wildfires
Wildfires are disrupting back-to-school again. Experts call for support to plan for them
Newfoundland parent Scott Chandler jokes that September is usually a whirlwind he “kind of dreads,” between juggling the back-to-school season for his son Rhys and restarting a host of his extracurriculars, like hockey, karate and swimming lessons. This year, however, he’s looking forward to the normalcy of that busy schedule. They’ve been caught in a different sort of whirlwind since his family lost their home as well as Rhys’s school Cabot Academy in the Conception Bay North wildfires in early August. Following local orders, they’ve decamped three times in mere weeks: from anRead more
Heat wave hampers fight against wildfires in Spain, Portugal, Greece
A wildfire burns near a highway in A Gudiña, in northwestern Spain, on Friday. (Cesar Manso/AFP/Getty Images) Firefighters in Spain, Portugal and Greece battled ongoing wildfires Friday, an important religious holiday in all three countries, as persistent hot, dry conditions challenged efforts to contain the blazes. Spain was fighting 14 major fires, according to Virginia Barcones, general director of emergency services. Temperatures were expected to climb over the weekend. “Today will once again be a very tough day, with an extreme risk of new fires,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro SánchezRead more
Wildfires scorch large swaths of southeast Europe and the Balkans
Firefighters battled on Monday to put out wildfires in three separate provinces of Turkey, in Greece and near a tourist resort in Albania, stoked by strong winds after days of searing heat across the Mediterranean region. Smoke billowed over the mountainous Black Sea province of Karabuk, 200 kilometres north of the capital, Ankara, as a wildfire that raged for a sixth day forced the evacuation of more than a dozen villages and burned swaths of forests. In the northwestern province of Bursa, three firefighters were killed on Sunday when their vehicle crashed, Turkey’sRead more
Different cities, different wildfires: How 2 Canadian cities are fighting back
Firelines, sprinklers and water bombers: geography and weather play a role in how crews attack fires Powerful wildfires are bearing down on Kelowna, B.C., and Yellowknife, but the two cities have different challenges, constraints and resources as firefighters take them on. Weather, topography, water access and forest conditions are all influencing officials’ strategies to fight the flames in each location. In Yellowknife’s case, fires have been burning near the territorial capital for weeks — since late June, according to the Natural Resources Canada. A fire west of the city expanded and moved closer to theRead more