Factbox: Wildfires breaking out across the world

Copernicus Securities SA w upadlosci likwidacyjnej

19/07/2022 14:40

(Adds blazes in Tuscany (Italy), Zaragoza (Spain) and Greece,
updates Portugal and France; changes format)
    July 21 (Reuters) - Extreme fires have swallowed up huge
swathes of land, destroyed homes and threatened livelihoods
across the world in the first half of 2022.
    Below is a list of the bigger blazes - once relatively rare
events that scientists say have become increasingly frequent and
fierce, fuelled by heat waves, droughts and the growing menace
of climate change.

    ASIA
    * In South Korea, a fire started in the coastal county of
Uljin, posing a threat to the Hanul Nuclear Power
Plant. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2V70LC. The fire that started in early March
consumed around 42,008 acres and forced more than 7,000 people
to evacuate, according https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149551/wildfires-char-south-korea
 to NASA's Earth Observatory services.
        
    AFRICA
    * In Morocco, several fires ripped through the provinces of
Larache, Ouezzane, Tetouane and Taza. They burned nearly 5,000
acres, displaced thousands of people and killed one person.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2YX067
    
    EUROPE    
    * In France, wildfires blazed in southwestern Gironde
region, burning roughly 47,700 acres as of July 19. About 34,000
people evacuated.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Z00K8 
    
    * In Greece, a wildfire broke out on July 19 some 27 km (16
miles) north of Athens. It was brought under control a day
later, but more fires raged near the city of Megara, west of
Athens, and on the island of Salamina. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Z10EL
    
    * In Italy, a fire started on July 20 near Carso and spread
across the border to Slovenia. It burned over 5,000 acres as of
July 21.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2Z261T
    On July 19, a fire broke out in Tuscany and destroyed 1,606
acres as of July 20. About 500 people were evacuated and some
liquified gas tanks exploded.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Z10SY urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2Z11RE
    
    * In Portugal, a wildfire ripping across Murca municipality
consumed roughly between 24,711 to 29,653 acres and killed two
people.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2YZ506 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2Z11RE
    Earlier in July, several wildfires broke out in Ourém
municipality and burned over 7,413.1 acres, according to a
report by Copernicus, EU's Emergency Management Service.
    
    * In Spain, as of July 19, more than 30 wildfires were still
ravaging parts of the country. Authorities focused on blazes in
Castile and Leon and Galicia  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Z00K8.
    On July 18 a blaze started in Zaragoza province and burned
about 4,942 acres, according to a report https://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/list-of-components/EMSR597
 by Copernicus.
    Earlier, a fire broke out in Zamora province and scorched at
least 49,421 acres of land and prompted to evacuate 11 villages.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Y5073
    On June 8 firefighters managed to stabilise a wildfire in
Malaga province that ravaged 8,600 acres of woods and bushes.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2XX1X4 
    
    * In Turkey, a wildfire broke out on July 13 in the 
province of Mugla along the Aegean coast. Nearly 1,800 acres
were ravaged and some 3,530 people were evacuated.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2YV0F9
     
    NORTH AMERICA
    * In Canada, a blaze broke out on July 14 in British
Columbia and burned nearly 2,000 acres. Residents of several
First Nation reserves and 24 property owners had to evacuate.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2YW2JS
    
    * In the United-States, a fire started on July 8 in part of
California's Yosemite National Park, home of some of the world's
largest and oldest giant sequoia trees. As of July 13, flames
had consumed 3,772 acres, according to a report https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/8209/69630
 by InciWeb, a U.S. interagency all-risk incident information
management system.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2YS02H
    On April 17, the Pipeline Fire in Arizona burned over 20,000
acres and prompted more than 2,100 homes to evacuate.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Y12U1
    In New Mexico, the largest blaze to date was the merger of
the Hermits Peak Fire and the Calf Canyon Fire in San Miguel and
Santa Fe counties, burning 341,735 acres as of July 15,
according to InciWeb https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8049. The
Hermits Peak Fire started on April 6 and the Calf Canyon Fire
started April 19.
    In California, on Jan. 21, Colorado Fire started, burning as
per Jan. 22 about 1,500 acres.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2U20CF    
    
    SOUTH AMERICA
    * In Argentina, the Corrientes wildfires, in the Corrientes
province, near Paraguay's borders, started in February, and
ravaged about 2,223,948 acres of nature. It displaced or killed
wild animals such as capybaras and alligators.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2UZ1MA
    
    
NOTE: For this list, a fire is ranked "extreme" after burning
1,000 or more acres.

 (Reporting by Dina Kartit; Editing by David Gregorio)
 ((E-mail to dina.kartit@thomsonreuters.com))