Fires around the world

Isola di Stromboli - Aeolian Islands - Sicily, Italy
30 May 2022

Here is a follow up of the bush fires which raged there and have "destroyed 50% of the green zones on the island". I found a french article about the situation there. The photo really gives a good impression of how vast those fires have been !

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"About 50% of the island's green zone destroyed," says the regional civil protection. Instagram/stromboli.statu.danino.

www.leparisien.fr

Stromboli : gros incendie sur la petite île volcanique après un départ de feu volontaire pour le tournage d’une série télévisée

Plus de six hectares de maquis méditerranéen sont partis en fumée, pour un épisode de « Protezione Civile » de la télévision publique italie
www.leparisien.fr www.leparisien.fr

Stromboli: big fire on the small volcanic island after a voluntary fire start for the shooting of a TV series
More than six hectares of Mediterranean scrub went up in smoke, for an episode of "Protezione Civile" on Italian public television. Residents are angry.​

"Protezione Civile": this is the name of a series of RAI, Italian public television. Never has it been so badly named, since an episode was shot, on the small volcanic island of Stromboli, off Sicily. "But how could they light a fire while the sirocco was blowing? How can someone who shoots a fiction about Civil Protection not know? ", gets angry in the Corriere della Serra Marco Giorgianni, the mayor of Lipari, another Aeolian island, on which Stromboli and its 750 inhabitants depend.

On May 26, technical teams would have climbed on a volcano to light a fire. The false service of "Protezione Civile" had to limit it in less than two. But there, the scenario would have slipped very quickly. The sirocco, this violent wind from the Sahara, very dry and very hot, stirred up the embers. The island has ignited. "Ironically, the flames even devoured the Civil Protection barracks," comments La Repubblica.

More than six hectares of Mediterranean scrub went up in smoke. "We are talking about about 50% of the green zone of the destroyed island," says regional civil protection. A restaurant with 30 people evacuated, while 50 people were forced to leave their homes. A day and night of flames and dense clouds of smoke. "A miracle that there was no death," according to the mayor of Lipari.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1529735783422255106
"A day and a night of flames"

Initially, the inhabitants of Stromboli faced the flames on their own, before a helicopter and a Canadair were dispatched from Catania, neighboring Sicily. "In the millennial history of this volcano, there has never been so much damage in this area. They devastated it, "says Carlo Lanza, who has always lived on the island.

"A terrible night," explains Rosaria Cincotta, a resident of the Repubblica - "I saw those who lost their homes desperate and crying. We were left alone by the state and it was only thanks to us that many houses were saved. We burned our feet, but we can proudly say that we are a big family."

The RAI denies any responsibility​

Barcelona prosecutor Pozzo di Gotto has already opened an investigation and the carabinieri of the Milazzo company are hearing dozens of witnesses, including the director. RAI discards pointing the finger at the production company "11 marzo", according to BFM-TV.

The island and its volcano had inspired filmmakers Nanni Moretti in "Caro Diario" ("Dear newspaper") and rather Roberto Rossellini who had made "Stromboli" a classic of Italian neorealist cinema. It is the Italian heritage that is also devastated.
Click to expand...
translated via Apple
 

Greek firefighters battle blaze near Athens for second day​



ATHENS, Greece -- Greek firefighters on Sunday were battling a wildfire for a second day near two Athens suburbs.

Local media reported some damage to houses as well as vehicles, with 65 fire engines and 283 firefighters still operating in the area.

Authorities said that while the blaze has abated, it's still ongoing. No official damage estimate was available and would be done once the fire is over, officials said.

Greek authorities on Saturday ordered the evacuation of parts of the southern Athens suburbs of Voula and Glyfada as a precaution when strong winds fanned the blaze and threatened residential areas.

Thick black smoke from the fire could be seen as far as Piraeus, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.

Officials defended the state’s response to the fire, saying it was prompt but was hampered by the mountainous terrain, high winds which occasionally reached gale force and the fact that there were three separate fires breaking out almost simultaneously.

The fire started in the early afternoon Saturday. According to Deputy Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Evangelos Tournas, the first fire engines were on the spot 12 minutes after the alarm was given and, eight minutes later, firefighting planes and helicopters, 17 in total, lifted off to join the efforts.

“Despite the great collective effort, there was limited damage to some homes ... but we avoided injuries or loss of life,” Tournas said, adding that there were 61 fires across Greece on Saturday.

Hot and dry weather, combined with frequent high winds, make Greece especially vulnerable to wildfires during summer.

Last August, wildfires devastated the northern half of the island of Evia, Greece’s second largest. These and other major fires stretched the country’s firefighting capability to the limit and required aid from 24 European and Middle Eastern countries, which sent planes, helicopters, vehicles and hundreds of firefighters.

