Le Capannina beach in Catania, one of the many areas affected by the fires
Firefighters in Italy were battling wildfires for the second day in a row on Saturday, with the blazes reaching the Sicilian port city of Catania.
Late Friday, some 150 people were trapped in two seaside areas in Catania, before eventually being evacuated by sea, where they were picked up by rubber dinghies and transferred to Coast Guard boats.
The fires also forced the temporary closure of the region's airport, as part of a procedure to give precedence to air rescue and firefighting missions.
The following is a press release from the U.S. Forest Service:
Lightning from thunderstorms over the last several days has ignited roughly 29 fires over the western side of the Klamath National Forest. More lightning is forecasted for today, and additional new fires are anticipated due to the volume of lightning that has been received.
All but four of the fires are on the Salmon-Scott River Ranger District and are being managed as a single incident called the River Complex. The largest of these fires is the Cronan Fire, which is located 3.5 miles northeast of Sawyers Bar. It has been reported as 20 acres in size. Yesterday, helicopters and air tankers were used to limit the fire's spread while ground crews work on gaining access. Five of the fires have been contained and two have been called out.
Firefighters battle a wildfire in Dionysos, north east of Athens, on July 27, 2021.
Greek authorities have evacuated several areas north of Athens as a wildfire swept through a hillside forest and threatened homes near the country's capital.
The fire, which started on Tuesday morning, is "out of control," Dionysos mayor Yannis Kalafatelis told Greek radio.
The town located about 30 kilometres northeast of Athens is among those affected, along with neighbouring Stamata and Rodopoli.
74 firefighters were deployed on the ground to try and contain the fire, which sent smoke over Athens.
Five water-dropping planes and five helicopters were being used to fight the blaze.
Multiple fires have broken out in northern Lebanon, devastating pine forests and threatening multiple villages. The blazes have forced some residents to flee their homes, while at least one firefighter died battling the flames.
Hot weather and strong winds have descended upon the country's northern province of Akkar, fueling multiple wildlife fires. On Wednesday, a massive wildfire broke out close to the town of Qoubayat, the largest Christian settlement in the region.
Footage from the scene shows the flames spreading extremely rapidly across wooded mountains, consuming iconic Lebanese pine forests. The blaze quickly approached the town, as well as other villages in the area.
Massive wildfires have ravaged tens of thousands of hectares on the Italian island of Sardinia. Firefighters are struggling to contain the blaze as it rages for a third day straight, with Rome asking the EU for help.
More than 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of forest and land have been devastated on Sardinia as wildfires raged through the Montiferru region in the island's west. The outbreaks also stretched east to the province of Ogliastra.
Videos published on social media showed walls of fire moving along the mountain slopes in Sardinia and closing in on some settlements, as plumes of black smoke blotted out the skies overhead. Firefighting aircraft water-bombed the blaze just meters away from homes, the footage showed.
Thousands of hectares have been devastated by forest fires over the weekend in Spain.
Above all, in the region of Catalonia, where the situation is critical. Dozens of people have had to be evicted due to the advance of the fire.
In the provinces of Barcelona and Tarragona, a fire is progressing uncontrollably leaving in its wake about 1,300 burned hectares, including part of a protected natural area, and crops, emergency services reported.
More than three hundred firefighters were deployed in the area with fifty water trucks and the support of fifteen tankers.
The lower 48 is largely blanketed by hazy, smoke-filled skies as wildfires rage on.
I've been noticing strange sunsets lately in New Mexico where the sun looks like a molten ball of red as it sinks into the west. It's one symptom of wildfire smoke in the sky and a sign of another brutal wildfire season in the US.
The National Weather Service office in Aberdeen, South Dakota, tweeted on Tuesday: "You've probably noticed the persistent hazy skies as of late. Turns out we're not the only ones seeing this -- smoke from wildfires is covering much of the lower 48."
Besides apocalyptic-looking sunsets and orange skies, wildfire smoke can impact air quality far from where a fire is actually located. The wildfires, many of which are burning in the western US, have been fed by severe drought conditions and heat waves. These events have been exacerbated by the climate crisis and the extreme weather it brings with it.
The National Weather Service shared a fire and smoke map from the AirNow air quality monitoring site. What's notable are the wide swaths of gray indicating smoke coverage over the US and Canada, as well as the many marked wildfire locations, denoted by the orange fire icons.
The wildfires in Russia's Yakutia region are caused by climate change, which has led to abnormally hot weather and 'dry thunderstorms.' That's according to Aysen Nikolayev, the head of the vast republic located in eastern Siberia.
Speaking to the local TV Channel Yakutia-24, Nikolayev noted that the region's average temperature in June was 20C - far higher than it should be. His statement comes as many Russian politicians, including President Vladimir Putin, have upped their rhetoric on fighting global warming in recent months.
"Global climate change is happening," the head explained. "This year is the driest and hottest summer that Yakutia has had in the history of meteorological observations since the end of the 19th century. This is the data of the meteorological service, which can't be refuted."
[When conducting political campaigns] one has to be insincere and promise something which you cannot fulfill. So you either have to be a fool who does not understand what you are promising, or deliberately be lying.
- Vladimir Putin
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Comment: Wildfire smoke now covers much of the United States