EXTREME WEATHER: Wildfire Rages In Southern Australia - At Least 2 People Killed, Others Injured; Many Homes And Vehicles Damaged; EXTRAORDINARY LOSSES Of Livestock And Wildlife!

Two people are confirmed dead as a major bushfire continues to burn in remote rural areas of South Australia.

December 4, 2015 - AUSTRALIA - A clock frozen in time in the local bowls club destroyed by fire in the mid-north town of Wasleys in South Australia.

Firefighters spent yesterday searching burnt-out cars and homes after the blaze raged across a 40km front.

The Premier of South Australia, Jay Weatherill, took to Twitter to offer condolences to the families affected and thanked the hundreds of firefighters deployed in the area.

"We also know that there have been extraordinary losses of livestock and wildlife", the ABC quoted Weatherill as saying.

The South Australian deaths come after a blaze in the Esperence area of WA last week claimed the lives of three tourists and a local farmer.

"We can't be entirely sure we have identified every single person within the fire ground", Mr Weatherill said.

Country Fire Service chief office Greg Nettleton said crews had contained about 60 per cent of the fire perimeter which measured about 210 kilometres.

George Hooker has captured the moment he drove into a raging South Australian bushfire.

He said it was important that people in and around the fire zone didn't become complacent to avoid further deaths or injuries.

Meanwhile in NSW, a total fire ban is in place due to very hot conditions and a watch and act alert is now in place for a fire burning at Turlinjah in the state's south.

An expert on fire management at Melbourne University, Professor Kevin Tolhurst, said Australia was "one of the best prepared nations in the world for fires - but that is still pretty poor".

"There's been complete destruction of some of these vehicles".

"Until we get really substantial rainfall across the state, we're in a risky fire situation for the summer", he said.

"I cannot believe it, I still cannot fathom that she is gone", she said.

It was heading our way but it didn't get there.

Janet Hughes, 56, from Hamley Bridge also died as the fire swept across the lower northern region of the state, north of Adelaide, while 19 people have been injured.

That blaze, sparked by lightning around Esperance, 750km southeast of Perth, was finally brought under control late on Wednesday after tearing through nearly 130,000ha of bush land and farmland.

Another 42 homes have been damaged while crop and stock losses are expected to be significant. - The Oceanside Post.

 

EXTREME WEATHER: Arizona Wildfire Covers 21 SQUARE MILES - 25 Percent Contained!

May 26, 2014 -  ARIZONA, UNITED STATES - Officials said Sunday that they were slowly making progress in controlling a wildfire burning in a northern Arizona canyon that typically would draw many visitors over the Memorial Day weekend.

May 23, 2014: A Heavy Type-1 Skycrane Helictoper flies over the Slide Fire, above Route 89A, before dumping a 2,000
gallon load of water as it burns up Oak Creek Canyon near Flagstaff, Ariz. The fire has burned
approximately 7,500 acres and is five percent contained. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The fire covered 21 square miles and is 25 percent contained, up from 5 percent the day before.

"It will still be a lot of work to be done before those (containment) numbers will increase significantly," fire spokesman Rico Smith said.

The Slide Fire has grown in the last two days as crews set fires to rob the blaze of its natural forest fuels.

The human-caused fire has been burning since Tuesday around Oak Creek Canyon, a scenic recreation area along the highway between Sedona and Flagstaff that would normally be filed with tourists as Memorial Day approaches. Slide Rock State Park, one of the most-visited tourist spots in Arizona, has been closed.

The goals for fire managers are to protect the 300 structures threatened in Oak Creek Canyon, keep the fire from pushing into the communities of Forest Highlands and Kachina Village to the east, and minimize the potential for flooding.

Smith said that fire officials expect to lift a pre-evacuation warning at noon Monday for the 3,200 residents of those two communities. Mandatory evacuations will likely remain in place in Oak Creek Canyon from Slide Rock State Park to Sterling Springs Hatchery.

No homes have been destroyed.

