Identifying those who died has been arduous, with forensic experts and cadaver dogs sifting through ash
Hawaii officials said Friday that they had identified the last of the 100 known victims of the wildfire that destroyed Lahaina in August.
The victim was Lydia Coloma, 70, Maui police said.
Continue reading...Dalton Clark Stewart, 22, accused of lighting Canada’s Barrington Lake fire, which burned for one month in 2023
A Nova Scotia man has been charged for allegedly starting the eastern Canadian province’s largest-ever wildfire.
The charges against Dalton Clark Stewart, 22, come only days after a Quebec man, inspired by conspiracy theories, pleaded guilty to 14 charges of arson after deliberately lighting forest fires.
Continue reading...The country saw record-breaking blazes during the summer and Brian Paré pleaded guilty to lighting more than a dozen fires
A Canadian man who claimed forest fires were the result of a government conspiracy has pleaded guilty to lighting more than a dozen blazes during the country’s record-breaking wildfire season, as nearly 100 fires persist in drought-stricken regions.
Brian Paré admitted to 13 counts of arson and one count of arson with disregard for human life at the courthouse in central Quebec, an act that drew away key firefighting resources from nearly 700 fires in the province last summer.
Continue reading...Hazardous materials teams clear burned material from underneath Interstate 10 as crews assess damage
Arson was likely the cause of a raging fire over the weekend that has closed a mile-long stretch of the I-10, a major elevated interstate highway near downtown, the California governor said on Monday.
The California department of forestry and fire protection fire marshal made a preliminary determination that the fire was set intentionally, Gavin Newsom said during a press conference at the fire site. He said investigators have received some tips from witnesses but did not say if there were any suspects or persons of interest.
Continue reading...Forest fires leave Manaus with second worst air quality in the world, while low river levels cut off communities
A withering drought has turned the Amazonian capital of Manaus into a climate dystopia with the second worst air quality in the world and rivers at the lowest levels in 121 years.
The city of 1 million people, which is surrounded by a forest of trees, normally basks under blue skies. Tourists take pleasure boats to the nearby meeting of the Negro and Amazon (known locally as the Solimões) rivers, where dolphins can often be seen enjoying what are usually the most abundant freshwater resources in the world.
Continue reading...RFS commissioner says death due to Willi Willi fire a ‘tragic reminder of how deadly some of these fires are’
A man has died and multiple homes are feared lost in a bushfire near Kempsey in New South Wales as firefighters work to contain the Willi Willi fire that has burned through more than 11,000 hectares.
NSW police confirmed on Tuesday morning that a man had died on a rural property 30km west of Kempsey.
Continue reading...Major investigation shows local governments are increasingly exploiting a loophole in the Clean Air Act, leaving more than 21 million Americans with air that’s dirtier than they realize
A legal loophole has allowed the US Environmental Protection Agency to strike pollution from clean air tallies in more than 70 counties, enabling local regulators to claim the air was cleaner than it really was for more than 21 million Americans.
Regulators have exploited a little-known provision in the Clean Air Act called the “exceptional events rule” to forgive pollution caused by “natural” or “uncontrollable” events – including wildfires – on records used by the EPA for regulatory decisions, a new investigation from The California Newsroom, MuckRock and the Guardian reveals.
Continue reading...Heat is forecast to continue as authorities suspend classes on all islands and battle Tenerife blaze
Authorities on the Canary Islands have ordered the temporary closure of schools due to scorching temperatures on the archipelago that have set records and helped revive a huge wildfire on Tenerife.
The Spanish archipelago off the north-west coast of Africa typically experiences spring-like conditions all year, but temperatures have recently soared to about 38C (100F) in some parts.
Continue reading...Firefighters backed by water-dropping helicopters battle blaze that broke out in area of Spanish Canary island ravaged by fire in August
A wildfire raging on Spain’s holiday island of Tenerife amid unseasonably hot temperatures has forced the evacuation of about 3,000 people from their homes, local officials said.
Firefighters backed by six water-dropping helicopters were battling the blaze, which broke out on Wednesday afternoon in an area of steep ravines in the north-east of the island that was badly ravaged by a huge wildfire in August, the regional government of Tenerife said.
Continue reading...Laurie Allen is now among the at least 98 people who died when a blaze destroyed the historic Hawaii town in August
A woman who escaped a wildfire that destroyed Hawaii community by running through a burning field has died after spending more than seven weeks in a hospital burn unit.
Laurie Allen died Friday at Straub Medical Center in Honolulu, according to a GoFundMe page set up for her and her husband, Perry Allen.
Continue reading...Police chief confirmed number of missing had also dropped from 41 to 31 and that 74 of the deceased had been identified
The number of confirmed fatalities from the Maui wildfires is at least 97 people, a lower death toll than what officials had previously announced, Hawaii governor Josh Green said in an interview on CNN on Friday.
State leaders said last month that at least 115 people had died in the 8 August blaze but on Friday said new testing showed they were counting multiple DNA samples from some of the victims. John Pelltier, the Maui police chief, said in a press conference that the number of missing people had also dropped from 41 to 31. And so far, 74 of the deceased have been positively identified.
