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From Uttarakhand to Canada, the world sees a flurry of forest fires

Shreya Biswas
India Today
Wed, 04 May 2016 11:32 UTC
Forest fire.
© AP
Forest fire.
Here is a list of recent forest fires which have spoiled acres of woodlands and interrupted lives in India and elsewhere in the world.

As drought sucks regions of Maharastra and Telangana dry, the Himalayas are getting singed by forest fires.

From Uttarakhand to Jammu and Kashmir, lack of rainfall and scorching heat are sparking wildfires in dry forests which are getting wafted into residential areas by strong winds. Apart from losing acres of lands to these flames, human as well as animals are literally in the line of fire.

However, India is not the only country suffering. Wildfires seem to be springing up in different parts of the world.

Last year, Indonesia was hit by some devastating wildfires that killed 19 people and led to at least 5 lakh cases of respiratory tract infections as well as 100,000 premature deaths.

This year, the world continues to battle raging wildfires, with India being high on the list:
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Fire

Massive wildfires sweep through mountain forests in North India

biswajeet banerjee
ABC News
Mon, 02 May 2016 11:11 UTC
A major fire in the forests at Ahirikot in Srinagar, Uttarakhand state, India, Monday, May 2, 2016. Massive wildfires that have killed at least seven people in recent weeks were burning through pine forests in the mountains of northern India on Monday, in
© Press Trust of India
Massive wildfires that have killed at least seven people in recent weeks were burning through pine forests in the mountains of northern India on Monday, including parts of two tiger reserves.

With dense black smoke billowing in the skies for kilometers (miles), authorities were urging villagers to be on alert and tourists to avoid traveling to the Himalayan foothills, popular during the summer for their cooler temperatures.

Dozens of fires were spreading unpredictably in the states of Uttarakhand and neighboring Himachal Pradesh, officials said.

"We are struggling to bring the situation under control," forest officer Bhanu Prasad Gupta said in the state of Uttarakhand.

After state firefighters were unable for months to put out the fires, the Indian government sent air force helicopters over the weekend to drop water on blazes covering nearly 23 square kilometers (8 square miles) of pine forests.

After areas were soaked from above, groups of villagers fanned out into the steaming jungle forests and used green-leafed branches to beat out the embers still glowing on the ground.


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Alarm Clock

USGS: Volcano 'recharging' as earthquake swarm strikes Mount St. Helens, Washington

Madison Park
CNN
Sat, 07 May 2016 04:29 UTC
Mount St. Helens 2004

Mount St. Helens is a volcano in the state of Washington, seen here in 2004. It has recently been hit with a wave of small earthquakes.

In the past eight weeks, more than 130 small earthquakes have trembled beneath the surface of Mount St. Helens. At this point, "there is absolutely no sign that it will erupt anytime soon, but the data we collect tells us that the volcano is still very much alive," the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Seismologists reported that there are no anomalous gases,and no signs that the collection of magma, which is the molten rock beneath the surface of the Earth, is getting inflated in the recent swarm of earthquakes at the volcano. Although there are no signs of an imminent eruption, the volcano is recharging, scientists say.

Mount St. Helens is in Washington state, 95 miles south of Seattle and about 55 miles northeast of Portland, OR. The earthquakes have been measured at a magnitude of 0.5 or less and the largest was at 1.3. They've been measured about 1.2 to four miles underneath the surface. With such small magnitudes and such depths, you wouldn't be able to feel the earthquakes on the surface.

But it's not the magnitude that has gotten scientists attention -- it's the frequency.

They've become increasingly common since March 14, "reaching nearly 40 located earthquakes per week," according to the USGS.
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Fire

Fort McMurray wildfire update: 7,000 people airlifted as 'apocalyptic' Alberta wildfire rages through 101,000 hectares; officials warn blaze could double in size


RT
Sat, 07 May 2016 04:18 UTC
Devastation in Fort McMurray
© RCMP Alberta
Devastation in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
Some 25,000 Canadians that fled north from Fort McMurray are reliving the horror of hastily evacuating through blazing forests, as thousands are now being forced to drive south or take rescue aircraft out. Meanwhile, the fire may double in size in a day.

