Fires around the world

Glad to hear you're all safe and I hope it continues that way. I've been fighting these fires since last November and the end is not in sight yet. My town got hit last Saturday and we lost five houses in outlying areas and will probably get hit again this Friday.
My goodness, I’m so glad you were able to save your (& the neighbours’) properties Brewer! You boys did an amazing job, it’s damn scary when it’s on your doorstep. It’s hot and windy here today so I think we’re all needing to be extra vigilant this weekend. Everything is brown as, even the soccer fields for six-a-side summer comps are closed - with water restrictions they can’t be maintained. Stay safe mate and keep us posted.
 
Good to hear you guys along the coasts and country areas are all safe, you must be exhausted having to be vigilant at all times, these fires are unprecedented from anything that has gone before. Everything mentioned on the video above is so true regarding the keepers of the land for eons have virtually been dismissed, the undergrowth is full of tinder dry fuel all around and access gates are locked, so fire trucks are unable to get through. This situation has to be addressed starting now.

The Rural Fire Service truly are Legends, as are all 'firies'.

I relocated back to Inner west Sydney last Christmas, so I've only had smoke to contend with. I hope you and your families are staying safe. Take care
 
Something to brighten our smoky days, met this wonderful lady yesterday as she was harvesting Eucalypt leaves for orphaned koalas. Here she is with about one day's worth of koala sustenance at her feet!
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Here's her latest baby, Ruben.
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I've been invited round to meet him, I'm thrilled!
 
Other then the current hot zones, received this yesterday on some rebound, as nature will do. This does not ameliorate peoples loss, the drought, nor a re look at fire preparedness, yet I hope for all Aussie's there will be meaningful renewal that mirrors:

Heartening photos show how the Aussie bush is already regrowing


1:00pm Jan 8, 2020
Heartening photos show how the Aussie bush is already regrowing
New life bursts from the charred trunk of a tree in Kulnara, NSW. (Murray Lowe, Facebook)
Beautiful photographs of the bush regrowing on the NSW Central Coast a month after fires devastated the region have been picked up as a symbol of hope online.
Local photographer Murray Lowe snapped the shots in the Kulnara area on Monday and posted them on Facebook, where they have been shared more 37,000 times in less than 48 hours.
"Ventured out into the fire grounds today to capture some images of how the Aussie bush responds to fire, and the way it regenerates itself and comes back to life," Mr Lowe wrote in his post.

"Even without any rain, life bursts through the burnt bark from the heart of the trees and the life cycle begins again."
Black Boys, or Grass Trees, spring to life. The plants can only reproduce with the help of fire. Heat from the fire cracks the plant's hard seed.
Black Boys, or Grass Trees, spring to life. The plants can only reproduce with the help of fire. Heat from the fire cracks the plant's hard seed. (Murray Lowe, Facebook)
New growth in abundance, even in drought.
New growth in abundance, even in drought. (Murray Lowe, Facebook)
Mr Lowe urged as many people as possible to share the photos.
"It's so heartening to see the bush coming back to life again," he wrote.
Other Facebook users also shared their photos of the bush regenerating near their homes in the comments section of Mr Lowe's post.
A burst of green in the charred bush. Photo by Illuka resident Nikayla Rae Austin, on the NSW north coast.
A burst of green in the charred bush. Photo by Illuka resident Nikayla Rae Austin, on the NSW north coast. (Facebook)
New shoots from the trunks of koala food trees, and the sprouting undergrowth brought a smile to our faces, the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital said of this photo.
"New shoots from the trunks of koala food trees, and the sprouting undergrowth brought a smile to our faces," the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital said of this photo. (Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, Instagram)
 
Something to brighten our smoky days, met this wonderful lady yesterday as she was harvesting Eucalypt leaves for orphaned koalas. Here she is with about one day's worth of koala sustenance at her feet!

Met Ruben yesterday! He's 18 months old and has cataracts, poor guy. A new set of lenses have been made in Germany for $8000 AUD but his carer still refuses a donation! What a woman! I went in to his enclosure, didn't try to hold him just scratched him behind the ears and took a selfie. He fixed me with a stare reminiscent of the white cat meme!
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MOSCOW, July 27, 2020 - Forest fires in Russia more than doubled in size in the past week, a forestry official told TASS on Monday.

