Tag Archives: Wildfire

1,600 firefighters continue to battel blazes in N.E. New Mexico

Revelation 8:7 “The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Strong winds batter New Mexico, complicating wildfire fight
  • The region’s largest city — Las Vegas, New Mexico, home to 13,000 people — was largely safe from danger after firefighters mostly stopped a blaze there from moving east. But the northern and southern flanks of the wildfire proved trickier to contain as wind gusts topped 50 mph (80 kph).
  • More than 1,600 firefighters were out Sunday battling the two major blazes burning northeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Together they covered 275 square miles (some 710 square kilometers), an area more than twice the size of Philadelphia. Firefighters had contained nearly half of the blazes by Sunday night.
  • Still, the threat was far from over with the National Interagency Fire Center saying early Sunday that more than 20,000 structures remained threatened by the fire, which has destroyed about 300 residences over the past two weeks.

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Wildfires in New Mexico Biden declares disaster

Revelation 8:7 “The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Biden declares disaster in New Mexico wildfire zone as thousands affected by evacuations
  • President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration that brings new financial resources to remote stretches of New Mexico devastated by fire since early April.
  • The president’s disaster declaration releases emergency funds to recovery efforts in three counties in northeastern New Mexico where fires still rage, as well as portions of southern New Mexico where wind-driven blazes killed two people and destroyed over 200 homes in mid-April.

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High winds, down powerlines start wildfire in the Smokey Mountains

2 Timothy 3:1 “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Wildfires in Great Smoky Mountains burning 300 acres; trails, campsites remain closed
  • The official cause is down power lines due to high winds and fallen trees, according to a National Park Service news release.
  • The Thomas Divide Complex Fire comprises two wildfires — the 140-acre Stone Pile Fire and the Cooper Creek Fire, which is estimated to be 170 acres. The fire is estimated to be 10% contained with about half of the fire burning inside the park

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National Center for Atmospheric Research [NCAR] wildfire 0% containment, 19,000 evacuated

2 Timothy 3:1 “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Authorities tell 19,000 to evacuate due to Colorado wildfires
  • Fire started and burned protected wildland near the National Center for Atmospheric Research, according to Boulder police.
  • No structures had yet been damaged when the order was issued and no injuries were reported.
  • The wildfire was fueled by wind earlier Saturday and had grown to 122 acres with zero containment, promoting the evacuation order for 19,400, according to Boulder Fire-Rescue spokesperson Marya Washburn.
  • As spring begins, more than half the US is experiencing drought conditions that are expected to worsen as unseasonably warm and dry conditions are expected across the South, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center’s most recent report.

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Big Sur Fire shuts down Highway 1 forces evacuation

Luke 21:25,26 “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Important Takeaways:

  • Wildfire Amid High Winds Prompts Evacuations, Shuts Down Highway 1 Near California’s Big Sur
  • Evacuations were ordered
  • The fire had burned about 2 square miles and was 5% contained
  • The blaze, dubbed the Colorado Fire, broke out despite heavy rainfall in recent months that has eased drought conditions.
  • Fire weather isn’t normally expected this time of year.
  • The fire jumped Highway 1 and the road was shut down in both directions from about 5 miles north of Big Sur to Rio Road in Carmel-By-The-Sea

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2021 was a year of extreme weather that cost the U.S. $145 billion in damages

Luke 21:25,26 “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Important Takeaways:

  • US experienced 20 extreme weather events in 2021 that cost $145 BILLION in damages: Hurricane Ida’s trail of destruction from Louisiana to New York racked up $75B in costs
  • These events cost $145 billion in damages and resulted in 688 deaths
  • The four tropical storms that rocket the nation had the biggest impact, costing Americans $78.5 billion – and $74 billion was just from damages during Hurricane Ida that left a trail of destruction from Louisiana to New York
  • While 2020 set the record for the most billion-dollar disasters, in 2021 ‘the extremes seemed a bit more profound than in 2020,’ Smith said.
  • The report states last year’s weather events one drought event, two flooding events, 11 severe storm events, four tropical cyclone events, one wildfire event and one winter storm event
  • Winter storms left behind the most damage… All of these disasters racked up a $24 billion bill in damages.
  • However, the deadliest events were the western drought and heat wave – combined these killed 229 people.

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Wildfire and high winds in Colorado

2 Timothy 3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

  • ‘Life threatening’ wildfires raze at least 600 homes, a shopping mall and a hotel to the ground in Boulder, Colorado: State of emergency declared after ‘historic’ December blaze sparked 30,000 to evacuate
  • Two grass fires were sparked in Colorado on Thursday morning after strong winds caused power lines to fall and transformers to explode
  • XCel Energy Colorado reported that 22,500 people were without power at of 10:30pm local time in Colorado
  • Roads have been closed as high wind have blown several vehicles over and Denver International Airport temporarily halted flights
  • The unseasonal fires came after smaller fires were reported in the state, at the end of a bone-dry summer and fall.
  • Joe Pelle, sheriff of Boulder County said the damage had been significant, and at 7pm one of the two fires was out but the larger Marshall Fire had burnt more than 1,600 acres.

