Wildfires

Wildfires - South Africa

Authorities say wildfires raging in South Africa's wine region have destroyed part of one of the country's oldest estates, while some slopes of Cape Town's Table Mountain burned. Firefighters worked through the night to try to contain 106 blazes in the area. No one has been killed.

Low rainfall, dry vegetation and strong winds create prime conditions for fires in the region in summer.

Farm manager Don Tooth says around 40 percent of the Vergelegen wine farm that was established by Dutch settlers in the 1700s has been destroyed by fire.

Fires also burned on the slopes of Table Mountain above the exclusive beach enclave of Llandudno.

Wildfires - Argentina

Firefighters in Argentina said Thursday they were bringing under control three wildfires that have devastated nearly a million hectares (2.5 million acres) of the country's famous pampas, or plains.

Driven by strong winds, high summer temperatures and drought, the fires sent huge swathes of farm and pasture land up in smoke in the central provinces of La Pampa and Buenos Aires, two of agricultural powerhouse Argentina's most productive regions.

The wind grew even stronger Thursday, leaving firefighters struggling to extinguish the fires and stop them from spreading to populated areas.

No lives were in danger from the fires. No human deaths or evacuations have been reported. The blazes killed wild animals and livestock and cut off several roads. The biggest fire was about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the village of La Adela, population 4,000.

It was started by a lightning strike on New Year's weekend and is 10 kilometres across, according to firefighters.

Wildfires - India

More than 100 fires have broken out and doused in Chennai since December at sites where trees felled by Cyclone Vardah have been dumped. More than 40 000 tonnes of windfall trees have been dumped throughout 78 parks, open spaces and playgrounds.