Smith said firefighters were focused Sunday on strengthening containment lines and clearing debris on the western end. Crews planned to continue burnout operations, which mostly have been completed on the key northern flank.

Aerial drops of water and devices that ignite prescribed fires in areas officials intentionally want to burn also resumed Sunday, Smith said.

Progress on the fire will be contingent on the weather. Officials said rain and cloud cover Saturday night into Sunday morning lowered the blaze's intensity, and then burnout operations were able to continue as the humidity dropped later in the day.

An Arizona Department of Environmental Quality report said breezy winds may push smoke east of the fire Sunday and into Monday. According to the agency, people more sensitive to air quality who are in the village of Oak Creek and surrounding areas may want to reduce heavy outdoor activities.

In Sedona, officials said the surrounding air has been declared "very unhealthy" because of heavy smoke drifting south of the fire. As a result, anyone with asthma, lung disease or heart disease as well as the elderly and children should stay indoors. - FOX News.

EXTREME WEATHER: Monster Wildfire In Alaska Is Bigger Than The Entire City Of Seattle - Covers Nearly 243 SQUARE MILES; 30 Percent Contained; Mass Evacuations Ordered! [PHOTOS]

May 26, 2014 -  ALASKA, UNITED STATES - A wildfire chewing through the forest of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula has expanded in size, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of 1,000 structures, officials said.

Alaska wildfire grows to 243 square miles. Credit: InciWeb

The massive fire south of Anchorage covered nearly 243 square miles and was 30 percent contained, according to a posting Sunday night on the Alaska Interagency Incident Management Team's Facebook page. It was burning in the 1.9 million-acre Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

The number of people told to flee their homes isn't clear, said Michelle Weston, spokeswoman with Management Team, which includes the state Division of Forestry and federal and local officials.

The Funny River Fire is named after a nearby road where all residents were being evacuated. She says Alaska State Troopers were going door to door, evacuating an area that's mostly second homes and is home to many retirees.

She says no injuries were reported, and it's unclear if any buildings were damaged.

She said erratic fire behavior driven by high winds and extremely dry conditions allowed the flames to grow.

Earlier Sunday, the fire spanned 193 square miles and was 20 percent contained.

For size comparison, the Funny River Fire was larger than Seattle (143 square miles) but smaller than Anchorage (1,961 square miles).

Firefighters in Alaska on Monday were battling a massive wildfire that was pushing towards hundreds of homes and
vacation cabins, with residents urged to be ready for a possible mandatory evacuation, state emergency officials said.
Mark Thiessen/AP

Haze from smoke covers a highway in Anchorage. A wildfire south of Alaska’s biggest city is now bigger than Seattle.Mark Thiessen/AP

Smoke from a wildfire rises over Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. Alaska Division of Forestry

The size of the blaze is not unusual for Alaska but the state does not usually see such large fires this early in the season, Weston said.

Crews were attacking the fire by air, with two Alaska Air National Guard helicopters and five other helicopters involved, she said.

Weston said spot fires jumped over the Kenai River close to the community of Sterling. Brenda Ahlberg, spokeswoman for the Kenai Peninsula Borough, said an evacuation advisory was put in place in the area later Sunday for people to prepare to flee.

Ahlberg said a Red Cross shelter was being set up for evacuees.

Dennis Downs, 64, told the Anchorage Daily News (http://bit.ly/1h3R8Fw ) that he and his wife, Kelly, cleared dead brush away from his mother-in-law's home before they had to evacuate.

"There's a good possibility the house will burn," Downs told the newspaper of the home his mother-in-law has lived in for 40 years.

The Funny River Fire is the most active of several large wildfires burning in Alaska. Firefighters have been flown in from Oregon, Montana and Canada to help Alaskan crews.

Gov. Sean Parnell flew over the fire midday Sunday, before the wind-driven expansion. He praised the multiagency effort — including state, local and federal officials.

Wildfires in Alaska's remote areas are not unusual during the summer months, with an average of a million acres burned each fire season, Weston said.