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Thousands displaced as wildfire threatens California’s Lake Tahoe resort area

By Sharon Bernstein

TRUCKEE, Calif. (Reuters) – Firefighters battled to protect homes on the fringe of tinder-dry forests near Lake Tahoe on Tuesday as a wildfire chased thousands of residents and tourists from the popular resort destination in California’s Sierra Nevada range.

The so-called Caldor fire, burning since mid-August in the mountains east of the state capital, Sacramento, crested a ridgeline and roared downslope toward communities at the southern end of the Tahoe basin on Monday, triggering mass evacuations.

Traffic crammed local roads as South Lake Tahoe, a town of 22,000 residents, rapidly emptied out along with several nearby villages, leaving an area normally thronged by summer vacationers largely empty – except for the smoke.

By Tuesday, the blaze had charred more than 191,000 acres (77,300 hectares) of drought-parched forests, some 14,000 acres (5,665 hectares) more than the day before, while firefighters had managed to carve containment lines around just 16% of its perimeter.

At least 669 homes and other structures were listed as destroyed on Tuesday, up nearly 200 from a day earlier, with 34,000 other buildings considered threatened, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

No deaths have been reported. Three firefighters and two civilians were injured in recent days.

As of Tuesday, nearly 4,000 personnel and a squadron of over two dozen water-dropping helicopters were assigned to the blaze, whose cause remained under investigation.

Only the Dixie fire, which has charred 771,000 acres (312,000 hectares) farther north in the Sierras, has engulfed more territory this year than Caldor.

Both fires are among nearly two dozen raging across California and scores of others elsewhere in the West, during a summer fire season shaping up as one of the most destructive on record. The blazes have been stoked by extremely hot, dry conditions that experts say are symptomatic of climate change.

More than 6,800 wildfires large and small have blackened an estimated 1.7 million acres (689,000 hectares) within California alone this season, stretching available firefighting forces and equipment dangerously thin. Cal Fire and U.S. Forest Service officials have described ferocious fire behavior seen across the region as unprecedented.

The Forest Service has closed all 18 national forests in California to the public through mid-September, an extraordinary measure the agency has taken only once before – amid last year’s catastrophic fire season. The shutdown officially begins at midnight on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Truckee, Calif; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Wildfire near French resort of Saint-Tropez kills two people

MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) -A wildfire burning in the hills behind the French Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez since Monday has killed at least two people, local authorities said on Wednesday.

Some 1,100 firefighters as well as water-bombing aircraft are fighting the blaze that has scorched more than 7,000 hectares of land and forced the evacuation of several thousand people from their homes and campsites.

Firefighters have so far been unable to contain the blaze as a strong ‘mistral’ wind fans the flames across a tinderbox landscape. New fires broke out on several flanks during Wednesday.

Holidaymakers on the Mediterranean coast watched from their sun-loungers as paddleboards as thick plumes of smoke blew across the sky. Police had to shut down one stretch of motorway because of poor visibility.

The blaze broke out in the Plaine de Maures nature reserve, some 50 km from Saint-Tropez. The fire had swept through half of the reserve, causing an irreversible loss to biodiversity, junior government minister Berangere Abba said.

“We have some hope conditions will ease tonight, but there are no guarantees,” local prefect Evence Richard told a news conference.

Two people had been killed and 24 hurt, among them five firemen, he said, adding that it was still too early for those evacuated to return home or to their holiday lodgings.

President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday left his nearby summer retreat to thank the firefighters for their efforts.

Waves of extreme heat have hit much of the Mediterranean region in recent weeks, with wildfires in Spain, Greece and Turkey raising uncomfortable questions over global warming and countries’ preparedness.

(Reporting by Marc Leras in Marseille and Sudip Kar-Gupta and Richard Lough in Paris; Editing by Tom Hogue, Giles Elgood and Philippa Fletcher)

Wildfire breaks out east of Rome, locals evacuated

ROME (Reuters) – Locals were evacuated from small communities around 40 km (25 miles) east of Rome on Friday when a wildfire broke out as the Italian capital faced temperatures of around 37 degrees Celsius (99 Fahrenheit).

Swathes of southern Italy have been plagued by wildfires in recent weeks, with flames ravaging woodland in Calabria, in the toe of the Italian boot, and on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.

Wednesday saw the temperature reach almost 49 Celsius in south-eastern Sicily, reported as the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe.

The heatwave is now moving north and overnight 25 families were evacuated from their homes as fires spread through the nature reserve of Monte Catillo, near the Rome suburb of Tivoli, firefighters said in a tweet.

Around 30 residents of a home for poor children and orphans were also evacuated to escape the flames.

Wildfires also broke out overnight near the town of Otranto, in Italy’s southern heel, firefighters said. A nearby seaside resort was evacuated due to the choking smoke and the coastal road heading south from Otranto was closed to traffic.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday promised financial help for communities hit by the fires, and a plan of action to replant forest areas and make the Italian countryside more resilient to natural disasters.

(Reporting by Gavin Jones; Editing by Angelo Amante and David Holmes)