Russian forest fires more than double in size in one week, says source
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"Forest fires more than doubled in size in one week. Siberia and the Far East are facing the most difficult situation," he pointed out.

According to the Aerial Forest Protection Service, a total of 148 forest fires engulfing 67,913 hectares were active in Russia as of the Monday morning. According to earlier reports, wildfires swelled from 18,000 hectares to 44,500 hectares in the Chukotka region. At the same time, the area affected by fires shrank in the Yakutia region.
 
August 2, 2020 CHERRY VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) -
The fire has burned over 15,000 acres in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties
As of early Sunday, the fire was zero percent contained.

April Newman, a public information officer with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Riverside County Fire Department, said Saturday afternoon that roughly 7,800 residents in over 2,500 households had been ordered to evacuate.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but authorities say it likely may be a case of arson. Officials say the blaze may have started after two suspected arson fires merged into one on Friday.

Update: Apple Fire scorches 20,516 acres in Riverside County; blaze deemed suspicious amid arson investigation
8-20-20

The pyrocumulus plume from the Apple fire rises about 32,000 feet into the atmosphere and is visible from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES West satellite. The image was taken at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Worrying videos and pictures show how the pristine polar region of northern Yakutia is ablaze.

A major fire is burning right now outside the Arctic town of Chersky, around Mount Rodinka, loved by the locals for weekend trips.
The fire started around 10 days ago, threatening a major power line that feeds the remote town.

There was a hope that the fire was stopped some 10km from Chersky, but today the director of Pleistocene Park Nikita Zimov said that the blaze was back.


He shared a video of clouds of smoke blanketing the sun around the park deep in eastern Siberia.

Lena Pillars Park in Yakutia south from Yakutsk said earlier today that they had to postpone re-opening despite coronavirus restrictions being lifted because a state of emergency was introduced at Khangalassky Ulus due to the extremely high number of wildfires.

'A very strange' July was forecast for Yakutia by Russian weather specialists.

Average temperature will stay for at least seven, ten degrees C above the norm, with rains not coming until around 20 July.

The end of the month will 'cool down' to about +20C, while the first 20 days of July might be as hot as +30C - and dry.


Incredibly busy day for firefighters across California, with major air attack on multiple fires. This FlightRadar24 snapshot shows aircraft over #AppleFire, #PondFire, and #CastaicFire. 8-2-20

The #WaterFire came very close to the #whitewaterpreservebuildings. There was no loss due to aggressive structure defense by
@CALFIRERRU Map: https://arcg.is/00nifO
Aug 3, 2020

#NorthFire near Hallelujah Junction north of Reno now estimated at 1,500 acres. US 395 is closed to traffic. https://bit.ly/2Xj1VUI
Aug 3, 2020

#PineHollowFire [20 mi E of Kanab, UT] Update: 11,275 ac, 15% contained. Type 1 Helo assisting containment by transferring water to fireline rapidly. Helo can carry up to 2,400 gallons of water to boots on the ground. Utah Fire Info
8-3-20
 

BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:45 P.M.) – A large fire broke out on Tuesday inside the Iranian industrial area of Bardis in the northeastern part of the Islamic Republic.

According to the spokesman for the Tehran Fire Department, the “fire broke out for 56 minutes this morning, which resulted in very thick smoke. Firefighting teams from the villages Bardis, Boomen, and Roumadh are working to put out the fire.”

He continued: “The fire broke out in three production units, a two-storey building and warehouses that include leather and wood used in the storage industry.”


He revealed that the area where the fire broke out amounted to about 2,500 square meters.

The official IRNA agency stated that this industrial city contains several production units, including the adhesive industries, wood and metal industries.

On the other hand, Ali Ashter, Head of the Ports and Maritime Navigation Department in Qeshm Island (affiliated to Hormuzgan Governorate – South), announced that a fire broke out in one of the commercial wooden boats in Bahman port.

