Wildfires

Wildfires - Florida, USA

A wildfire in southwest Florida triggered evacuation orders for about 2,000 homes on Friday, prompting the governor to deploy National Guard troops to help residents fleeing the flames.

The wildfire has charred about 4,800 acres (1,942 hectares) in Collier County and forced residents to evacuate their houses in the Golden Gate Estates area of Naples, Clark Ryals, a senior forester for the Florida Forest Service, said by telephone. The blaze was only 10 percent contained.

Nine homes were destroyed by the fire, Ryals said at a news conference later on Friday evening. One person suffered minor injuries in the fire.

Large wildfires and major flooding as Siberia faces a spring that's both dry and wet

Rising temperatures and strong winds are fuelling an increase in wildfires. Worst-hit regions are TransBaikal, Kemerovo region and Omsk along with the Republic of Buryatia. Space monitoring spotted 23 'hot spots' across 6,800 hectares.

Many of the fires were sparked by the illegal burning of hay, an annual problem. But peat fires in Buryatia are posing a serious threat, says Greenpeace, which claims the authorities are turning a blind eye. Alexey Yaroshenko, head of the forestry department at the campaigning group, said: 'Large wildfires in drained peat bogs are active again in the Kabansky district of Buryatia. The largest wildfire covers, according to preliminary information, about 500 hectares in a peat bog close to Bolshaya Rechka village.

Further west the problem was excess water.

A village in Novosibirsk region was reported to be submerged. Private houses close to the Ob have been hit by rising water levels. Some residents were building makeshift dams to protect their homes.