Continue reading...Josh Green, the state governor, approved $25m for business recovery and said Maui will reopen for tourism on 8 October
One month after the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century leveled the historic town of Lahaina, the governor of Hawaii, Josh Green, said Friday that the number of missing has dropped to 66, the confirmed death toll remains at 115 and authorities will soon escort residents on visits to their property.
Tens of millions of dollars in aid will make its way to families and businesses as they recover, Green said, and beginning 8 October, travel restrictions will end and West Maui will reopen to visitors.
Continue reading...Unprecedented drought in British Columbia could usher in a fresh set of natural disasters, including devastating floods
A season of record-breaking wildfires in British Columbia is nearly over, but officials in the Canadian province have warned that a persistent drought in the Canadian province is a “sleeping giant” which could usher in a fresh set of natural disasters, including devastating floods in the coming months.
Bowinn Ma, British Columbia’s emergency management minister said this week the unprecedented drought has the full attention of senior government officials as the region enters the “home stretch” of the province’s unprecedented wildfire season. Hundreds of blazes tore across the province this summer, leaving crews exhausted and broken, and scorching an estimated 2.2m hectares of land.
Continue reading...The photographer Gideon Mendel travelled to Rhodes a month after the fires as part of his Burning World project. He sought to document the impact on lives and landscapes
July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded, and Rhodes in Greece was one of many places that faced scorching temperatures and wildfires. There were no human casualties but the fire ravaged about 135,000 hectares of forest and vegetation, burned more than 50,000 olive trees and many domestic animals, destroyed about 50 homes and led to the mass evacuation of tourists from the area.
I travelled to the region a month after the fires, making new work for my Burning World project. I choose not to document the flames but rather seek out their aftermath, the traces left behind on lives and landscapes.
The Ekaterini hotel in Kiotari, south Rhodes
Continue reading...Winfrey says direct cash assistance aims to support those affected as they determine what ‘rebuilding looks like for them’
Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson have launched a relief fund for the Maui wildfires with an initial $10m donation.
The People’s Fund of Maui, a fund within the Entertainment Industry Foundation, will distribute direct cash assistance to those affected by the wildfires in Maui, which killed at least 115 people earlier this month and devastated the towns of Kula and Lahaina. The fund, supported by public donations and the initial grant by Winfrey and Johnson, plans to provide $1,200 a month to anyone over the age of 18 who lost their primary residence in the fires, including renters and excluding property owners who do not reside in the residence.
Continue reading...Land privatization and water depletion set the stage for the Lahaina fire 150 years ago. Now, land companies may benefit even more
In the late 18th century, when the Hawaiian Kingdom became a sovereign state, Lahaina carried such an abundance of water that early explorers reportedly anointed it “Venice of the Pacific”. A glut of natural wetlands nourished breadfruit trees, extensive taro terraces and fishponds that sustained wildlife and generations of Native Hawaiian families.
But more than a century and a half of plantation agriculture, driven by American and European colonists, have depleted Lahaina’s streams and turned biodiverse food forests into tinderboxes. Today, Hawaii spends $3bn a year importing up to 90% of its food. This altered ecology, experts say, gave rise to the 8 August blaze that decimated the historic west Maui town and killed more than 111 people.
Continue reading...Gale-force winds and hot, dry conditions whip up flames and hamper firefighting efforts
More than 600 firefighters, including reinforcements from several European countries, backed by a fleet of water-dropping planes and helicopters, are battling three major wildfires in Greece, two of which have been raging for days.
A huge blaze in the country’s north-eastern regions of Evros and Alexandroupolis, believed to have caused the deaths of 20 of the 21 wildfire-related deaths in the last week, was burning for a ninth day.
Continue reading...One man confessed to having set four other fires on island of Evia as Greek authorities struggle to contain blazes
Fire department officials in Greece have arrested two men for allegedly starting wildfires on purpose, while hundreds of firefighters battled blazes that have killed at least 21 people in the past week.
One man was arrested on the Greek island of Evia for allegedly setting fire to dried grass in the Karystos area. The fire department said the man confessed to having set four other fires in the area in July and August.
Continue reading...Nearly 1,000 people in Merryville, in Beauregard parish close to Texas border, ordered to evacuate as Tiger Island fire burns nearby
A rare uncontrollable wildfire in Louisiana has forced nearly 1,000 residents to evacuate the town of Merryville in Beauregard parish, near the state’s border with Texas.
“Get out now!” the Beauregard parish sheriff’s office wrote on social media.
Continue reading...Amnesty links wildfires and lack of legal migration routes to deaths of 19 people believed to be asylum seekers
Refugees and migrants in Greece are facing off against the “two great injustices of our times”, Amnesty International has said, as it linked wildfires and scant access to legal migration routes to the deaths of 19 people believed to be asylum seekers.
As wildfires continue to rage across swathes of Greece, authorities in the country said they were working to identify the charred remains of 18 people found this week in the dense forests that straddle the country’s north-eastern border with Turkey.
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