He said in a statement on Monday: “The reasons for this incident are not yet known, confirming that the firefighting teams on the island of Qeshm went immediately after seeing the smoke at the site of the fire and started extinguishing operations from the beach and the sea as well.

He continued, that the emergency and marine rescue teams moved the boat from the incident area to a safe place, noting that the fire incident did not leave any victims or injured, nor did it cause obstruction of navigation activities in Qeshm.

8/4/2020, 4:52:24 PM
Today, a fire broke out in an industrial area near the Iranian capital, Tehran, in the latest chapters of a series of fires and explosions that occurred in different regions of the country, and is still being investigated by the authorities.

Today, a fire broke out in an industrial area near the Iranian capital, Tehran, in the latest chapters of a series of fires and explosions that occurred in different regions of the country.

Iranian television reported that the fire broke out in the industrial area of the Jajrud neighborhood of Bardis district this morning without any injuries or deaths.

The Iranian news agency (IRNA) quoted the director general of the crisis management office in the province as saying that the firefighters were able to put out the fire at the station, which works according to the technology of the synthetic cycle.

He added that work is underway to assess the material losses, indicating that the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, and is still under investigation.

Today's incident is the latest in a series of mysterious incidents that rocked Iran since the end of last June, and most of it occurred near major military and nuclear installations, as well as industrial centers and power plants, which raised doubts about deliberate sabotage efforts.

Previous incidents

The accident today was preceded by an explosion in 6 fuel tanks in Kermanshah Province (western Iran), last Tuesday; Resulting in a big fire and columns of black smoke billowed into the sky.

Also, last July 15, a major fire broke out at a ship and boat factory in Bushehr port (southern Iran); As a result, 7 ships were burned, according to the Director General of the State Crisis Management Organization in Bushehr Province, Jahangir Dahkani.

During the same month, an explosion occurred in a company for the production of gas condensate in the Khurasan Province of Radwa (eastern Iran), as a result of a fire in a warehouse; This left huge financial losses, according to the agency "Ilna".

The "Natanz" nuclear reactor, at the dawn of 2 July, witnessed an explosion, which is the largest between a series of events that Iranian facilities have witnessed in the past two months, amid Israeli hints and Western reports that Israel was involved in the accident.

Search for Israel

Earlier, Business Insider quoted two sources. An Israeli and another European said that Tel Aviv carried out bombings and burnings of targets in Iran recently, with the aim of pushing towards a confrontation with Tehran, before the US presidential elections in November.

The American website reported - quoting a former Israeli military official - that some of the recent attacks in Iran were carried out by Israeli intelligence, as well as a statement by a European intelligence official - who is still at work - that Israel planned to provoke military action with Iran, as long as President Donald Trump at the White House.

He pointed out that Israel will not be able to put pressure on Iran if Democratic candidate Joe Biden wins the next presidential election.
 
Earlier, Business Insider quoted two sources. An Israeli and another European said that Tel Aviv carried out bombings and burnings of targets in Iran recently, with the aim of pushing towards a confrontation with Tehran, before the US presidential elections in November.

The American website reported - quoting a former Israeli military official - that some of the recent attacks in Iran were carried out by Israeli intelligence, as well as a statement by a European intelligence official - who is still at work - that Israel planned to provoke military action with Iran, as long as President Donald Trump at the White House.

He pointed out that Israel will not be able to put pressure on Iran if Democratic candidate Joe Biden wins the next presidential election.

This spate of explosions and fires in Iran seems similar to last years string of strange explosions at Russian military facilities, mentioned in a sott comment on an article (below) of the 'apocalyptic' blast in Beirut, Lebanon yesterday.


I do wonder if Israel is sending out increasing provocative 'signals' with a view to a more direct confrontation with Iran and other international partners.
 

8/05/2020 06:06:00 PM
Around 2,700 people have been evacuated, some of them by boat, to escape forest fires that were raging Wednesday across a vast area near the southern French city of Marseille, officials said.
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Some 1,800 firefighters are battling the blazes, which broke out on Tuesday afternoon, fanned by strong winds.

The fires have ravaged about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of vegetation and are threatening residential areas and campsites near the coast, the fire service said.

