Wildfires
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Raging wildfire on the Latvian-Russian border at Kaliningrad, military called upon and state of emergency declared


A state of emergency has been declared in the Lithuanian western Neringa Municipality on the Curonian Spit due to a spreading fire on the peninsula, which is a Site of a UNESCO World Heritage.

A call about the fire was received at around 11.55 am.

Having arrived at the scene, Minister of the Interior Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas told the fire has engulfed 35 ha.

12 firefighter's vehicles are involved in the fire-extinguishing operation, assisted by a Mi-8 helicopter of the Armed Forces. According to the minister, Latvia has been asked to send one more helicopter.

Due to the fire, power supply has been shut down on the whole peninsula.

Phoenix

Grass fires total over 400 in March across South Wales despite cool temperatures

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The fire above Ogmore Vale
Fire crews caught on camera dealing with more than 400 fires, many of them started deliberately, across many parts of South Wales

Huge areas of grass and shrubland are a sea of charred black today after a wave of deliberately set fires swept through huge chunks of the Welsh countryside.

These dramatic pictures show firefighters trying to deal with the grass fires, including one which at one point was six miles wide.

The lone firefighter walking through the charred scrubland sums up the battle fire crews have had to deal with since the start of the month.

From March 1, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service alone has attended 215 grass fires and 283 deliberately set fires across huge areas of land. There were another 35 deliberately lit grass fires in the South Wales Fire and Rescue area yesterday damaging over 198 hectares of Welsh countryside

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Despite cool damp Spring fire crews tackle nearly 300 grass fires during April in Mid and West Wales

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© Roger VinceMid and West Wales fire crews were called into action to tackle a blaze on the Black Mountain at 7pm on Saturday. The service has faced 200 grass fires during the month of April.
The latest grass fire to strike the Amman Valley raged for more than five hours on the Black Mountain on Saturday night before being brought under control by emergency crews.

Amman Valley firefighters based at Gwaun cae Gurwen were called to tackle the blaze, which began above Cwmgarw Road on the Black Mountain, following reports of the fire at 7pm.

The incident is just the latest in what has become an ever increasing problem for emergency services.

As well as taking up time and manpower, the grass fires are also proving a massive drain on financial resources.

Extinguisher

Over 100 wildfires in Russia occupy almost 60 square kilometers

Wildfires in Russia
© Unknown
Over 100 wildfires in Russia occupy almost six thousand hectares, representative of the Russian emergency situations authority, EMERCOM, Anatoly Elizarov said on Sunday.

"In the territory of the Russian Federation 104 wildfires occupy 5,834 hectares. The most complicated situation is in the Far East Federal District - in the Amur region, Jewish autonomous region, and the Maritime and Khabarovsk territories, and also in Siberia's Baikal territory," he said.

The wildfires do not threat cities, towns or the economy, he told a meeting of a governmental working group, chaired by EMERCOM's head Vladimir Puchkov.

The spokesperson reported the authority had organised a group of over 18,000 people, who are using over 5,000 specialised vehicles to extinguish the fires. The rescuers are using 23 aircrafts. EMERCOM is using its eleven planes and helicopters: two Il-76 planes, two Be-200 amphibian planes, two Mi-26 helicopters and five Mi-8 helicopters.

"Every day, EMERCOM's aviation is making about 15 flights, making about 100 droppings of over 1,000 tonnes of water," Elizarov said.

He continued adding the authority had been attracting new forces for extinguishing the wildfires.

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4 dead as wildfire rages through city of Valparaiso, Chile - 500 already homes destroyed as thousands flee in panic

Fire in Valparaiso
© Alberto Miranda, AFP/GettyView of houses in flames during a fire in Valparaiso,west of Santiago, Chile, on April 12, 2014.
A large forest fire raging in the Chilean port city of Valparaiso has killed at least two people and destroyed 500 homes, officials said Sunday. Thousands of people have been evacuated, including more than 200 female inmates at a prison.

Firefighters were having difficulty combating the blaze because of the topography of the city, which is surrounded by dozens of steep hills where most people live.

President Michelle Bachelet has declared the city a catastrophe zone, which puts the armed forces in charge of maintaining order and evacuating thousands of people affected by the smoke and flames.

"This is the worst disaster I have seen," regional governor Ricardo Bravo said. "Now we fear that the fire will spread to the center of the city, which would increase the severity of the emergency."


Comment: Multiple wildfires in recent times across the globe:

Outbreak of multiple wildfires in central Oklahoma
Wildfires break out across Carolinas despite cool temperatures
Federal government steps in to deal with record number of wildfires in Western U.S. this winter
In January 2013 there were zero wildfires in California - In January 2014 there were over 400 wildfires
Huge wildfires across Scottish Highlands

Many Tibetan monasteries and famous sites destroyed this winter by mysterious 'wildfires'
256 wildfires suddenly break out in Victoria, Australia amid heatwave
Wildfires heat up the Arctic as climate change frazzles the north of Siberia


Attention

Best of the Web: Signs of change: Extreme weather, seismic activity, and meteor fireballs in March and early April 2014

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Comment: More rain in California in one day than it got in the past year, a record cold winter in the U.S., a "1 in 100 years" flooding event in New Zealand, a meteor explosion that shook homes in New Mexico, giant hailstones in places that don't usually get any hail, record earthquakes in California, the Andaman Islands and all along the Ring of Fire, two meteor fireballs lighting up the East coast of Canada and northern U.S. states in the space of 24 hours, landslides and flash-flooding putting out wildfires in Western U.S. states, and the "worst flooding in living memory" on the Solomon Islands (at the same time as a strong earthquake)...