The gargantuan fire is currently raging through 101,000 hectares of land, senior wildfire manager Chad Morrison told reporters on Friday. Temperatures are expected to reach 27° Celsius on Saturday, which could double the size of the fire by the end of the day, Morrison added.

There are still thousands of evacuees hiding out in oil sands work camps north of the city that need to be moved as soon as possible, officials warn. Luckily, many of these camps have runways for small aircraft, which have been used to evacuate some 7,000 people already. At least 5,500 more will be airlifted out later on Friday.

A convoy of as many as 1,500 cars has also been trying to escape south to Edmonton via the highway passing through Fort McMurray. The first attempt failed, according to mounted police escorting the vehicles, as the drivers were faced with 60-meter-high (200ft) walls of flame raging on the sides of the road.


Comment: See also:

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Cloud Lightning

ANOTHER electrical incident at Washington, DC, metro station - This time sparking 'fireball'


RT
Fri, 06 May 2016 20:53 UTC
Washington metro

ZAP! Weird electrical arcing is becoming rather frequent in the Empire's capital
Washington, DC residents are bracing for extensive delays on Metrorail in the next year as system officials announced a major safety-improvement plan after two fire incidents at a Metro train station closed two underground rail lines Thursday evening.

Metro service on the Orange, Blue, and Silver lines was restored just prior to the Friday morning commute. A fire at the Federal Center SW station on Thursday caused the closure of two stations near the US Capitol building and the offices of several federal agencies. Metro sent shuttle buses to the stations affected, making for a complicated commute for many area residents.

The fire and explosion at Federal Center SW was caught on a security camera at about 4:30pm ET. WMATA general manager Paul Wiedefeld said the fire was caused by debris on the track.


Comment: In addition to the four incidents described above - two yesterday, one in March and one in January 2015 - there was also this last month (April):

24 April 2016: Fire crews responding to blast, fire - train evacuated at Washington, DC metro station

Circuits are being fried all over the place!

What is the source of this 'surge'?

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Fire

Wild animals and birds hit hard by wildfires in Nepal


The Himalayan Times
Fri, 06 May 2016 18:28 UTC
A wildfire
© THT
A wildfire in Phuljore Jungle of Mahabharat Community Forest
Wildfires, which have spread with the prolonged drought in different community forests, have badly affected wild animals and birds in different national and community forests of the far-west region.

A source in the regional Forest Directorate, Dhangadi, said many wild animals along with different bird species were burnt to death in the forests due to wildfire.

Many animals and birds have scattered and have migrated to safer areas after their habitats were destroyed by wildfires.

It is said wild animals that managed to flee are astray.

Sources in the directorate further added that monkeys, snakes, rabbits, porcupines, deer, wild boars and pheasants were among the wildlife killed due to the inferno.
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Attention

Woman fights off black bear in Paradise Hill, Saskatchewan

Stefani Langenegger,
cbc.ca
Thu, 05 May 2016 17:47 UTC
Raschel Zeschuk, 40, got six stitches and a series of rabies shots but feels very lucky.

Raschel Zeschuk, 40, got six stitches and a series of rabies shots but feels very lucky.
A Saskatchewan woman says it was both her scariest and her luckiest day — she fought off a black bear after it bit her on the leg during an afternoon walk.

Raschel Zeschuk lives in Paradise Hill, northeast of Lloydminster, and goes on daily walks with her two dogs.

But on April 21 the walk was anything but routine.

Zeschuk had just reached the end point of her usual route and turned around to return home when she heard rustling behind her.

"I glanced back and about five to 10 feet behind me was my dog running towards me," she said. Behind her dog was a black bear in hot pursuit.