On Thursday, the European Commission said that more than 200 firefighters and technical equipment provided by European Union countries will be soon deployed to Greece to allow for a swift response to large wildfires.

“We are still in the beginning of summer and our aim is to moderate the harsh consequences of those new phenomena caused by the climate crisis,” said Christos Stylianides, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister. “Summer will be tough...weather forecasts show that, in the Eastern Mediterranean region, a climate crisis hot spot, things will, unfortunately, not be easy."
 
Moscow tower currently ablaze

In Moscow, a fire broke out in one of the towers of the Capital Towers residential complex in the center of the capital on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. Black smoke is coming from the upper floors and roofs, reports TASS 3 July.

In total, the Capital Towers tower has 66 floors. The complex began to be built in 2017. It is planned that the residential complex will be commissioned in 2022.

One of the Capital Towers is on fire in Moscow - BB-CNTV

Towers “Capital Towers” in Moscow ©Wikipedia In Moscow, a fire broke out in one of the towers of the Capital Towers residential complex in the center of the capital on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. Black smoke is coming from the upper floors and roofs, reports TASS 3 July. In total, the Capital...
bb-cntv.com bb-cntv.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/1543688270676168704
 
Current fire activity.
Morocco, Portugal, British Columbia, Yosemite National Park, Anderson, Shasta Co, UK, and Sacramento County (El Dorado County foothills) just to name a few.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1547620728794521600

Permafrost is ablaze with hundreds of wildfires in the world’s coldest region
By The Siberian Times reporter13 July 2021 Snip:
Lena Pillars, a World Heritage Site, hit by the rampant flames, as calls grow for greater efforts to tackle infernos.
Wildfires on permafrost are ravaging Yakutia - or the Sakha Republic, the largest and coldest entity of the Russian Federation. The scale is mesmerising.

There are some separate 300 fires, now covering 12,140 square kilometres - but only around half of these are being tackled, because they pose a threat to people.

The rest are burning unchecked, with some of the world’s most remote wilderness destroyed by uncontrolled fires.

The savage summer fire season has seen major outbreaks around the Road of Bones, an arterial highway built by victims of repression in the Soviet era between Yakutsk - the regional capital and coldest city in the world - and the port of Magadan.
Click to expand...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1547828351947010048
[LIVE] #Incendies en #Gironde: according to the latest report from the prefecture published this morning, 3100 ha have burned in La Teste. 3 houses and 2 restaurants were destroyed in #Cazaux. The fire of #Landiras covered 4200 ha, and 480 people were evacuated last night… @LCI

www.newsweek.com

Wildfires LIVE: U.S. states struggle as nearly 60 blazes rip through Western states

Dozens of wildfires are tearing through the U.S., with nearly 60 blazes detected across several Western states so far. Follow Newsweek's live blog for the latest updates.
www.newsweek.com www.newsweek.com
7/13/21 at 5:22 AM EDT
 
Remember the two years ago blast of silos in Beirut port?

Smoldering Beirut port silo risks total collapse amid fire

AR-307229961.jpg&updated=202207220930&MaxW=900&maxH=900&noborder&Q=80

Firefighters extinguish a fire at the silos in the north block of the Beirut Port in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, July 21, 2022. The silos were destroyed by a massive explosion in 2020 and the structure might have caught on fire due to fermented grains.

Lebanon's prime minister on Friday warned that the ruin of a massive grain silo risks total collapse due to an ongoing fire that's expanding amid the summer heat at the Beirut port where a devastating blast two years ago tore through the Mediterranean city.

A fire in the structure has been smoldering for the past two weeks due to 800 tons of grain inside fermenting in the hot weather. The government said the fire expanded after flames reached nearby electrical cables.

The fire and the dramatic sight of the smoldering, partially blackened silo is reviving memories and in some cases trauma for survivors of the gigantic explosion that tore through the port two years ago. Experts say part of the structure is leaning and in danger of tipping over.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who oversees a caretaker government, ordered firefighters and civil defense volunteers to step back Friday for their safety. Civil Defense volunteer Youssef Mallah told The Associated Press that they are still at the port, but have been ordered to stay far from the silo.

The August 2020 blast was caused by hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in fertilizers, that had been improperly stored for years at the port's warehouse.

