Wildfires
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Fire

California insurer State Farm canceled policies months before Los Angeles Wildfires

Giulia Carbonaro
Newsweek
Wed, 08 Jan 2025 21:07 UTC
wildfires los angeles 2025
© Official Flickr Account of CAL FIRE / Handout/Anadolu via Getty ImagesThousands of firefighters continued battling the Palisades Fire on Thursday — and others around Los Angeles County in January 2025.
State Farm, one of the biggest insurers in California, canceled hundreds of homeowners' policies last summer in Pacific Palisades — the same area which is now being ravaged by a devastating wildfire.

The move was justified by the company as an attempt to avoid "financial failure" as the frequency and severity of wildfires is growing in the Golden State, especially in at-risk zones. But as the multiple fires currently burning through Southern California threaten to cause devastating losses for residents, many will likely need to rely on their insurers to get back on their feet after the blazes are contained.

"Our number one priority right now is the safety of our customers, agents and employees impacted by the fires and assisting our customers in the midst of this tragedy," a spokesperson for State Farm told Newsweek in response to a request for comment on Wednesday.
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Fire

In maps: Thousands of acres on fire in Los Angeles

Visual Journalism Team
BBC News
Thu, 09 Jan 2025 12:36 UTC
Firefighter

Wildfires are raging in several areas of Los Angeles, with high winds and extremely dry conditions fuelling their progress across thousands of acres of land.

Firefighters are so far unable to contain them, with one fire official telling the BBC on Thursday that they are still rapidly expanding.

The largest fire, in the Pacific Palisades area where many celebrities live, is the most destructive fire in the history of Los Angeles. More than 1,000 buildings have been destroyed.

It's a rapidly changing situation - these maps and pictures chart how the fires have spread, where they are located and what they look like from space.
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Fire

15,000 acres burn as powerful Santa Ana winds fuel explosive Southern California wildfires

Ventura County
New York Post
Thu, 07 Nov 2024 17:12 UTC
wildfire southern california
© ReutersPowerful Santa Ana winds near Los Angeles are fueling some of the most significant wildfire threats in years across Southern California, November 6, 2024.
Fast-moving CA wildfire burning dozens of homes, causing thousands to flee

Powerful Santa Ana winds near Los Angeles are fueling some of the most significant wildfire threats in years across Southern California.

The relentless 50-70 mph wind gusts have created a perfect storm of conditions, leading to rapid fire spread and widespread evacuations.

These conditions led to the explosion of the destructive Mountain Fire in Ventura County on Wednesday. In a matter of hours, it consumed nearly 15,000 acres. Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for parts of Ventura, Camarillo, Moorpark, and Somis, California.
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Fire

7 people killed in wildfires in Portugal


BBC
Wed, 18 Sep 2024 18:53 UTC
Wildfires have affected Portugal
© EPAWildfires have affected Portugal for several days
At least seven people, including three firefighters, have died as wildfires continue to rage across Portugal, according to local news outlets.

Parts of the country have been ablaze since the weekend, with temperatures in some areas topping 30C (86F). The northern and central parts have been worst affected.

The firefighters - two women and a man - died while tackling a blaze in Tábua in Coimbra, central Portugal, the country's civil protection authority said.

More than 5,000 firefighters have been tackling the wildfires that Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said are "raging across the country".

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Fire

Animals flee huge wildfire in Bolivia as national emergency declared

Holly Patrick
Independent (UK)
Sun, 08 Sep 2024 12:34 UTC
mmmmmmm
Animals fled raging forest fires in Bolivia as a national emergency was declared on Saturday, 7 September.

Environment minister Alan Lisperguer said 3.8 million hectares had been affected to date.

According to Inpe, Brazil's space research agency that monitors fires, Bolivia has seen the largest number of wildfires since 2010 with at least 3 million hectares (7.5 million acres) burned in 2024 alone.

It comes amid the peak fire season in South America, which usually spans throughout August and September.