Black bears
© Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press
Black bears, like this one seen in Jasper National Park, are waking up from hibernation and looking for food in the spring.
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Fish

30 tonnes of dead fish appear in a Haikou lake, China

Sophie Williams
Daily Mail
Thu, 05 May 2016 17:32 UTC
Horrible discovery: The fish were discovered yesterday floating in Hongcheng Lake in Haikou, southern China's Hainan province

Horrible discovery: The fish were discovered yesterday floating in Hongcheng Lake in Haikou, southern China's Hainan province
Residents of a Chinese city were shocked to see a vast number of dead fish appearing in a local lake yesterday.

Horrifying images show the animals covering a large part of Hongcheng Lake in Haikou, southern China's Hainan province.

Sanitation workers have been recovering the dead fish and have so far collected 30 tonnes, the People's Daily Online reports.

According to Haikou City Board of Marine and Fisheries, the large number of dead fish is due to a change in salinity.

Its suspected that the fish have floated in from another place.

40 sanitation workers have attended the scene to recover the deceased animals.


Disturbing images: Staff at the Marine and Fisheries Agency told reporters that pollution can be ruled out as a cause of death

Disturbing images: Staff at the Marine and Fisheries Agency told reporters that pollution can be ruled out as a cause of death
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Attention

Rare Right whale calf found dead off Chatham, Massachusetts

Doug Fraser
Cape Cod Times
Fri, 06 May 2016 16:25 UTC
Officials with the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service examine a right whale calf
© Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times
Officials with the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service examine a right whale calf that was found floating off Chatham Thursday.
A North Atlantic right whale calf, one of just 14 born this winter off Georgia, was found dead Thursday in the channel between mainland Chatham and Monomoy Island.

Chatham Harbormaster Stuart Smith said he was notified of the whale Thursday morning. Deputy Harbormaster Jason Holm and Wharfinger Mike Ryder located it drifting in the channel off Morris Island and pushed it ashore near the Stage Harbor Light. They reported the whale appeared to have been hit by a vessel and there was no sign of entanglement in line or gear, Smith said.

The whale, which had died recently, is between 27 and 28 feet long and had been identified earlier this year by the New England Aquarium, said Misty Niemeyer, necropsy coordinator for the Yarmouth Port-based International Fund for Animal Welfare, which responded to examine the whale in Thursday's spitting rain.

The calf was last spotted in Cape Cod Bay on April 28 with its mother "Punctuation." Most right whales left the bay as the spring plankton bloom waned. The calf found Thursday was first seen January 12 off Georgia with its mother, according to National Marine Fisheries Service spokeswoman Jennifer Goebel. Punctuation is a successful mother who has given birth to eight calves, Goebel said. Two, including the one found Thursday, have died in their first year.
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Attention

Dead 7-ton minke whale found on beach in Biddeford, Maine

Peter McGuire
Portland Press Herald
Fri, 06 May 2016 16:14 UTC
Volunteers and researchers from the New England Aquarium perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death of a minke whale that washed up on a Biddeford beach off Granite Street.
© Jill Brady
Volunteers and researchers from the New England Aquarium perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death of a minke whale that washed up on a Biddeford beach off Granite Street.
Volunteers on Thursday helped dissect and remove the carcass of a 7-ton minke whale that washed up on a Horseshoe Cove beach this week.

Lynda Doughty, executive director of Marine Mammals of Maine, a nonprofit group that rescues ocean mammals, said the cause of the adult female whale's death was not immediately obvious. Her group, with help from staff members of the New England Aquarium in Boston, were conducting a full necropsy of the animal and collecting samples to find out how it died.

"It is still to be determined. We got the report of the animal on Tuesday. It probably died out at sea and came in with the tide," she said.

A resident of Granite Point Road reported the dead 28-foot whale on a Horseshoe Cove beach, Doughty said. The air was pungent around the whale carcass, and volunteers wore masks, along with gloves and oilskins, as they cut away portions of the animal.
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