No casualties have been reported, "but material damage has still to be evaluated," it said.

The blazes are not yet under control, but lighter winds are expected later Wednesday.

Eight campsites near the towns of Martigues, where the fire erupted, and Sausset-les-Pins have been evacuated "as a preventative measure", the fire service said.

Some of the tourists at the sites were taken by boat and are being looked after by local authorities.

A care home for the elderly was also evacuated.

A second blaze in the same region broke out near an industrial park, and raged across 120 hectares, damaging a house and several businesses.

 
I'm posting this here because there is reportedly a second large fire in a M.E country following the blast in Beirut [...]

To add to the list, although possibly unrelated, apparently now the World Trade Centre in Brussels, Belgium, is on fire:


Added: Article:
Video of fire at Brussels' World Trade Center circulates - Insider Paper
NewsViral Videos Video of fire at Brussels’ World Trade Center circulates
August 6, 2020 10:54 am
Michelle Jones


Brussels’ World Trade Center has caught fire, and a video of the fire is circulating on Twitter. The fire video shows a lot of dark grey smoke rising from the top of Brussels’ World Trade Center. There aren’t a lot of details available yet, although news reports indicate that no injuries or deaths have been reported with the blaze yet.

According to news reports from Belgian media outlets, the Brussels fire brigade is on the scene of the blaze. Firefighters were called to the scene at around 3:45 p.m. local time. The fire is very small. The video of the fire that’s circulating on social media shows a crane moving a bucket toward the top floor away from the tower.

The fire broke out in one of the technical rooms of one of the World Trade Center Towers in Brussels-North. The fire started on the 27th floor of the World Trade Center. A spokesman for the Brussels fire brigade said insulation material on the top floor of the Brussels World Trade Center caught fire.

He added that they have not yet determined what caused the fire. No one has been injured in the blaze.


The World Trade Center is a group of skyscrapers located at the corner of Albert II Boulevard and Simon Bolivar Bolivard in the city’s Northern Quarter. The center’s three towers are among Belgium’s tallest towers. They’re located in the center of Brussels’ business district.

Originally, the center was planned to have eight towers built around the corner of Albert II Boulevard and Simon Bolivar Boulevard. The two on the southeastern corner of the intersection were later named the Proximus Towers, while the two on the northeastern side were called the North Galaxy Towers.

Construction crews have been working in towers I and II to remove asbestos. The Flemish government wants to employ some 4,000 workers starting in 2023.
 
Another fire, happened a few hours ago, this time in a residential building in Abu Dhabi. Residents reported hearing a loud bang before; the fire has now been extinguised; investigations over the cause are ongoing:



Large fire breaks out in Abu Dhabi building

Residents of the area reported hearing a loud bang before a building erupted in flames



Firefighters tackle a blaze at a residential building in Al Nahyan area of Abu Dhabi. Courtesy: Abu Dhabi Police
Firefighters tackle a blaze at a residential building in Al Nahyan area of Abu Dhabi. Courtesy: Abu Dhabi Police

A large fire broke out in a residential building in Abu Dhabi on Friday night.

Residents of Al Nahyan area reported hearing a loud bang at around 8.30pm followed by numerous sirens as fire trucks from Civil Defence rushed to the scene.

The fire quickly spread along a 12-storey residential building on Al Marwu Steet, near Mediclinic Al Mamora, as police cordoned off the area and turned residents away.


A resident of a neighbouring building said he heard a loud bang and went down to see what was happening. Groups of people had already begun to gather.

Large plumes of smoke billowed into the air as pieces of flaming debris fell to the floor.


"From where I stood, the fire looked huge. Bits of burning debris were falling to the ground and ash was beginning to fall on people," he said.

"Police were there within minutes cordoning off the area and ushering people away.

At 11.30pm, police issued a statement saying the fire had been extinguished and residents who suffered smoke inhalation were taken to hospital.

The building was evacuated as soon as police arrived and civil defence managed to prevented the fire from spreading to neighbouring buildings.

Police said the fire broke out on the seventh floor of the building but the cause has yet to be determined.

Cooling operations are currently under way.

Updated: August 8, 2020 12:01 AM
 
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