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Arrow Down

Climate Science goes full-bore witchcraft: Your beefsteak makes bridges fall like Tinker-Toys

Jo Nova
joannenova.com.au
Mon, 02 Sep 2024 20:40 UTC
Climate Propaganda
© NYT
The Modern West is regressing to 8th Century occult science

Today the supposed "newspaper of record" for the most powerful nation on Earth is effectively telling people that the steak they eat, the car they drive and the heater they use could cause bridges to collapse "'like Tinkertoys". But you'll have to join the dots yourself, because they never do. No one asks the experts: How many Tofu-burgers does it take to save Brooklyn Bridge? How many bus trips will we need to save the Golden Gate?

The worlds leading journalists never ask the obvious questions. They just leave a trail of breadcrumbs: Man makes CO2, CO2 causes Spooky weather and Spooky weather eats bridges. So good people drive EV's!

Each breadcrumb looks like bread, like it might be real, but no one sees the whole loaf and before you know it, everyone is lost in the woods, installing solar panels to save their bridges.

Two days ago the breadcrumbs said "good people go without air conditioners".

Things are so bad the New York Times tells us that on a 95 degree day in summer, one bridge in Manhattan got stuck open "for hours". (The tragedy). Another time a railway bridge in Iowa got washed away and some pavement buckled in Maine.

The truth is that US bridges are a miracle. There are, seriously, more than 600,000 bridges across the country and yet this was all the catastrophe they could find in the leading paragraph. We're supposed to believe that we're in a bridge crisis, and that "extreme" heat, floods and "snap weather changes" are new, and worse, and we're causing it.
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Fire

Wildfires affecting 30 cities in Brazil's Sao Paulo state, leave 2 dead


Reuters
Sun, 25 Aug 2024 17:33 UTC
A drone view shows a fire in a sugar cane plantation near Dumon city, Brazil, August 24, 2024
© Joel SilvaA drone view shows a fire in a sugar cane plantation near Dumon city, Brazil, August 24, 2024
Brazil's Sao Paulo state said that wildfire outbreaks were affecting or closing in on 30 of its cities on Friday evening, adding two people had died in an industrial plant trying to hold back the flames.

The cities have been affected by dry, hot weather in recent days, the government said in a statement.

The state government also warned that forest fires could spread rapidly from gusts of wind, potentially razing large areas of natural vegetation.

For now, the government has not reported flames directly reaching the city of Sao Paulo, Latin America's largest by population with more than 11 million residents.

Still, local media reported smoke blocking out some parts of state capital's sky.

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Fire

Wildfires burn over 6% of Portugal's Madeira island in 1 week

Şenhan Bolelli
Anadolu Agency
Thu, 22 Aug 2024 17:08 UTC
mmmmmm
A forest fire on the southern coast of Portugal's island of Madeira has scorched more than 5,000 hectares (12,355 acres) of land, or 6.4% of the island's total area, over the past week.

The fire, which began on Aug. 14, remains uncontrolled and is causing significant concern in the southern coastal areas of Camara de Lobos and Ponta do Sol, as well as in the mountainous Pico Ruivo region.

Data from the European Forest Fire Information System indicates that the fire has affected more than 5,000 hectares on the island so far.

The Portuguese National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC) has faced strong criticism from unions and opposition parties for its handling of the situation. In response, the agency has deployed a 60-member special unit to assist in firefighting efforts.

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Volcano

Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico spews clouds of gas and ash on August 12


Associated Press
Tue, 13 Aug 2024 16:23 UTC
mmmmm
The Popocatepetl volcano in central Mexico spewed water vapour, gas, and ash high into the sky on Monday, the country's disaster prevention agency (CENAPRED) reported.

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Fire

Thousands evacuated as wildfires reach Athens

Nikos Papanikolaou, Hafsa Khalil
BBC
Sun, 11 Aug 2024 20:39 UTC
A wildfire threatens homes near Athens on 11 August
© ReutersA wildfire threatens homes near Athens on 11 August
Thousands of residents have been evacuated from their homes as large wildfires reach the suburbs of Athens, with some flames leaping as high as 25m (80ft).

Homes and properties in nearby towns such as Varnavas as well as northeastern parts of the Greek capital are on fire, including a school in Nea Penteli.

With the sun setting, aircraft working to extinguish the flames have been forced to land, making it a ground operation overnight.

Residents are complaining there are not enough fire trucks and firefighters to help, as Greek authorities request international assistance.

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