Authorities say at least seven people have been killed after a “superfog” of smoke from south Louisiana marsh fires and dense fog caused multiple massive car crashes involving 158 vehicles.
Wildfires across the western United States and Canada have put millions of people under air quality alerts, as thousands of firefighters battle the flames.
Air tankers and smokejumpers responded to the fire, which the division said Thursday is no longer a threat.The tanker dumped retardant to help contain the fire, which had spread south, scorching about five acres of tundra. Much of Southwest and Southcentral Alaska is under a red flag warning because of hot, dry and windy conditions.
Firefighters dealt with about 20 blazes on Sunday alone, as dry conditions and strong winds heighten risks of forest and brush fires getting out of control.
One spark was all it took. The driver of the forest harvester was working a logging site at Renko in Kanta-Häme. The grapple of the machine hit a stone, throwing a spark that set the underbrush ablaze.
The Tustumena Lake fire in Alaska is 25% contained, with efforts including smokejumpers and over 56,000 gallons of water deployed to combat the 35-acre blaze.
Active fires in northeastern Ontario and eastern Manitoba are expected to send smoke across northern Quebec today and Wednesday, Environment Canada said in a special air quality statement posted for each of the region’s 14 communities.
The temperature in Verkhoyansk hit 38 degrees Celsius on Saturday, according to Pogoda i Klimat, a website that compiles Russian meteorological data.
Firefighters extinguished fires on Benbecula and Harris as they warn of extreme risk. SFRS said the fires had broken out in vegetation that had died off since last year and then been dried out by frost and low temperatures.
The blaze in forestry south of Loch Morlich near Aviemore has now been extinguished.
A four-day heatwave across western Europe that killed seven people began to ease slightly on Sunday, as temperature alerts were cut back and wildfires slowly brought under control.
Crews continue to work a 13-hectare blaze about 40 kilometres northwest of Haines Junction. The risk of wildfire is now considered 'extreme' in many parts of the territory.
The wildfire appears historic in both its size and its duration, but no one can say for sure — because Greenland doesn't have longstanding records of fires.
The McDonald Fire has grown to over 39,000 acres west of the Tanana River, with statewide fires consuming 72,000 acres; critical fire danger and smoke advisories are in effect.
It’s not often that Southcentral Alaska residents wake to thunder in the middle of the night. But what forecasters are calling an unusual storm moved from the Talkeetna Mountains into the Matanuska Valley and then Anchorage and south to the Kenai Peninsula from Wednesday night into Thursday morning. At least one lightning-caused structure fire was reported.
“It’s been hot, it’s been dry, and it’s been windy. And those winds gusts of 20 miles per hour, it’s kind of funneled through the Andreafsky River drainage,” said Beth Ipsen. Federal entities sent in more firefighters this week, and some residents are thinking about preparing their go-bags.
An evacuation alert was also issued Friday for residents of the Lower Salcha River, from river mile 3 to 40. The Middle Salcha remains under a SET status, from river
As of Monday evening, no structures had been damaged in the Munson Creek Fire, which was less than a half mile from the popular resort.
Smoke from wildfires in Siberia drifted to Alaska last year as well, according to the National Weather Service, but Alaska already had hazy skies from local wildfires.
The wildfires can burrow into rich organic material, such as the vast peatlands that ring the Arctic, and smolder under the snowpack throughout the frigid winter.
All Topics
All Countries
Any Date
Apply