeles fire department issued a new immediate evacuation order at 7pm local time on Friday to areas that cover Sunset Boulevard north to the Encino reservoir and from the 405 Freeway west to Mandeville Canyon.
Continue reading...California has seen deadly blazes over the years – Camp fire decimated Paradise town in 2018 and Tubbs fire burned 36,810 acres in 2017
The destruction caused by the wildfires ravaging Los Angeles is the worst the city has seen in recent history.
The wildfires, which began on 7 January, have torched the US’s second largest city, leaving at least 11 dead and over 10,000 structures destroyed. Roughly 150,000 Los Angeles county residents remain under evacuation orders.
Palisades, the first and largest fire, is spreading west of Los Angeles. Burning across 21,317 acres, the fire had only been 8% contained as of Friday afternoon, meaning firefighters have created control lines – usually wide trenches – around 8% of it. Officials say initial estimates indicate it has destroyed at least 5,300 structures between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Firefighters estimate it’s the third-most destructive wildfire in California’s history.
The Eaton fire, burning across Pasadena and Altadena areas in the north-east has blazed nearly 14,000 acres and has only been 3% contained. It has so far destroyed 5,000 structures, ranking it as the fourth most destructive wildfire in California’s history.
The other fires currently burning across Los Angeles include Kenneth, Hurst and Lidia. Kenneth, a brush fire which emerged in the Woodlands Hills area on Thursday, has burned across 1,000 acres in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. As of Friday morning, it has been 35% contained. Meanwhile, the Hurst fire, which is burning across 771 acres across the northernmost suburb of Los Angeles, has been 37% contained as of Friday morning. Over in Antelope Valley, the Lidia fire has burned across 395 acres and is 75% contained as of Friday morning.
Continue reading...The firefighters earn $5.80-$10.24 per day plus $1 an hour when responding to active emergencies, according to CDCR
Hundreds of incarcerated firefighters are helping battle the destructive blazes that are rapidly spreading across southern California as a powerful windstorm devastates the region.
The California department of corrections and rehabilitation (CDCR) said on Wednesday that it had deployed 395 imprisoned firefighters across 29 crews while the county fights multiple out-of-control blazes fueled by extreme winds and dry conditions. The incarcerated crews are embedded with the California department of forestry and fire protection (Cal Fire) and its nearly 2,000 firefighters, who have been stretched thin from several simultaneous emergencies.
Continue reading...Over 30,000 ordered to evacuate as flames rip through coastal Pacific Palisades and other inland fires spread fast
Residents of Los Angeles have fled deadly wildfires engulfing the suburbs of the west coast megalopolis, as firefighters struggled to contain the flames overnight amid fears they would worsen on Wednesday morning.
California officials ordered more than 30,000 people to evacuate their homes as hillside blazes ripped through the coastal Pacific Palisades neighbourhood. People escaped by car and on foot.
Continue reading...Fueled by major windstorm, Pacific Palisades fire touches museum site but officials say collection safe
A rapidly spreading wildfire in southern California reached the grounds of the Getty Villa museum north of Santa Monica on Tuesday, but officials said no structures had burned and the collection was safe.
The Pacific Palisades fire, fueled by a major windstorm and prompting mass evacuations in Los Angeles county, burned some trees and vegetation on site at the Getty Villa, but museum leaders said the galleries and archives were protected.
Continue reading...Windstorm will affect Los Angeles and Ventura counties beginning Tuesday afternoon and peak early Wednesday
The strongest winds in more than a decade could hit southern California on Tuesday, potentially causing structural damage and bringing extreme fire risk to areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months.
Beginning Tuesday afternoon, the windstorm will affect Los Angeles and Ventura counties and peak in the early hours of Wednesday, when gusts could reach 80mph (129km/h), the National Weather Service (NWS) said Monday. Isolated gusts could top 100 mph in mountains and foothills.
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