The state is experiencing unusually dry conditions because of unseasonably warm spring temperatures. High wind is also a challenge for crews.

The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1941 as the Kenai National Moose Range and was aimed at moose protection. Wildlife viewing, fishing, camping and hiking attract visitors from around the world. - ABC News.

EXTREME WEATHER: Smoky Brush Fire Rages Wild In New Jersey - Flames Leap 40 FEET HIGH; 250 ACRES Burned; Fire Was Near The Raritan Center Industrial Complex! [VIDEO+PHOTOS]

April 10, 2014 - NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES - A large brush fire with flames 40 feet high raged near Edison, N.J. Thursday, burning 250 acres and sending thick plumes of smoke into the sky.

A brush fire in Edison is burned the swamp grass of the north shores of the Raritan River Thursday.

The fire burned near the Raritan Center industrial complex, which houses hundreds of businesses, including day cares, hotels and a FedEx facility.

Wind gusts over 15 mph pushed the fire from Edison into Woodbridge, according to Edison Fire Chief Brian Latham.

After several hours, the fire was 95 percent contained, Latham said. A helicopter was being used to help douse the flames.


WATCH: Chopper 4 captured video of a large brush fire with flames leaping 25 feet high raging near Edison, N.J.

Officials said the state forest service would stay on site overnight to observe and make sure hot spots didn't flare up.

There was no immediate word about a cause. - NBC New York.

SEVERE WEATHER: National Weather Service Assigns Red Flag Warning For Stutsman County - Extreme Fire Conditions on the North Dakota Rangeland!

Stutsman County was categorized as “extreme” on the North Dakota Rangeland Fire Danger Index today, meaning the county’s burn ban is in full effect.

The National Weather Service also assigned the county a red flag warning, meaning fire conditions were volatile and burning prohibited, with specific exceptions noted in the burn ban. The Stutsman County Commission agreed Tuesday to continue the fire emergency declaration and burn ban proclamation it had passed at an earlier meeting.

That ban takes effect when the Fire Danger Index reaches the “very high” or “extreme” categories, or if a red flag warning is issued. “Since the Commission meeting, there have been no grass fires reported in Stutsman County,” wrote Jerry Bergquist, the county’s emergency manager. The commission will review the continued need for the burn ban at its next meeting April 17. - The Jamestown Sun.

EXTREME WEATHER: Wildfire Destroys The Big Tree Park's "The Senator Tree" - Tree Was Roughly 3,500 Years Old!

Fire officials are still working to determine what sparked a fire that destroyed The Senator Tree in Big Tree Park in Longwood Monday morning.  The state Division of Forestry said Monday afternoon that they are ruling out arson at this time.  Around 5:30 a.m. Seminole County fire crews responded to Big Tree Park and found the top of the 118 foot tall Bald Cypress on fire.

Seminole County fire crews deployed hundreds of feet of hose to get back to the tree and battle the flames. Steve Wright from Seminole County Fire Rescue says around 7:45 .am. fire crews had to pull back as several branches and a 20-foot section of the tree fell off.  "We had to back up a little bit… regroup… and come at it at a different angle," said Wright.  Around 7:55 a.m. FOX 35 crews heard a large crash and could no longer see the tree standing. Wright says the tree collapsed after fire burned out the inside. "It's a old tree… it's dead… it's hollowed out. So it's actually burning like a chimney effect… from the inside… burning up."

Michelle Scherrer lives right next to Big Tree Park. She says her dog's barking woke her up. "About 5:40 my dog woke me up. She was barking cause she heard the fire trucks on the street and I walked outside to see the fire behind my neighbor's house."  Fire officials are working to determine how the fire started. Anyone with information on the fire or suspicious activity around Big Tree Park Monday morning is asked to contact the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.  The park is located on General Hutchinson Parkway between U.S. 17-92 and State Road 427 in Longwood. The Senator was a national landmark and listed with the United States Department of Interior. In 1925, a hurricane destroyed the top of the tree, reducing its original height of 165 feet to 119 feet. - FOX Orlando.

