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Globe continues to battle forest fires

Vast amount of forestland burned to ashes in various parts of world due to many enormous fires

09:24 - 10/08/2021 Salı
AA
File photo
File photo

According to US space agency NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), wildfires continue to rage across numerous areas of the world.

Areas of North America and South America, the East African Plateau and the northern Arabian Peninsula, Europe's Mediterranean coast, and Northern and Eastern Europe are all seeing fires.

In Asia, the coasts of India and Russia's Siberia region, China, Malaysia and Indonesia are all suffering from wildfires.


- Italy

Especially the southern and northern parts of the country are seeing numerous forest fires.

In the southern Campomarino province, over 400 people were evacuated from campsites and residential areas.

Pictures and videos from the province show firefighting teams and helicopters battling forest fires.


- Greece

After 10 days of fires in Greece, most are still not under control.

According to the National Observatory of Athens, over 65,000 hectares (160,620 acres) of forestland, including 46,000 on Evia Island, 11,000 in the southeastern Lakonia region, and 8,000 in the Attica administrative region -- which includes Athens -- were consumed by blazes.

Georgios Stamoulos, the deputy mayor of Mantoudi in Evia, said fire had left behind some 1,000 burned houses in his municipality alone.

More than 45,000 hectares of land has been reduced to ashes, or more than 80% of the municipality’s total 55,000 hectares, he said.

Nikos Hardalias, the deputy minister for civil protection and crisis management, said the country is grappling with 55 wildfires in various locations, including the Peloponnese, Attica, and Evia.


-Albania

The Defense Ministry reported that 15 forest fires were extinguished, while efforts are underway to put out another 10.


- Romania

Fires broke out in southern parts of the country, including the capital Bucharest and areas near the Bulgarian border


- Russia

Russia is now fighting some 155 forest fires across the country.

Efforts are still underway to extinguish forest fires that started in July in the northeastern Yakutia region.

As of Aug. 9, battles against fires continue in a vast area of nearly 1.8 million hectares of forestland, said the Russia Federal Forestry Agency.


- US and Canada

In the US, according to Monday data from the Interagency Fire Center, around 920,000 hectares of forest have burned in 107 blazes nationwide.

In the three weeks since it started, the Dixie fire in California has so far burned around 190,000 hectares of forestland.

In Canada, the western provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and the central province of Ontario are being threatened by forest fires.

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, over 2.5 million hectares of forestland had burned in 4,900 fires in these provinces as of the last week of July.

British Columbia stands out as the province with the most forest fires.


* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk

#Globe
#forest
#fires
#forest fires
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