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Extreme climes: Raging Mendocino wildfire tops last year's Thomas Fire to become largest in California history


RT
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 03:34 UTC
California Mendocino Complex fire

The two fires are known as the Mendocino Complex, which has become the largest in state history
The raging Mendocino Complex fire has officially become the largest wildfire in California's history, authorities have confirmed. Firefighters continue to battle the blaze, which is currently only 30 percent contained.

"We broke the record," state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Scott McLean said. "That's one of those records you don't want to see."

The Ranch and River fires that make up the Mendocino Complex wildfire had grown to 283,800 acres by Monday evening, Cal Fire said in their latest update. Some 3,908 firefighters, 441 fire engines, and 15 aircraft continue to battle the flames.

"Tonight fire crews will try to take advantage of the lower temperatures to increase suppression and hold current containment lines," Cal Fire said.


Comment: Seven of California's 10 largest fires on record have occurred since 2000, including last year's Thomas fire, which was, prior to the Mendocino Complex fire, the largest blaze in the state's recorded history.

See also: California battling 17 large wildfires, already spent one-fourth of annual fire budget in July and Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Planet wide forest and wildfires - where does it go from here?

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Fire

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Planet wide forest and wildfires - where does it go from here?


Adapt 2030
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 20:47 UTC
California Fire Fighters
© Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP
The El Dorado Hotshots battle wildfire near Buckhorn Summit on Highway 299 in Trinity County, Calif., Monday, July 30, 2018. A pair of wildfires that prompted evacuation orders for nearly 20,000 people barreled Monday toward small lake towns in Northern California, and authorities faced questions about how quickly they warned residents about the largest and deadliest blaze burning in the state.
A comprehensive look at the wildfires raging in California and Europe compared to the 300 year averages and cataloged events. Extreme heat compared since 1900 to see where the trend in both takes us through 2025 as the Earth dives deeper into the Grand Solar Minimum.


Sources
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Info

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: California governor Jerry Brown's appalling climate mis-statements


Adapt 2030
Fri, 03 Aug 2018 06:30 UTC
Jerry Brown's climate mis-statements
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
As the chessboard for control of the narrative of why our Earth has seen an uptick in extreme weather continues, we as citizens need to start holding our elected officials responsible for mis-truths they speak and the media outlets that give them a voice. When there are outrageously bogus statements that can be debunked with simple scientific fact check, we need to ask questions why they said such things and demand answers and retractions. This is one such instance, California governor Jerry Brown says "since civilization emerged 10,000 years ago, we haven't had this kind of heat condition, and it's going to continue getting worse and that's the way it is." This is false. I demand answers from the governor why he said such things. You should too.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes ignite 132 more wildfires in British Columbia - Total of 305 across the province

Jen St. Denis
The Toronto Star
Wed, 01 Aug 2018 11:58 UTC
A map released by the BC Wildfire Service on Wednesday shows where lightning struck on July 31, contributing to 132 new wildfires.

A map released by the BC Wildfire Service on Wednesday shows where lightning struck on July 31, contributing to 132 new wildfires.
The BC Wildfire Service says lightning strikes in the province's Interior have sparked more fires, with 132 flaring up on July 31. The service is currently responding to a total of 305 fires.

Emergency BC issued evacuation alerts Wednesday for several rural properties on the south side of Quesnel Lake near Williams Lake. An evacuation alert remains in effect for Cawston and Keremeos in B.C.'s Similkameen region.

Evacuation alerts are issued to give residents time to prepare for a possible evacuation order.

The B.C. government has issued a smoky skies bulletin for the province, and Metro Vancouver Regional District has warned of poor air quality in the eastern part of the region and the Fraser Valley. For Metro Vancouver, air quality is expected to improve as the weather cools down this week.

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Fire

Northern California wildfire now considered 9th most destructive in state's history

Marcio Jose Sanchez and Sudhin Thanawala
Associated Press
Tue, 31 Jul 2018 12:03 UTC
California Fire Fighters
© Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP
The El Dorado Hotshots battle wildfire near Buckhorn Summit on Highway 299 in Trinity County, Calif., Monday, July 30, 2018. A pair of wildfires that prompted evacuation orders for nearly 20,000 people barreled Monday toward small lake towns in Northern California, and authorities faced questions about how quickly they warned residents about the largest and deadliest blaze burning in the state.
A pair of wildfires that prompted evacuation orders for nearly 20,000 people barreled Monday toward small lake towns in Northern California, and authorities faced questions about how quickly they warned residents about the largest and deadliest blaze burning in the state.

Ed Bledsoe told CBS News he did not receive any warning to evacuate his home in the city of Redding before the flames came through last week and killed his wife, Melody, and his great-grandchildren, 5-year-old James Roberts and 4-year-old Emily Roberts.

"If I'd have any kind of warning, I'd have never, ever left my family in that house," Bledsoe said.

Comment: See also:

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Fire

California battling 17 large wildfires, already spent one-fourth of annual fire budget in July

Jeff Daniels
CNBC
Tue, 31 Jul 2018 00:34 UTC
A firefighter battling the wildfire in Redding, California
© Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
A firefighter battling the wildfire in Redding, California, which swept through the historic gold rush town of Shasta on Thursday.
One month into California's fiscal year, the state has already spent about one-fourth of its emergency fund fighting fires across the state. Now with more than a dozen large wildfires raging and firefighting resources stretched thin, crews are on the way from as far as the East Coast.

There are now 12,000 firefighters on the lines battling 17 large wildfires, which have destroyed more than 1,000 structures and continue to threaten an additional 25,000 homes, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. At least eight deaths have been attributed to the fires, which have burned about almost 240,000 acres, or about 375 square miles up and down the state.