WATCH: Fire destroys "The Senator".

EXTREME WEATHER, The New Normal: Rampaging Bushfire Devours 1600 Hectares of Moreton, Brisbane, Australia - Fanned by Strong Winds and High Temperatures!

Strong winds and high temperatures have fanned the flames of a bushfire on an island off Brisbane. An emergency warning has been extended to people, as the out-of-control bushfire threatens lives and homes.

A bushfire that has been burning for several days on an island off Brisbane has been escalated by strong winds and high temperatures and is threatening several campsites. Campers on northeast Moreton Island are on alert as the blaze burns towards the eastern beach, fanned by strong, variable northerlies. The bushfire has burned 1600 hectares of the popular tourist destination since Thursday, when a vehicle fire sparked the blaze.

Rain subdued the flames over the weekend but Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) acting regional manager Anthony Contarino said Monday's conditions, including hot, gusty winds, had fanned the flames. "QPWS and Queensland Police are notifying campers in northeastern campsites that they may need to relocate," he said in a statement. Mr Contarino said there was no immediate threat to property but that Tangalooma Resort was likely to be affected by smoke. - Yahoo Australia.

As I watch from my summer subtropical perch in Brisbane, Queensland, the somewhat unprecedented rains that deluged parts of Australia during the summer of 2010/11 have been replaced by sizzling heat waves this summer. These raise some pertinent lessons on climate and risk management for New Zealand. Firstly, let's look at some figures and ask the question of what are the climate mechanisms behind the heat waves. Figures from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology figures show that the highest temperatures of 2011 occurred in the third Australian heat wave of the year. This affected the Pilbara region in the north west of Western Australia. Multiple sites broke the previous Western Australian December record of 48.8 degrees Celsius. This month incessant heat has struck the interior with daytime highs soaring to the mid forties. As I pen this there are a few more days of this heat wave left with temperatures averaging between 35C and 40C in central Australia. Places have been recording daily lows of 30C and daily highs of close to 45C. Mean temperatures have been running over 6C above average.

Meteorologists measure the warmth of the air lying above one spot as the 500-1000 hPa thickness. The "thickness" is a measure of how warm or cold a layer of the atmosphere is. High values mean warm air, and low values mean cold air. Summer 500-1000 hPa thickness values lie between 5600 and 5700 metres over Australia. It was values of around 5760 metres that brought New Zealand's highest temperatures, in the low forties, in February 1973. And what has been happening in late December and early January? An incredibly hot blob of air has sat over parts of inland Australia with thickness values of 5850 metres or more. It is a simple law of physics that with more greenhouse gases in a layer of atmosphere the warmer surface temperatures get. Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 now are at 392 parts per million compared with 280ppm in 1750. This means that the lower atmosphere is thicker and retains more warmth, as more CO2 in the atmosphere traps extra heat. The consequence is that global warming leads to an increase in the magnitude and incidence of heat waves.

The first lesson from the sizzling continental heat wave is that global warming has arrived for some time now, and the climate has warmed. Global warming is no longer a theory based on abstract calculations of what the climate is very likely to do in future decades. In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded: "It is very likely that hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation events will continue to become more frequent." The second lesson - the canary in the coal mine - is that because of global warming, the frequency of these extreme weather events will increase. Thus the century old high temperature extremes will be exceeded more often in the future.

The third lesson is that there needs to be better preparation for these events by civil society. Heat waves can have debilitating effects on the elderly who are not so healthy. The 2003 European heat wave caused at least 40,000 deaths and the 2010 western Russian heat wave 55,000 deaths. Heat waves also increase the fire risk when there is little rain, as occurred in the Black Saturday heat wave and bushfires in February 2009 in Victoria. At least New Zealand is the lucky country in this respect, surrounded by oceans which dampen down any high temperatures. However Niwa future climate scenarios show a large increase in days above 30C and 35C in eastern districts with more frequent very hot nor'westers as the 21st century progresses. Global warming is here, now - and not a phenomenon for future generations to deal with. We must embark on a course of emissions reductions targets as soon as possible. If we do not act now the severity of such heat waves and the subsequent damage to life and property will increase. There is no time like the present to invest in our future wellbeing. - Stuff.

