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Articles on Wildfires

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Firefighters and volunteers battle a blaze near Loutraki in southern Greece. Vassilis Psomas/EPA

It’s a savage summer in the Northern Hemisphere – and climate change is slashing the odds of more heatwaves

From Greece, to the UK, to Japan and even Sweden, a slew of places in the Northern Hemisphere are suffering extreme heat. And the chances of extreme heat records tumbling are growing all the time.
Wildland firefighters, like this crew heading into New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, in 2012, are equipped and operate differently from urban firefighters. USFS Gila National Forest

All wildfires are not alike, but the US is fighting them that way

A historian of wildfires explains the difference between urban and rural fire cultures, and what it means for protecting communities in fire-prone rural areas.
Fire burns the hillsides along Highway 129 near Lake Berryessa in Yolo County, California, on July 3, 2018. (Randall Benton/The Sacramento Bee via AP)

How to protect your children from wildfire smoke

And wildfires rage along the West Coast of North America, parents should know the impact on their children’s health, and how to protect them.
Searching for victims after a rain-triggered mudslide that blanketed a village and killed at least 178 people in north China’s Shanxi province, Sept. 13, 2008. AP Photo/Andy Wong

Global toll from landslides is heaviest in developing countries

While the Montecito, California mudslides took 20 lives, landslides kill far more people in developing countries. Tighter construction standards and early warning systems could help reduce their toll.
Mixed grill: burning combinations of invasive and native plants helps us understand how invasive plants make fires hotter and more likely. Sarah Wyse

How invasive weeds can make wildfires hotter and more frequent

Wildfires are expected to increase in a warming world, but there is another way humans are changing the patterns and intensity of fires: by introducing flammable plants to new environments.
Can California update its building codes to minimize fire damage? AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

California fire damage to homes is less ‘random’ than it seems

There are well-understood ways to minimize the risk of fire spreading through housing – if only developers, homeowners and officials took heed.
Flames and smoke shroud State Route 33 as a wildfire burns in Ventura, California, Dec. 5, 2017. Daniel Dreifuss via AP

Exposure to wildfire smoke: 5 questions answered

Intense wildfires in southern California are triggering air quality alerts. Health experts know surprisingly little about how inhaling smoke affects human health, especially over the long term.
British Columbia Wildfire Service firefighters stand near a controlled burn to help prevent the Finlay Creek wildfire from spreading near Peachland, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

How will Canada manage its wildfires in the future?

Record-breaking wildfires made headlines around the world in 2017. Fire intensity will increase in Canada in the future with climate change, but we can invest in tools to improve the outcome.
A fireman tackles one of the wildfires that swept through parts of California in October. Jim Urquhart/Reuters

2017 is set to be among the three hottest years on record

This year is poised to go down as the hottest non-El Niño year ever recorded, with record low polar ice and extreme weather that left many regions battling bushfires and hurricanes.

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