"We're very active right now across the state with fires," said Cal Fire Deputy Chief Scott McLean. "Vegetation is so dry, especially with the winds that are coming and have been coming."

Cal Fire said Monday that hot and dry conditions have contributed to the wildfire risk statewide, including low humidity and high winds in some areas of Northern California. The southern portion of the state has baked in triple-digit temperatures in some inland areas in recent weeks.

Adding to the wildfire risk are an estimated 129 million dead trees in California forests due to years of drought and beetle infestation, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

More than 52,000 residents have been evacuated in the large fires, according to Cal Fire.


Comment: Deadly wildfires blaze across California amid fears that 'the worst is yet to come'

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Fire

Greece wildfires called Europe's 'deadliest' in a century as rising death toll hits 91


RT
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 01:30 UTC
The aftermath of a wildfire is seen in Mati, Greece
© Aris Erdogdu / Reuters
The aftermath of a wildfire is seen in Mati, Greece July 24, 2018 in this photo obtained from social media on July 27, 2018.
The blaze that reduced the area to the east of Greece's capital to resemble a post-apocalyptic landscape has killed 91 people, the Greek officials confirmed. The death toll is likely to rise.

According to authorities, most of these people died as a result of the fire, while some drowned in the sea after fleeing the disaster.

The Greek Fire Service said that 25 people are still missing following a horrifying human and environmental disaster that hit the country's coastline close to Athens. The wildfires that devastated the southern European country last week were described as the deadliest in Europe since 1900, which makes them the worst such disaster in more than a century, according the Centre for the Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters in Brussels.

The Greek authorities suspect that arson may have caused the fire and the government has come under criticism over its alleged lack of preparation for the fire season as well as over its inadequate infrastructure management.

More than 2,000 homes were damaged in the fire, Greek officials said on Friday, adding that about a quarter of these would have to be demolished. The popular seaside resort of Mati was one of the places most severely hit by the blaze.


Comment: See also: Situation critical in Greece as residents flee wildfires by jumping into the sea - At least 50 dead - UPDATES

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Fire

"A threat to our livelihood": Record drought grips Germany's breadbasket


Straits Times
Sun, 29 Jul 2018 11:37 UTC
Two men sunbathing at the Rhine River in Duesseldorf, Germany
© EPA-EFE
Two men sunbathing at the Rhine River in Duesseldorf, Germany, on July 26, 2018
Withered sunflowers, scorched wheat fields, stunted cornstalks - the farmlands of northern Germany have borne the brunt of this year's extreme heat and record-low rainfall, triggering an epochal drought.

As the blazing sun beats down, combine harvesters working the normally fertile breadbasket of Saxony-Anhalt in former communist East Germany kick up giant clouds of dust as they roll over the cracked earth.

"It hasn't really rained since April and that's the main growth period for our grains and the other crops - we've never seen anything like it," said Juliane Stein of Agro Boerdegruen, a farming conglomerate formed after German reunification in 1990.

"We've reached the point here in Germany where we're talking about a natural disaster that's a threat to our livelihood."

Comment: We're barely halfway through summer and already it has been on of the driest on record for vast swathes of the northern hemisphere:
wildfires eu graph


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Fire

'Firenado' caught on film as emergency services battle California blaze


RT
Sun, 29 Jul 2018 16:04 UTC
Carr fire shasta county california
© Reuters
The Carr Fire in California
California's raging Carr Fire has now scorched more than 48,000 acres of land, with firefighters filming how strong winds whipped flames into a deadly tornado as they battled to put out the persistent blaze.

California is facing a fire crisis at the moment with extremely dry weather making grassland ripe for the spread of wildfires. In Shasta County, where the Carr Fire is burning, an estimated 38,000 people have already fled their homes, according to ABC7.

Now firefighters servicing the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, where whole wooded areas were filmed burning bright red, have released images of the extremely dangerous conditions the face.
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Fire

Deadly wildfires blaze across California amid fears that 'the worst is yet to come'

Gabrielle Canon
The Guardian
Fri, 27 Jul 2018 20:45 UTC
Carr fire in Redding
© Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
More than 3,000 firefighters have been deployed against the Carr fire in Redding. Hotter, drier summers have prolonged fire season.


At least three dead and thousands evacuated as officials worry potentially devastating fire season has only just begun

At least three people have died and thousands have been evacuated in California as eight active wildfires continue to burn across the state. More than 3,000 firefighters have been deployed to contain the flames, and the destruction is expected to worsen throughout the weekend as high temperatures and dry conditions inhibit efforts.

The state governor, Jerry Brown, has declared a state of emergency in northern California's Shasta county, and in southern California's Riverside county, to help provide local fire crews with the resources they need to battle the blazes. Donald Trump has not yet commented on the fires.

Redding, a city of 92,000 near the Oregon border, is at grave risk from the Carr fire, which has so far killed two people. The fire is only 3% contained and has already scorched more than 44,450 aces. "Really, we're in a life-saving mode right now in Redding," said the Cal Fire battalion chief, Jonathan Cox. "We're not fighting a fire. We're trying to move people out of the path of it because it is now deadly, and it is now moving at speeds and in ways we have not seen before in this area."

The Carr fire erupted on Monday 23 July and is being propelled by "extreme fire behavior and challenging wind conditions", according to CalFire officials. The blaze continues to threaten nearly 5,000 structures and 65 buildings have already been incinerated.


Comment: Seven of California's 10 largest fires on record have occurred since 2000 including last year's Thomas fire, the largest blaze in the state's recorded history.

Meanwhile in Greece the death toll has reached 87 people, with countless more missing, after devastating wildfires decimated seaside communities outside Athens.

See also: Situation critical in Greece as residents flee wildfires by jumping into the sea - At least 50 dead - UPDATES

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