EXTREME WEATHER: Farm Sheds Destroyed in Unpredictable Western Australia Wildfire!

Fire crews are still battling an unpredictable and out of control blaze in Western Australia's south-west as authorities warn homes and lives are in danger.

An emergency warning was issued yesterday and remains in place today for people within a 5km radius from the junction of Milyeannup Coast Road and Woodarburrup Rd in the Shire of Nannup. Two farm sheds have been destroyed in the bushfire, and one house and ancillary structures have also received minor damage. The Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA) says flames up to five metres high are burning in tea-tree and paperbark wetlands. Boggy conditions are limiting access to the area. More than 38,800 hectares have been burnt so far. About 85 career and volunteer Bush Fire Service, Department of Environment and Conservation, Shire of Nannup and plantation industry firefighters are working to strengthen containment lines.

They are backburning away from Milyeannup Coast Rd. Residents have been told that if the way is clear, they should leave immediately for a safer place. FESA advises those residents who are well prepared and planning to shelter in their homes to start patrolling with their garden hoses and check for spot fires. If residents are not at home, it is too dangerous to return now, FESA says. A "watch and act" alert also remains in place for west of Lake Quitjup, as well as Black Point and White Point roads. A fire has entered private property and Gingilup Swamps Nature Reserve west of D'Entrecasteaux National Park in the Shire of Nannup. A watch and act alert also remains near Molloy Island and East Augusta in the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River. There is a possible threat to lives and homes in these areas and residents have been warned to leave or get ready to actively defend their properties. - Herald Sun.

EXTREME WEATHER: Wildfire Tears Through Reno - 10,000 Evacuated!

"The whole mountain was on fire."... "I thought it was an earthquake."... "The people are in a state of shock."

Police went house to house in the middle of the night and evacuated about 10,000 people from the edge of the city of Reno, Nevada, as a massive wildfire destroyed homes and injured several people.

A firefighter suffered first and second-degree burns and an elderly man died of a heart attack while trying to flee a sudden wildfire that spread through the Nevada Sierra foothills and roared into Reno on Friday, blanketing upscale houses, horse pastures and mountain roads in smoke plumes, amber flames and flying embers. Authorities said the worst was likely over, but warned a change in the furious northern winds could refuel the sprawling fire that sent thousands of families fleeing their homes in the middle of the night and blanketed the region's mountain roads in flames. At least 25 properties were damaged and destroyed. Fire Chief Mike Hernandez said flames still endanger some areas, but firefighters had largely contained the blaze that sent nearly 10,000 people from their homes in the middle of the night. "We are actually backtracking and going over areas that have burned and extinguishing hot spots," Hernandez said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has declared the fire a major disaster. Roughly 100 Nevada National Guard members were assisting local law enforcement in checking homes and keeping people out of the evacuated area. Health officials urged residents to stay inside and reduce physical activity, warning that the dust and smoke were adding to pollution levels in the affected regions and downwind neighborhoods. Sixteen people were hospitalized, many for smoke inhalation. A 74-year-old man died of a heart attack while trying to leave his home. The cause of the blaze wasn't known, but a downed power line or homeless encampments in the area might be to blame, Hernandez said. He said the region is also a popular area for teenagers who might have started the fire to stay warm. Growing snow flurries and dropping temperatures late Friday afternoon stroked hopes that the remaining showers of ember and ash would die down quickly.