The tall structure withstood the force, effectively shielding the western part of Beirut from the explosion that killed over 200 people, wounded more than 6,000 and badly damaged entire neighborhoods.
Click to expand...
Added: Link to the Beirut Explosion thread
 
Impressive images of the firefighters of Tarn-et-Garonne, mobilized against the #Belin-Béliet fire in #Gironde, #France 🇫🇷
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1557770033572597760

Firefighting continues in Belin-Béliet #Gironde #France 🇫🇷 under a temperature of 39°C this Thursday afternoon!
Germany, Poland, Austria, Romania, Greece and Sweden have announced that they will send reinforcements
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1557741081760247811

France battles 'monster' wildfire as heatwaves scorch Europe

HOSTENS, France, Aug 11 (Reuters) - A "monster" wildfire raged for a third day in southwestern France on Thursday, ravaging forests and forcing 10,000 people to evacuate their homes.

With no let-up in scorching temperatures likely before the weekend, firefighters backed by water-bombing aircraft battled on many fronts, saying the massive fire could change direction at any moment.

"It's an ogre, it's a monster," Gregory Allione from the French firefighters body FNSPF told RTL radio.

Wildfires have broken out across Europe this summer as successive heatwaves bake the continent and renew focus on climate change risks to industry and livelihoods. read more

Valentine Dupy took photos of her house with her phone before being evacuated from Belin-Beliet, at the heart of the Gironde region "just in case something happens".

"It was like an apocalypse. Smoke everywhere ... and planes throwing orange powder onto the fire."

Firefighters said they had managed to save her village, transformed into a ghost town after police told residents to evacuate as the flames approached.

But the blaze reached the outskirts, leaving wrecked houses and charred tractors in its wake.

"We've been lucky. Our houses were saved. But you see the catastrophe all over there. Some houses could not be saved," said resident Gaetan, pointing to houses burnt to the ground.
Click to expand...

www.reuters.com

France battles 'monster' wildfire as heatwaves scorch Europe

A "monster" wildfire raged for a third day in southwestern France on Thursday, ravaging forests and forcing 10,000 people to evacuate their homes.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 
Puma said:
France battles 'monster' wildfire as heatwaves scorch Europe
Click to expand...
I've heard of what is following from a shopkeeper here where I livre near Paris.

There is a project to establish the Europe's largest future solar power plant to raze a Landes forest - Article from January 2021 (in French).

Guess what? The very location where fires take place for weeks in Landes (SouthWest of France) is approximatively the same this project is supposed to be set:
With 1000 hectares of photovoltaic panels, the Saucats solar power plant in Gironde could become the largest in Europe. However, the project, supported by Engie and Neoen, involves the destruction of a vast area of woodland at the gateway to the Landes de Gascogne nature park.

Every major project has its dilemma. Should forests - even those planted and exploited by man - be protected, or should we accept to cut down some of them to produce renewable electricity? [or burn them maybe, if people do not want cut down them...]

In Saucats, in the Gironde, the question is topical. In this wooded commune, the French energy companies Engie and Neoen are planning to build the largest solar power plant in Europe. The project, called "Horizéo", is to develop an output of 1,000 MW, or as much as a nuclear reactor.

One billion euros of investment

The park will produce the equivalent of the consumption of 600,000 people according to its promoters, but the electricity will be sold exclusively to industrialists and companies. Estimated at €1 billion (€650 million for the power station alone), the project also includes the construction of an electrolyser producing "green" hydrogen, stationary battery storage, a data centre and an agri-voltaics plot. Its operation will not require any subsidy from the State, according to the energy companies.
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10 km² of planted forest would have to be destroyed:

The gigantic size of the project does, however, imply concessions on the environment. Spread over 10 km² on the borders of the Landes de Gascogne natural park, the photovoltaic panel field requires the clearing of as many pine plots. Although a public debate prior to the approval of the project will be opened in 2021, Engie and Neoen are already communicating on this subject.

The destroyed areas would be "fenced plots used for wood production or hunting activities" according to the project spokesperson, interviewed by France Bleu. The energy companies also promise to "physically compensate" the equivalent of the cleared area "in the supply basin of wood processing plants".

Measures that do not reassure opponents. The local federation of environmental associations SEPANSO denounces a "project of excess" at a time when "everything shows that the forest is an essential event in the protection of biodiversity and the climate".
Click to expand...
That was back at the beginning of 2021.

Now, let's see what they (same source) are saying in June 2022, BEFORE the fires began:

Horizéo: in the Landes, the promoters of the gigantic photovoltaic project persist

Horizéo is the project for a large photovoltaic (PV) power plant in the commune of Saucats, in the Landes forest, which has already been the subject of a public debate. Drawing the first lessons from this debate, the promoters of the project, Engie and Neoen, presented a modified project this week. But all the opposition has not been disarmed.

It is a pioneering project because it does not respond to a call for tenders: its electricity would be sold on the market. When it was conceived, the idea was to find industrialists willing to buy this green electricity by making a long-term commitment. Market conditions, with soaring wholesale prices, may make such commitments unnecessary.

