Wildfires

Wildfires - Tasmania

A watch and act alert has been issued for the fire burning on Pipeline Road, Mawbanna, in Tasmania's north-west.

The Tasmania Fire Service said this fire may put Meunna, Milabena, Lapoinya, Myalla and surrounds at high risk on Sunday night. The fire will be difficult to control, and there may be embers, smoke and ash falling on surrounding areas.

The communities that may be impacted on by that fire include Rocky Cape, Sisters Beach , Boat Harbour and Muntumana and surrounding areas.

Another 50 fire tankers are being brought in from interstate and 10 command vehicles and 245 firefighters over the next few days.

Two C-17 defence cargo planes will arrive in Hobart this week with infrastructure for a fire fighters base camp to be established at Stanley in the far north-west.

Wildfires - Mississippi, USA

Multiple wildfires are still burning in various parts of South Mississippi this weekend, and weather conditions are only helping to feed the flames.

In east Jackson County, a woods fire has been burning since Thursday in the Forts Lake community. Although the fire began on private property along Grand Bature Road, it quickly spread to the surrounding marshes, threatening several homes and the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

A fire in Hancock County is still burning also, but officials say multiple agencies are working together and it is under control.

Wildfires

Wildfires Are Burning Some of the World’s Oldest Trees

Northwest Tasmania is home to part of the Gondwana forest. It's a stretch of primeval-looking temperate rainforest, much like the one found in the Pacific Northwest's Olympic National Park. Trees more than 1,000 years old tower above ancient ferns, forming a connection to the distant past. It's why the region has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

But that connection is being broken by climate change. Fuelled by extremely dry conditions that stretch back two years, major bushfires have raged across the region, sending a millennia of history up in smoke. As the world gets hotter and drier, it's likely that the connection to the past could be even more tenuous.

More than 89,000 acres have burned since lightning ignited around 100 bushfires early last week. They were sparked in the wake of the driest spring on record for the region. El Niño likely played a role in that record as the climate phenomenon usually dries out Tasmania and the eastern part of Australia.

Because fire is so rare in these temperate rainforests, the trees that live there are ill-adapted to deal with large blazes. So when the current fires lit up, they attacked a forest with few natural defences.

When the fires die down to embers, they'll leave behind a landscape vastly different than the one before it. Trees like the King Billy Pine and fagus — a beech tree and the only winter-deciduous tree in Australia — could be burned out of their range on Tasmania. These trees have spent millions of years adapting to slow climate changes. But the current rate of change is unlikely anything the world has seen in millions of years.

Wildfires

Wildfires - Tasmania

About 150 residents of northwest Tasmania have been relocated by boat after spending much of the day sheltering on a beach from raging bushfires.

A 7,000-hectare blaze that has been burning for days posed a threat to holiday shacks at the small communities of Temma, Arthur River and Nelson Bay, where people were told to evacuate at about 5am on Wednesday.

Many people had nowhere to go but the beach, where they remained until the firefront passed late in the afternoon.

Wildfires

Wildfires - Tasmania

A total fire ban has been declared across Tasmania for the next four days in an effort to help firefighters get on top dozens of uncontrolled blazes.

The ban is for the entire state and will run from midnight Friday until midnight on Tuesday, January 26. It is the first time the Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) has had to impose such a long ban.

There are still 75 fires burning; 54 of those remain uncontained.

Wildfires

Wildfires - Tasmania

A fire alert for Lake Mackenzie in the Great Western Tiers in Tasmania's north has been downgraded as conditions ease for crews battling dozens of blazes across the state.

The fire is burning in a forested area but the Tasmania Fire Service said residents in surrounding towns should remain vigilant and continue to monitor conditions.

Of the 82 bushfires burning across the state, 45 are not contained. Most of them are not directly threatening townships or properties.

A total fire ban has been declared in the northern regions, and authorities expect the number of fires to grow as blazes sparked by lightning strikes last week flare up.

Wildfires

Wildfires - South Africa

A fire in the Elgin area in the Western Cape has swept over more than 3,000 hectares of vegetation. Several structures have also been destroyed. The fire broke out on Saturday and has yet to be brought under control.

Wildfires - Australia

A fast-moving bushfire poses a possible risk to lives and homes in Western Australia’s South West.

A watch and act alert has been issued in the Shire of Boddington in Taree Forest Block as more than 50 firefighters work to contain the out of control blaze. People in an area bounded by Siding Road, Hotham River, Pinjarra-Williams Road, George Road and Pindalup Road have been advised to leave or prepare to actively defend their homes.

The fire, sparked by lightning, was reported at 10.30am on Sunday.

Smoke pall from more than 50 Tasmanian fires

Residents in parts of northern and western Tasmania have been warned of the dangers of smoke from dozens of bushfires.

More than 50 fires, sparked by lightning last week, are burning across the region, with most not threatening communities, the Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) said on Sunday.

People with respiratory ailments should stay indoors with doors and windows closed, the TFS said.

Wildfires

Wildfire - China

Around 1800 firefighters are struggling to control the forest fire in Dali city in Yunnan province of China.

Wildfires - Tasmania

Tasmanian bushfire crews are bracing for worsening conditions as they battle three large wildfires in the south of the Australian state. Evacuations have been ordered.

Wildfires

Wildfires in Australia

More than 170 fires continue to burn across New South Wales, at least 30 of them are uncontained.

A Victorian firefighter has died battling the bushfires in Tasmania.

Wildfires

Wildfires in Australia

Slightly cooler weather has prompted officials to withdraw the alert of 'catastrophic' conditions, but the danger cannot be considered to be past.

Pictures have emerged of a family that clung to a pier in Dunalley, Tasmania to escape the destructive fires.

 

Wildfires

Wildfires in Australia

Firefighters are hoping to bring a blaze in Victoria's southwest under control today, with more than 2700ha already destroyed. The fire has ripped through grassland and national forest between Port Fairy and Nelson, next to the South Australian border.

In Tasmania, authorities have started searching for possible bodies in the burned out remains of buildings, although no confirmed deaths as a result of the bush fires have been reported.

Wildfires

Tasmanian wildfires

The wildfires on the Tasman Peninsula, east of Hobart, has claimed least 80 properties and left thousands of people isolated overnight. Almost 30% of properties in the town of Dunalley were destroyed. A major highway has been re-opened as interstate crews get set to fly in to help the fire-fighting effort.

Wildfires

Bushfire near Richmond in Tasmania.

Victoria, Australia under a bushfire warning as heat wave brings extremely hot conditions.

Wildfires

Bushfires on Tasmania. Homes near Hobart threatened.

Wildfires

A fire destroyed or damaged 76 houses in St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Many of the homes in the resort town are thatch-roofed. The cause of the fire is unknown at this stage but the SA Police Service forensic unit will be investigating.

 

Two out-of-control bushfires threaten the town of Zeehan on Tasmania's west coast.

Two wildfires scorched West Oahu, Hawaii on Saturday afternoon.

Storms and Floods

Flooding in Cape Haitien city on Haiti killed 16 people. Haitian police patrols found a number of bodies in the streets. Four members of the same family were found dead by rescue workers.

 

A tornado touched down in Hobart, Tasmania.

At least 10 people have died and another 20 have gone missing in floods that inundated the Indonesian island of Celebes over the past few days.

Wildlife

Volunteers were working Sunday to save the few survivors among about 100 whales and dolphins stranded on a Tasmanian beach, hoping to help them back out to sea.

More than 80 of the animals were dead when a fisherman found them Saturday on King Island. Two whales and six dolphins were considered to be strong enough to attempt to refloat them.