At least 400 firefighters from as far as 260 miles away flocked to Reno early Friday as multiple fires roared from the Sierra Nevada foothills in northwestern Nevada and spread to the valley floor. Police went house-to-house, pounding on doors and urging residents to evacuate in the dark of the night. "The whole mountain was on fire," said Dick Hecht, who said when he escaped from his home with his wife, it was so windy he could barely stand. "It was so smoky, you couldn't hardly see." The couple tried to return to their home before morning, but they were turned back by high winds and erupting flames. As they made their way back down the mountain roads, flames burned less than 40 yards from their vehicle. Gusts of up to 60 mph grounded firefighter helicopters and made it difficult for firefighters to approach Caughlin Ranch, the affluent subdivision bordering pine-forested hills where the fire likely began after 12:30 a.m. The strong winds combined with area's dry terrain helped the fire spread from 400 acres to 2,000, or more than 3 square miles. Firefighters said their efforts spared 4,000 homes, but that the disaster would likely cost multi-millions of dollars. The gusts were comparable to the Santa Ana winds that often aggravate and spread wildfires in the hills surrounding Los Angeles, officials said. "The wind is horrific," said Reno spokeswoman Michele Anderson. "We just watched a semi nearly blow over on the freeway." Evacuated families were shaken up by the fire. "I thought it was an earthquake," Darian Thorp told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "We could see it from our window. ... Then I could see it from both sides. It was all around us."

Reno resident Kathy Harrah said she was panicking when an officer knocked on her door in the middle of the night. She ordered her son rip a computer out of a wall and load up household items in their truck as they evacuated. "I was watching the fire all night," Harrah told the Reno-Gazette-Journal. "I didn't know it was going to get this bad." John and Maggie Givlin were among those watching a television at the shelter at Reno High School Friday morning, scanning the screen for details on whether the home they left behind was safe. They already were preparing to flee when a police officer knocked on their door at about 1:30 a.m. "I smelled smoke and got out of bed and the electricity was out," said John Givlin, a retired civil engineer who has lived there about eight years. "I looked out the front window and saw the glow over the hill before us." He and his wife made their way out of their home with a flashlight. Outside, flames billowed in every direction. More than 150 people had filled two shelters set up at area high schools by midmorning. "The people are in a state of shock and are hanging in there," Gov. Brian Sandoval said. More than 4,000 NV Energy customers lost power as poles and electrical wires were scorched and knocked down, said spokeswoman Faye Andersen. Utility workers were not being allowed into the fire area. Reno Mayor Bob Cashell said evacuees could start returning to their homes at noon Saturday. Cashell said a number of local hotel-casinos were offering discounted rooms to displaced residents. "These next 24 hours, with all the power lines down and everything else, it is still a very, very dangerous area," he said. School buses were on standby to help with evacuations. At least 90 schools were closed for the day to clear the roads of school traffic and make way for emergency workers. The U.S. Postal Service suspended delivery to the area for the day and the state high school athletic association moved its football playoffs from Friday night to Monday. - CBS.

WATCH: Wildfire tears through Reno.

 

EARTH CHANGES: Amazon Fire Season Linked to Ocean Temperature!

Sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies can help predict the severity of Amazon fire seasons, a study has suggested.

A team of US scientists found there was a correlation between El Nino patterns in the Pacific and fire activity in the eastern Amazon. Writing in the journal Science, they say they also found a link between Atlantic SST changes and fires in southern areas of South America. They said the data could help produce forecasts of forthcoming fire seasons. "We found that the Oceanic Nino Index (ONI) was correlated with interannual fire activity in the eastern Amazon, whereas the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index was more closely linked with fires in the southern and south-western Amazon," they wrote.

The ONI is a system used to identify El Nino (warm) and La Nina (cool) events in the Pacific Ocean, while the AMO index performs a similiar function in the Atlantic. "Combining these two indices, we developed an empirical model to forecast regional fire severity with lead times of three to five months," they explained. "Our approach may contribute to the development of an early warning system for anticipating the vulnerability of Amazon forests to fires." Previous studies have shown "high-fire" years in South America are generally associated with an extended dry season and low levels of rainfall.