Drawing the first lessons from the debate, the promoters of the project, Engie and Neoen, presented this week a project rid of its most opportunistic aspect - the data centre. The mayor of Saucats did not want it, and the agreement of the municipality is essential to modify the local urban plan. The 40 megawatt (MW) electrolyser is also out, as the promoters have not identified any customers for the green hydrogen.

[...]

By redesigning the Horizéo project a little, we would not have to choose between fighting climate change and preserving biodiversity. This was suggested during the debate by the company Valorem, which has built several 'extensive' solar parks in the region, and various associations. Engie and Neoen do not seem to have chosen this path - for the moment. They intend to 'reassure' the public and the opposition with studies on more or less well-founded fears about the risks of flooding, fire or the local microclimate. And count on the climate emergency and the growing importance of energy independence. Only time will tell if this is the right choice.
Click to expand...
Well, hot weather CAN and does trigger fires like those in Landes. BUT can we say for sure that part of them are not arsons?
How convenient that fires take place there and now, when Engie and Neoen -with the help of the French government- whould love so much get the full area without even have destroy trees, not having to care about what opposition have to say about it, because, you know, Nature did it!

This Horizéo project is not the only one in France currently (it seems that they are 187), but it could become, if settled, the Europe's largest future solar power plant.

Location of the Saucats area, where this Horizéo could (will?) be settled, is HERE on Google Map, right at the site of a geological nature reserve.
 
MK Scarlett said:
I had not notice until now that there are actuelly two threads talking about fires around the world. This very one, started on May 2017, and another one, started in May 2016:

Fires around the world​

It seems to me that the topics are very similar and that these two threads could be merged. What do the moderators think?
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Good call! They have been merged.
 
We have evacuated our town of Oakridge in Oregon this afternoon. The Cedar Creek fire has grown rapidly and extreme fire behaviour is expected for the next 24hrs. It’s a roll of the dice at this stage whether the town survives the night.
A bit worried for some friends and neighbours who did not leave when we did. Had to talk my husband into packing up, glad we did and he listened to me.
www.statesmanjournal.com

Western Oregon wildfire updates

Extremely hazardous weather conditions and increased fire activity have prompted another increase in evacuations for areas around the Cedar Creek Fire.
www.statesmanjournal.com www.statesmanjournal.com
 
gottathink said:
We have evacuated our town of Oakridge in Oregon this afternoon. The Cedar Creek fire has grown rapidly and extreme fire behaviour is expected for the next 24hrs. It’s a roll of the dice at this stage whether the town survives the night.
A bit worried for some friends and neighbours who did not leave when we did. Had to talk my husband into packing up, glad we did and he listened to me.
www.statesmanjournal.com

Western Oregon wildfire updates

Extremely hazardous weather conditions and increased fire activity have prompted another increase in evacuations for areas around the Cedar Creek Fire.
www.statesmanjournal.com www.statesmanjournal.com
Click to expand...
The Cedar Creek fire in Oregon is estimated to have burned 100 000 acres of forest. The town of Oakridge looks to be safe with wind direction taking an unexpected turn to the north. I do wonder about the power of our crystal network?!
 
Heard about the level 3 evacuation orders for Oakridge last night when the emergency alert came on the television..I’m in Oregon as well, currently about 50 miles from Oakridge. Woke up this morning to find a lot of ash on my car.

Stay safe, gottathink!
 
Fierce fire at China Telecom skyscraper in #Changsha #China 🇨🇳 continues to develop, unfortunately hundreds of people are reported trapped.
September 16, 2022
Via @nexta_tv
https://twitter.com/x/status/1570744373821968384

Huge Fire Breaks Out At Chinese Skyscraper In Changsha​


A huge fire engulfed a skyscraper that’s believed to house China Telecom in the city of Changsha, according to Chinese state media. The number of fatalities isn’t known but reports suggest it could be in the hundreds.

Dozens of floors were seen burning, and several videos shared on social media highlighted the extent of the catastrophe.

“Thick smoke is spewing from the site, and several dozen floors are burning ferociously,” CCTV reported.

Local reports suggest people were evacuated from the building, which is about 200-meters high. China Telecom is a massive, state-owned operation employing hundreds of thousands of staff. It is unknown how many work at the Changsha tower and state media says the number of fatalities is not yet clear.

deadline.com

Huge Fire Breaks Out At Chinese Skyscraper In Changsha

A huge fire engulfed a skyscraper that’s believed to house China Telecom in the city of Changsha, according to Chinese state media. The number of fatalities isn’t known but reports sugg…
deadline.com deadline.com
 
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