The following video compilation is a sample of just some of the planetary upheaval recorded in the last month.

Visit HawkkeyDavis's Youtube channel to check out the rest of his awesome work chronicling the 'signs of the times'.



The world has been overwhelmed with disasters in recent weeks. A series of fireballs and earthquakes has rocked and shaken this planet to its core. Meanwhile, the "one-in-100-year events" continue to strike...

Even though it looks like it sometimes, this series does not mean the world is ending! These are documentaries of series of extreme weather events that are leading to bigger earth changes. If you are following the series, then you are seeing the signs.

For those who can't view YT videos:


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Massive dust devil forms during prescribed burn near the Rocky Mountain Arsenal


Adams County - A 150 acre, prescribed burn near the Rocky Mountain Arsenal grew out of control when a massive dust devil swept fire and tumble weeds in the firefighters direction.

The prescribed burn happened around noon, Friday, March 14.

Video captures the moment the dust devil began and shows hundreds of tumble weeds catching fire before several firefighters run for safety. From a safe distance, the filming resumes. The unexpected dust devil ended up burning an extra acre of land but no property was damaged and no one was injured.

Thomas Rogers, a firefighter with South Metro Fire & Rescue, is the man behind the camera. In the seven years he has spent fighting flames he has never seen anything quite like this.

"It was definitely interesting to see. I'm a fire buff as well as a weather buff and here I had a weather event and a fire event coming together and it was just really amazing to watch," Rogers said. "There's nothing you can do except get out of the way and wait for it to calm down."

What began completely in their control ended up serving as a reminder that fires can be incredible unpredictable.

"Fire can change at any time," explains Rogers, "even on a prescribed burn, where we're in very controlled conditions, the unexpected can happen."

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Outbreak of multiple wildfires in central Oklahoma

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Authorities say about 300 acres of land has burned at this time.
Multiple fire crews in central Oklahoma are responding to wildfires, Thursday afternoon.

One fire is was burning near State Highway 105 and Indian Meridian Rd. in Logan County, Thursday afternoon. This fire was contained as of 5 p.m. Two mobile homes were destroyed.

The second was burning about seven miles to the southwest of the town of Mulhall, Okla., or to the northeast of the town of Crescent.

Authorities say about 300 acres of land has burned at this time. The second fire is the larger of the two and is headed in a northeast direction. One home is in the path of the blaze.

At around 5:30 p.m. multiple fire crews were called to assist in extinguishing at least five wildfires that sprung up along the westbound side of the Turner Turnpike, in the area of mile marker 142, near NE 150th St. and Hiwassee Rd. in Oklahoma County.

Bizarro Earth

Raging wildfire in Himalayas torches hundreds of acres in Nepal

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Authorities in Khotang are yet to tame a wildfire that has been raging in Kalika Bhagawati Community Forest in Dumre, Dharapani, for the past three days, much to the chagrin of people living near the forest.

According to locals, the wildfire had begun from Dumre Dharapani-5 and 7-based jungle on Monday afternoon. It had spread to wards 6, 8 and 9 of the forest area by Wednesday.

The community forest is spread over 409 hectares and according to inspector Ramesh Dev of Khotang district police office.

Virtually the entire forest has been engulfed by the fire, putting nearby settlements like Magargaun of Dumre Dharapani and others at risk.

Though the locals and the police are attempting to stop the fire from spreading, their attempts have failed so far, said a local.

"Locals and a team led by Dumre Dharapani's Assistant Sub-inspector Dhanlal Shrestha have been trying to control the fire for the past three days but to no avail," said local Ganesh Ghimire.

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Winter wildfire weirdness continues: Firefighters tackle 100-acre grass fire near Shawnee, Oklahoma

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© ED BLOCHOWIAKA grass fire burns west of Shawnee , where fire crews say about 100 acres was charred on Tuesday. While many homes and structures were threatened, no damages were reported.
With several homes threatened by nearby flames, firefighters from multiple departments worked together to get a 100-acre grass fire under control Tuesday in the Bethel Acres area.

With several homes threatened by nearby flames, firefighters from multiple departments worked together to get a 100-acre grass fire under control Tuesday in the Bethel Acres area.

Shawnee Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim VanAntwerp said the fire was in the general area of Walker and Clearpond Roads, which is also the same general area where tornadoes touched down and left so much devastation last year.

He said the fire started in the 17300 block of Walker Road and burned north to Clearpond Road.

"About 10 structures were threatened," he said, but there were no reports of any homes being damaged. The fire crossed Clearpond Road, he said, and smoke was intense as the blazed burned through thick cedar trees.