Firefighters battle to contain blaze on Kilimanjaro

Fears for climbers who may have been in area of fire on slopes of Africa’s tallest mountain near Tanzanian border with Kenya

A huge fire has broken on Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak and a key attraction for tourists in Kenya and Tanzania.

According to Tanzanian national park authorities, the fire broke out on Sunday afternoon and is yet to be contained.

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New Zealand bushfire that demolished village leads to climate crisis debate

Scientists say hotter and longer summers make such an unusually fierce fire more likely

A bushfire that destroyed most of a village in New Zealand’s South Island has sparked a fierce debate between high-country farmers and conservationists, as those affected struggle to understand the unusually fierce nature of the blaze.

Lake Ōhau village is located at the foothills of the Ben Ohau mountain range, and is home to just 15 permanent residents but its numbers swell significantly during the holiday season. On Sunday morning, a fire tore through the foothills and into the village, forcing 90 people to evacuate.

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Wildfires tear through drought-racked Paraguay amid record heat

Country faces more than 5,000 fires, with yellow smoke reaching the capital as neighbouring Brazil and Argentina face blazes

Devastating wildfires have broken out across across Paraguay, as drought and record high temperatures continue to exacerbate blazes across South America.

A total of 5,231 individual wildfires broke out across the country on 1 October – up 3,000 on the previous day. Most of were concentrated in the arid Chaco region in the west of the country, but thick yellow smoke had reached as far as the capital, Asunción.

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‘We had minutes’: California Glass wildfire rips through wine country – video report

A destructive wildfire is being driven by strong winds through wine country north of San Francisco in California.

The Glass fire burned through Napa and Sonoma counties burning down buildings including wineries in the area.

The fire began Sunday as three fires merged and drove into vineyards and mountain areas, including part of the city of Santa Rosa. Around 70,000 people were under evacuation orders

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US runs out of Atlantic hurricane names as frenetic season continues

  • Naming shifts to Greek letters after 21-name list is exhausted
  • Texas coast prepares for tropical storm Beta

So many powerful storms have formed over the Atlantic this year that for only the second time, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has run out of names, meaning it is now naming tropical storms and hurricanes with letters from the Greek alphabet.

There are 21 names available each year. The list ends with those beginning with W and excludes Q, U, X, Y and Z. Once that list is exhausted, the nomenclature system switches to the Greek alphabet.

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California firefighters battle El Dorado fire – video

Firefighters in Southern California continue to tackle one of 27 huge wildfires blazing across the state which has already burned more than 21,600 acres (8,741 hectares) of forest.

A firefighter has died while battling the El Dorado fire which has been burning in San Bernardino National Forest since 5 September.

A front of humid and rainy weather has brought some relief to western states that have suffered a historically devastating fire season

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Hurricane Sally: level-two storm hits Florida and Alabama – video

Hurricane Sally, a huge grade two storm with 100mph winds and torrential rain, has hit the US’s Gulf coast, reaching Florida and Alabama with fears of ‘life-threatening flooding’.

The storm was moving at only 2mph before dawn on Tuesday, centered about 115 miles south-south-east of Biloxi, Mississippi, and 60 miles east-south-east of the mouth of the Mississippi river

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Record-breaking wildfires in Brazil threaten endangered species – video

Record-breaking wildfires are threatening thousands of acres of one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet, Brazil's Pantanal region.

'Sometimes we are a bit frustrated, but we try to have hope and to rescue the few animals we can,' said 26-year-old vet Karen Ribeiro at one of the shelters, where rescue units and volunteers are bringing in animals including jaguars for evacuation

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Dozens missing in Oregon as historic fires devastate western US

Dozens of people are missing and at least 23 people are believed to have been killed as historic wildfires in the western US forced evacuations, stretched fire crews thin and spawned misinformation.

Residents of Portland, Oregon, awoke on Friday to air thick with smoke pollution that dimmed the sun and turned the skies blood-orange red. Hundreds of firefighters are battling two large wildfires that threatened to merge near the most populated part of Oregon, including the suburbs of Portland, and the governor said dozens of people are missing in other parts of the state.

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Pyrotechnic device at gender-reveal party causes California wildfire – video

A fire in California that has burned more than 7,000 acres was caused by a 'pyrotechnic device used at a gender reveal party', according to the the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Almost 12,500 firefighters are battling 22 major fires across the state, according to Cal Fire

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‘Devastation everywhere’: Louisiana city wakes up to storm’s aftermath

Lake Charles felt the full force of Hurricane Laura and now residents who rode out the disaster are picking up the pieces

Classie Ballou lives on the fifth floor of Chateau du Lac, an eight-story retirement home in the Louisiana city of Lake Charles. “I made it through Rita,” he said from a park bench in the rubble of downtown as he reflected on the fury of Hurricane Laura that had just roared through his home town. “Honestly, I thought it wasn’t going to be that bad.”

He shook his head. “If I were doing it over, I would leave.”

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U.S. needs a different role in Yemen

In other parts of the globe, like the Republic of Yemen, lethal forces are stalking victims whom Americans cannot always picture in complicated political scenarios we may not quickly grasp. So the average American blinks, and in that blink opportunists make deals with undemocratic, unprincipled bullies.

Michael lays bare Panhandle’s weaker building codes

Unlike in South Florida, homes in the state's Panhandle did not have tighter building codes until just 11 years ago; it was once argued that acres of forests would provide the region with a natural barrier against the savage winds of a hurricane. When many of the homes on the Panhandle were built, the state had a patchwork of codes from which some buildings here were exempt.

Michael’s destruction reveals region’s weaker building codes

Unlike in South Florida, homes in the state's Panhandle did not have tighter building codes It was once argued that the trees would help save Florida's Panhandle from the fury of a hurricane, as the acres of forests in the region would provide a natural barrier to savage winds that accompany the deadly storms. It's part of the reason that tighter building codes - mandatory in places such as South Florida - were not put in place for most of this region until just 11 years ago.

Ap Fact Check: Trump on hurricane and political winds Source: Ap

Hurricane Michael has shown that President Donald Trump can't always be counted on to give accurate information to the public when a natural disaster unfolds. Trump wrongly stated that the hurricane moved across land with blazing speed, which stopped a terrible situation from becoming even worse because the storm didn't linger.

The Latest: 2 more deaths from Michael in North Carolina

North Carolina authorities say a car smashed into a tree felled by Hurricane Michael, killing two people and bringing the total death toll from the storm to 13. McDowell County Emergency Management Director William Kehle says the accident happened about 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Marion, located in mountainous McDowell County. State emergency management spokesman Keith Acree said the 64-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene.