Wildfire Archives - Disasters News

Jun52025 by Editor DeskNo Comments

Wildfire smoke blankets one-third of U.S., raising health alarms

Breaking News, Climate Actions, Disasters, Environment

June 5, 2025 A dense blanket of wildfire smoke from more than 200 fires burning across Canada has shrouded nearly one-third of the United States, triggering widespread air quality alerts and renewed concerns about public health. The smoke, drifting from blazes in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, has turned skies hazy and pushed toxic pollution levels to hazardous highs in parts of New England, New York, and the Midwest. According to the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center, the smoke has spread from the Dakotas through the Ohio Valley and into the Northeastern states, reaching as far south as Georgia. While much of the smoke remains suspended in the upper atmosphere, areas like New York and Connecticut are experiencing a heavier concentratio...

May262025 by Editor DeskNo Comments

Forests Flip from Climate Heroes to Carbon Villains as Wildfires Rise

Breaking News, Climate Actions, Fact Check

Forests long hailed as nature’s best defense against climate change are fast becoming major climate threats. A new policy brief released by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) warns that wildfires are transforming boreal, Amazonian, and Australian forests into powerful carbon emitters undermining global climate targets and exposing critical flaws in current forest-based carbon offset policies. Titled Beyond Planting Trees Taking Advantage of Satellite Observations to Improve Forest Carbon Management and Wildfire Prevention, the report urges a radical rethink of global carbon sequestration strategies. It reveals how climate change, rising temperatures, and droughts are altering forests so profoundly that planting trees alone may actually ...

May92025 by Editor DeskNo Comments

15,000 Deaths from Wildfire Smoke Linked to Climate Change in U.S. Study Finds

Breaking News, Climate Actions, Environment

A landmark study has found that human-caused climate change led to 15,000 additional deaths from wildfire air pollution in the continental United States over a 15-year period ending in 2020. The research, led by Oregon State University and published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, is the first to quantify how many people have died as a result of climate-driven increases in wildfire-related fine particulate pollution (PM2.5). The study reveals that 2020 alone accounted for over a third of these deaths, during which massive wildfires burned across California, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest. These fires released vast quantities of fine particulate matter—PM2.5—tiny particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, causing and worsenin...

May62025 by Editor DeskNo Comments

Canada Faces a Dual Climate Crisis: Wildfire Smoke and Extreme Heat Threaten Public Health

Breaking News, Climate Actions, Environment

As climate change intensifies, Canadians are increasingly being forced to cope with the combined threat of extreme heat and wildfire smoke two environmental hazards that not only overlap during the hottest months of the year, but also amplify each other’s impacts on health. From the devastating 2023 wildfire season to the deadly 2021 heat dome, recent events have shown that these climate risks are no longer isolated. Now, they’re occurring together more frequently, more intensely, and with serious health consequences. More Than Just Smoke or Heat: The Rising Danger of Combined Exposure While there’s robust scientific evidence linking wildfire smoke to hospitalizations for lung and heart conditions and heat waves to deadly strokes and cardiovascular stress most research has looked...

May22025 by Editor DeskNo Comments

Korea Deadliest Wildfires: Climate Change, Old Forests, and a Deadly March Inferno

Breaking News, Climate Actions, Environment

In March 2025, southeastern South Korea faced its most destructive wildfire disaster in recorded history. More than 48,000 hectares were consumed by flames, 32 lives were lost, and nearly 37,000 people displaced driven by record-breaking weather conditions linked to human-induced climate change. Over a dozen wildfires erupted on March 22nd and 23rd, 2025, and rapidly spread due to scorching temperatures, dry conditions, and fierce winds. By the time the flames were contained, the fires had incinerated more than 48,000 hectares over 20,000 more than South Korea’s second-largest wildfire event in April 2022. Uiseong County suffered the worst, recording 26 of the 32 deaths, with Sancheong reporting four more. In total, 45 people were injured and over 5,000 buildings including homes, far...

Apr302025 by Editor DeskNo Comments

Climate crisis shortens window for global wildfire response as fire seasons start to overlap

Breaking News, Climate Actions

Scientists warn that longer fire seasons in Australia and North America are overlapping due to climate change, challenging international emergency cooperation. Fire risk rising with the climate As global temperatures rise, wildfires are becoming more frequent, intense, and unpredictable. A new international study by scientists from Germany’s Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and Australia reveals that fire weather seasons in eastern Australia and western North America are increasingly overlapping largely due to climate change. This shift threatens the long-standing mutual aid system between fire services in Australia the United States and Canada. The findings were published in the journal Earth’s Future. January 2025 LA wildfires past Australia bushfires show the c...

Apr42025 by Editor DeskNo Comments

L.A Wildfires Leave 700,000 Children Displaced from Schools Experts Urge Urgent Focus on Mental Health

Breaking News, Climate Actions, Fact Check

The devastating wildfires that swept through Los Angeles in January 2025 destroyed more than 15,000 buildings in just a few days. Among them were 11 schools and 30 child care centers. As a result, over 700,000 children had their education and daily routines suddenly disrupted. The fires started on January 7 in Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon, near Altadena. Strong winds pushed the flames through neighborhoods, making it one of California’s five worst wildfires ever. While much of the news focused on property damage and loss of life, the challenges faced by children after the disaster received very little attention. Two experts from the University of Southern California one a disaster epidemiologist, the other a disaster planner say that when a disaster hits your own community, it ...

Mar272025 by Editor DeskNo Comments

South Korea Faces Worst Wildfire Crisis as Blazes Leave 18 Dead, Thousands Displaced

Breaking News, Climate Actions, Disasters

South Korea is battling its deadliest wildfire outbreak, with at least 18 fatalities and 19 injuries reported as flames continue to consume vast areas of the country's southeastern regions. The fires, which erupted on March 21 in Sancheong County, have spread rapidly to Uiseong, Andong, Cheongsong, Yeongyang, and Yeongdeok, forcing over 23,000 people to evacuate. Acting President Han Duck-soo described the situation as “unprecedented”, marking a historic wildfire disaster in a country where such fires are relatively rare. The National Fire Agency has escalated its response to the highest emergency level, deploying thousands of firefighters, 5,000 military personnel, and US military helicopters to combat the blazes. Among the devastation is Gounsa Temple1,300-year-old Buddhist site, w...