
Bradwell wood pile fire 'challenging' for crews, manager says
"We're working with the farmer to redirect the fire back into the stack to stop it from spreading."
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BreakingNews.ie
28 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Massive wildfire becomes California's largest blaze of the year
Rising temperatures are posing new challenges for firefighters who have made incremental progress against a massive wildfire in central California which has become the biggest blaze in the state so far this year. More than 870 remote homes and other structures at the northern edge of Los Padres National Forest are threatened by the Gifford Fire, which grew slightly overnight after burning out of control for days. Advertisement The fire has scorched at least 131 square miles of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, with just 9% containment. Smoke from the Gifford Fire fills the sky over Los Padres National Forest (Noah Berger/AP) It surpassed the 126 square mile Madre Fire, which erupted last month in south-eastern San Luis Obispo County, as the state's largest fire of 2025. Crews working in steep, inaccessible terrain will be dealing with temperatures around 35C on Wednesday and above 38C on Thursday, said Captain Scott Safechuck with Santa Barbara County Fire Department. 'We have hot weather, and we have low relative humidity,' he said. 'So we expect extreme fire behaviour.' Advertisement Luckily, winds are expected to remain relatively calm, he added. Wildfire risk will be elevated through the weekend across much of inland California as the heatwave intensifies. The southern part of the state has seen very little rain, drying out vegetation and making it 'ripe to burn', the National Weather Service for Los Angeles warned in a statement. An air tanker drops retardant on the Gifford Fire (Noah Berger/AP) Temperatures around 38C are forecast for the Sacramento Valley. Advertisement More than 2,200 personnel are battling the Gifford Fire, which grew out of at least four smaller fires that erupted on Friday along State Route 166, forcing closures in both directions east of Santa Maria, a city of about 110,000 people. The causes of the fires are under investigation. Flames are racing through a vast, mostly unpopulated region that includes forests, ranches, large canyon properties and agricultural parcels growing wine grapes and strawberries. The weather service warned of health risks from spreading smoke that could affect much of south-west California. Officials reported four injuries, including a firefighter who was treated for dehydration. Over the weekend, a motorist was treated in hospital for burn injuries after getting out of his vehicle and being overrun by flames, and two contract employees assisting firefighters were hurt when their all-terrain vehicle overturned. Advertisement


The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Massive central California wildfire keeps growing and becomes state's largest blaze of the year
Rising temperatures on Wednesday posed new challenges for firefighters who have made incremental progress against a massive wildfire in central California that has injured four people as it has become the biggest blaze in the state so far this year. More than 870 remote homes and other structures at the northern edge of Los Padres National Forest are threatened by the Gifford Fire, which grew only slightly overnight after burning out of control for days. The fire has scorched at least 131 square miles (339 square kilometers) of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, with just 9% containment. It surpassed the 126-square mile (326-square-kilometer) Madre Fire, which erupted last month in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, as the state's largest fire of 2025. Crews working in steep, inaccessible terrain will be dealing with temperatures in the mid-90s (35 Celsius) on Wednesday and above 100 (38 Celsius) on Thursday, said Capt. Scott Safechuck with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. 'We have hot weather, and we have low relative humidity,' Safechuck said Wednesday. 'So we expect extreme fire behavior.' Luckily, winds are expected to remain relatively calm, he said. Wildfire risk will be elevated through the weekend across much of inland California as the heat wave intensifies. The southern part of the state has seen very little rain, drying out vegetation and making it 'ripe to burn,' the National Weather Service for Los Angeles warned in a statement. Triple-digit temperatures (around 38 Celsius) are forecast for the Sacramento Valley. More than 2,200 personnel are battling the Gifford Fire, which grew out of at least four smaller fires that erupted Friday along State Route 166, forcing closures in both directions east of Santa Maria, a city of about 110,000 people. The causes of the fires are under investigation. Flames are racing through a vast, mostly unpopulated region that includes forestland, ranches, large canyon properties and agricultural parcels growing wine grapes and strawberries. The weather service warned of health risks from spreading smoke that could affect much of southwest California. Officials reported four injuries, including a firefighter who was treated for dehydration. Over the weekend, a motorist was hospitalized with burn injuries after getting out of his vehicle and being overrun by flames. And two contract employees assisting firefighters were also hurt when their all-terrain vehicle overturned.


Times
an hour ago
- Times
France wildfires: Woman dies and thousands flee ‘hellish' destruction
F rance's biggest wildfire in nearly 50 years has scorched an area larger than Paris in the southern department of Aude, leaving a woman dead and forcing thousands of residents to flee. About 2,000 firefighters tackled the blaze with the help of water-bombing aircraft, but officials said it was still out of control and spreading fast on Wednesday evening. Jacques Piraux, the mayor of Jonquières, said that 80 per cent of his village was burnt. 'It looks like a lunar landscape. It's hellish,' he said. The village and several campsites were evacuated. OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES François Bayrou, the prime minister, who visited the scene with Bruno Retailleau, the interior minister, said: 'It's a catastrophe of an unprecedented scale. This is a time when climate change is causing events the likes of which we've never seen before.'