A wildfire broke out in a Greek seaside town northeast of Athens on Monday, burning through brush and pine trees and causing precautionary evacuations, firefighters said.

The latest fire comes after Greece was shaken by deadly blazes last month fanned by a heatwave that officials blamed on global warming.

Around 70 firefighters and 20 vehicles were battling flames on Monday night in the town of Nea Makri, 38 kilometres (24 miles) northeast of the capital, an official for the firefighters' press service said.

"The fire broke out at 10.35 pm local time (1935 GMT) near homes in Nea Makri, and evacuations have been recommended as a precaution," the official told AFP.

A series of devastating forest fires claimed three lives and ravaged more than 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) across Greece in early August, mainly northwest of the capital, on the island of Evia and in the southern Peloponnese.

It was also a brutal summer fire season for a swathe of southern European countries, including Spain, Italy, Croatia, France and Cyprus, while blazes also claimed lives in Turkey and Algeria.

Scientists have warned that extreme weather and fierce fires will become increasingly common due to man-made global warming, and Greece's prime minister has linked the blazes to climate change.

At a summit in Athens on Friday, nine southern European Union members pledged their "firm commitment" to implementing the Paris 2015 agreement, which aims to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 Celsius (34.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

Also on Friday, the United Nations warned that the world is on the "catastrophic" path to 2.7 degrees Celsius heating because it is failing to slash global emissions.

Over the weekend the temperature rose above 35C in parts of Greece before dropping to 32C on Monday. It is forecasted to fall further this week.

Firefighters race to protect giant sequoias in California fires
Los Angeles (AFP) Sept 21, 2021 - Hundreds of firefighters were battling to protect several groves of giant sequoias in the United States on Monday, warning the enormous ancient trees were at risk from out-of-control blazes.

A number of separate fires were converging on the California woodland that is home to the huge trees, highlighting the terrifying power of wildfires to consume everything in their path.

Incident commanders said the Windy Fire, which has already charred 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares) has burned into the remote Peyrone Sequoia Grove and the Red Hill Grove.

"We don't know that those are destroyed," Windy fire incident spokeswoman Amanda Munsey said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "But the fire has completely surrounded those two groves."

In nearby Long Meadow Grove, the blaze had spread to the vulnerable top of at least one of the trees.

"It was running toward multiple trees and (firefighters) were able to get it out, but it did get into the crown of one of the sequoias."

Wildfires that spread to the tops of trees -- especially very tall trees -- can move quickly through the forest, as the tops of the trees explode, showering embers over a large area below them.

Further north, the KNP Complex fire continued to threaten the renowned Giant Forest, home to General Sherman, the world's biggest tree by volume, and standing at 275 feet (83 meters).

General Sherman, which is estimated by the National Parks Service to be 2,200 years old, was wrapped in fireproof foil blankets last week.

Incident commanders said they believed they could protect the tree from the 24,000-acre blaze, which was sparked by lightning just over a week ago

They point to meticulous forest management over the last few decades, including prescribed burns that deplete available fuels, and slow the progress of fires.

California and other parts of the western United States are laboring under a years-long drought that has left swathes of the region's magnificent forests tinder dry.

Scientists say human activity, including the unchecked burning of fossil fuels, is warming the planet and changing weather patterns, making wildfires hotter, more intense and more destructive.

The giant sequoias are the world's largest trees by volume. Their relatives, the California redwoods, can grow taller -- well over 100 meters -- but are not as wide.

Both kinds of tree are adapted to fires, with thick bark that protects them from heat.

In their lifetimes, which are measured in thousands of years, they typically endure lots of fires, the heat from which helps their cones to open, allowing the seeds to disperse.

But longer, hotter and more aggressive fires can damage them, sometimes irreparably, and California has recently seen multiple severe fire seasons in a row.

One fire last year killed up to 10,000 of the trees.

Rising temperatures and increased dryness due to changing rainfall patterns thanks to climate change create the ideal conditions for forest fires. The World Meteorological Organization said that the five-year period to 2019 was "unprecedented" for fires, especially in Europe and North America.

Canary islanders flee as volcano vents its fury
Los Llanos De Aridane, Spain (AFP) Sept 20, 2021 - Throwing a handful of belongings into her car alongside goats, chickens and a turtle, Yahaira Garcia fled her home just before the volcano erupted, belching molten lava down the mountainside.

She and her husband, who live near the Bodegon Tamanca winery at the foot of La Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma, decided to leave on Sunday afternoon just before the eruption kicked off.

"We decided to leave even before they gave the evacuation order after a really terrible night of earthquakes... my house shook so much it felt like it was going to collapse," the 34-year-old told AFP by phone.

"We were on our way when we realised the volcano had erupted." He left in his car and she took hers to go and pick up her parents and their animals: four goats, two pigs, 20 chickens, 10 rabbits, four dogs and a turtle.

"I am nervous, worried, but we are safe," Garcia said.

In residential areas flanking the volcano, hundreds of police and Guardia civil officers were charged with evacuations, with the work continuing well into the night, police footage showed.

"This is the police. This is not a drill, please vacate your homes," they shouted through loud speakers, their vehicles flashing blue lights on the drive through dark streets.

Elsewhere, the footage showed officers evacuating goats in pick-up trucks in an area which is above all agricultural.

They also filmed the slow collapse of a building whose walls caved in under a wall of red hot lava.

- '700 metres from our home' -

Although some 5,500 people have been evacuated and "around 100 homes destroyed", there have so far been no reports of injuries.

As the lava beat an unstoppable path down the mountainside, Angie Chaux, who wasn't home when the alarm was raised, rushed back to try and salvage some possessions.

"When we got there, the road was closed and the police gave us three minutes to get our things," said the 27-year-old.

It was 4:30 am and there were people and cars everywhere.

"Right now, we're watching the news and the lava is 700 metres from our home. I'm really worried because I don't know what's going to happen to it."

Miriam Moreno, another local resident, said they had been ready to leave when the order came with emergency backpacks stocked with food and water.

"You can hear a rumble as if planes were flying overhead and see smoke out of the window although at night you could actually see the lava about two kilometres away," she said, admitting they were worried about "toxic gases".

- Anguished wait -

For the evacuees, it is an anguished wait to see what happens with no-one sure when they will be able to go home -- or what they will find when they get there.

"The worst of it is the anxiety about losing your home. My house on the beach is fine for the moment but I don't know when I'll be able to go back," said 70-year-old Montserrat Lorenzo from the coastal village of El Remo.

And experts do not know how long the volcano will remain active nor when the flow of lava, which officials said was "about six metres (20 feet) high", will stop.

"Now they are saying the volcano could continue erupting for three months... we don't know when the volcano will settle down," said Garcia.

Volcanology expert Stavros Meletlidis from Spain's National Geographic Institute said it was too early to say.

"There are volcanoes in the Canary Islands that have erupted for days and others that have continued for several years," he told Spain's public television.

Related Links
Forest and Wild Fires - News, Science and Technology

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Australian fires boosted C02 - but also carbon-capturing algae: studies
Paris (AFP) Sept 15, 2021
Devastating Australian wildfires released twice as much climate-warming C02 than previously thought - but also triggered vast algae blooms thousands of miles away that may have soaked up significant extra carbon, according to studies published Wednesday. Severe summer heat and drought helped spark the fires from late 2019 to early 2020 that killed 33 people and tens of millions of wild animals, while destroying vast swathes of eucalyptus forest. These "Black Summer" fires, which enveloped Sy ... read more