French Firefighters Battle to Control Worst Blaze Since 1949
After starting on Tuesday, the fire in the southwestern department of Aude has burned more than 160 square kilometers (62 square miles), an area bigger than Paris, French authorities said. One person has died and at least 13 people, including 11 firefighters, have been injured.
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Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Europe sizzles: See the impact of the heat wave in photos
A heat wave is sweeping through much of Europe, with temperatures hitting 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 Fahrenheit) in southern France. This extreme heat has raised wildfire risks in Hungary and Bulgaria, and has led to evacuations in northwestern Turkey. The heat wave began on Friday and is expected to continue all week, affecting other countries like the U.K. as well. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Bay Area air quality advisory issued over smoke from Gifford Fire in Central California
An air quality advisory has been issued for the Bay Area, amid concerns about wildfire smoke drifting into the region. The Bay Area Air District said smoke from the massive Gifford Fire in Central California is expected to move over the area Tuesday. Smoky, hazy skies may be visible and the smell of smoke is possible, particularly at higher elevations. Burning in the Las Padres National Forest, the Gifford Fire started on Aug. 1 and has become the largest wildfire in the state so far this year. As of Tuesday morning, the fire has burned 122,065 acres (190.72 square miles), an area larger than the city of San Jose. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the fire is 33% contained. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Air quality officials said wildfire smoke contains fine particulate matter and other harmful pollutants and exposure is unhealthy, even for short periods of time. The elderly, children and individuals with respiratory illnesses are particularly vulnerable. To avoid wildfire smoke, officials urged people to stay indoors until smoke levels subside, if possible. Other tips include setting car vent systems to recirculated air, to use indoor filtration or to go to a location with filtered air, such as a library or mall. Residents can check the EPA Fire and Smoke Map for the latest air quality readings and to see if smoke is affecting your area.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Two killed in European wildfires as heatwave intensifies
Two men died and thousands were forced from their homes on Tuesday as wildfires fuelled by a heatwave scorched southern Europe. Heat alerts were issued in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Balkans, with temperatures expected to soar above 40C. The heatwave is another sign of climate change, which is fuelling longer, more intense and increasingly frequent bouts of extreme heat. "Thanks to climate change, we now live in a significantly warmer world," Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the meteorology department in Britain's University of Reading told AFP, adding that "many still underestimate the danger". An employee of a Spanish equestrian centre who suffered serious burns died in hospital as winds of up to 70 kilometres (43 miles) per hour whipped flames through Tres Cantos, a wealthy suburb north of Madrid, officials said. In Montenegro, a soldier died and another was seriously injured when their water tanker overturned while fighting wildfires in the hills north of the capital, Podgorica. A child died of heatstroke in Italy on Monday. The equestrian centre employee was the first fatality from dozens of wildfires that have hit Spain since a heatwave began last week. Spanish media said he had become trapped by the flames as he tried to save horses. Hundreds of residents of Tres Cantos fled their homes due to the risk from the fast-moving blaze, which was contained on Tuesday morning. The fire damaged several homes and "above all" agricultural facilities, Carlos Novillo, Madrid's regional environment chief, told reporters. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X that rescue services "are working tirelessly to extinguish the fires" and warned: "We are at extreme risk of forest fires. Please be very cautious." - Saved at 'last second' - Elsewhere, about 2,000 people were evacuated from hotels and homes near the popular beaches of Tarifa in the southern region of Andalusia. The wildfire broke out near where a similar blaze forced evacuations earlier this month. "We managed to save the residential area at the very last second," said Antonio Sanz, the Andalusia region's interior minister. In the northwestern region of Castile and Leon, dozens of blazes were reported, including one threatening Las Medulas, a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its ancient Roman gold mines. The head of the regional government of Castile and Leon, Alfonso Fernandez Manueco, vowed "to act quickly and generously" once the fire is over to restore the site "to its full glory as soon as possible". In neighbouring Portugal, firefighters battled three large wildfires, with the most serious near Trancoso in the centre of the country. More than 700 firefighters were deployed there. Church bells rang out on Tuesday morning in Mendo Gordo, a hamlet near Trancoso, to sound the alarm as a thick column of smoke rose in the distance, images broadcast on Portuguese television showed. Smoke and greenhouse gas emissions related to forest fires since the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere are among the highest ever recorded, according to the EU climate monitor Copernicus. - 'Too hot' - Temperature records were broken at four weather stations in southern France on Monday and three-quarters of the country was under heat alerts on Tuesday, with temperatures forecast to top 40C in the Rhone Valley. The Rhone department banned outdoor public events. Temperatures started rising on Friday in France's second heatwave in just a few weeks and could remain high into next week, according to the national weather office Meteo-France. That would make it a 12- to 14-day stretch of extreme heat. "It's already too hot," said Alain Bichot, 34, as he sat at a cafe terrace early on Tuesday morning in Dijon in eastern France. "I would rather just go to the office. At least there is air conditioning there." Eleven Italian cities, including Rome, Milan and Florence, were placed on red alert on Tuesday due to the heat. In Montenegro, fire crews aided by military personnel were fighting a blaze around Podgorica for a second day when the water truck flipped, killing the soldier, the defence ministry said in a statement. Authorities warned residents to stay indoors due to smoke from a forest fire raging in the hills above Podgorica. Hundreds of soldiers and firefighters were also battling wildfires in Albania. More than half (52 percent) of Europe and the Mediterranean basin was hit by drought in July for the fourth consecutive month, according to an AFP analysis of European Drought Observatory (EDO) data. Drought levels in the region are the highest on record for the month of July since data collection began in 2012, exceeding the 2012-2024 average by 21 percent. bur-ds/bc