It has also been shown that variations in precipitation levels in the Amazon is regulated by SSTs in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. "The most severe droughts observed in the Amazon over the past three decades have occurred when the tropical eastern Pacific and North Atlantic were anomalously warm," they said. A reliable early warning system would be a key tool for relevant bodies and agencies to focus policies and resources effectively, observed the researchers, drawn from a number of US institutes. "Managing fires to conserve biodiversity and carbon stocks in forest and savannah ecosystems requires advance planning on multiple timescales," they said. These include "design of policy mechanisms that modify long-term development, as well as improved use of short-term meteorological forecasts of fire behaviour during years with high fire season severity." - BBC.

EARTH CHANGES: Dhaka Summit Battles Climate Change Policy!

The Climate Vulnerable Forum has convened in Bangladesh for countries worried about how climate change threatens them to create a unified statement just weeks ahead of UN-sponsored talks on the same subject in Durban, South Africa.

"Under the Dhaka agreement, they will commit to reducing their carbon emissions because for them, it's a matter of survival," said Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque, reporting from northeastern Bangladesh. The 18 countries represented at the forum are rallying for climate justice for more than a collective 500 million people. "Yet, their voices don't carry very much political weight because they are from mostly poor countries," our correspondent said. Stefan Priesner, the UN's country director in Dhaka told the Associated Press news agency that the countries were expected to issue a declaration seeking action by industrialised nations and urgent support to limit increasing loss of human life and other damages.


But the countries convened at the Climate Vulnerable Forum do not know what kind of demands they can work with to create an effective lobby at the Durban conference. "It's extremely discouraging that even public opinion in major countries -- and I think of North America in particular -- does not seem to understand the importance of this issue," Ross Mountain, the General Director of the organisation that organised the Bangladesh forum, told Al Jazeera. The officials have reportedly discussed ways of getting assistance in technology, capacity and finance to adapt and pursue low-carbon growth. Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's prime minister, was scheduled to inaugurate the conference in Dhaka on Monday before UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was also planned to speak. - Al Jazeera.

WATCH: Dhaka Summit Battles Climate Change Policy!

EXTREME WEATHER: 2,600 Acres of Wildfire Ravages The Reunion Island, the Worst Wildfire the Area Has Ever Seen in 20 Years!

"...a true national catastrophe..."

French authorities sent reinforcements Monday to battle a wildfire raging through the national park of Reunion Island, a unique ecosystem designated a World Heritage Site.

A total of 171 firefighters were to arrive on the French overseas territory in the southwestern Indian Ocean, local prefect Michel Lalande said, bringing to 400 the number of French reinforcements sent to help battle the blaze. The fire erupted on October 11 in La Reunion National Park and according to local officials has already affected more than 2,600 hectares (6,400 acres) of land. The park, which covers more than 100,000 hectares or 40 percent of Reunion, was last year granted World Heritage Site status by UN cultural agency UNESCO, which praised its "variety of rugged terrain and impressive escarpments, forested gorges and basins creating a visually striking landscape".

UNESCO raised concerns about the fire in a statement last week, saying it was "the worst the area has seen in 20 years. Key areas of endemic plants seem to be seriously affected as well as other key micro-habitats for biodiversity. Among wildlife, several rare species are under threat," UNESCO said. French environmentalists have accused authorities of reacting too slowly to the fires. The French Green Party on Sunday denounced "the drastically inadequate response" by state and local authorities to the fire, which it called "a true national catastrophe". - AFP.

EARTH CHANGES: Nebraska Wildfire Destroys 20,000 Acres of Land!

Weary Nebraska firefighters battled wind-swept grass fires that devoured more than 20,000 acres of farmland and caused millions of dollars in estimated crop and property damage.

At least one home was destroyed near the central Nebraska town of Stapleton, a farm-and-ranch community about 30 miles north of North Platte. Authorities said one landowner was hospitalized in North Platte for smoke inhalation and flown to a hospital in Lincoln for further treatment. Fire Chief Frank Kramer said more than 50 departments helped fight the blaze, with some traveling from more than two hours away. He said area departments have contained much of the blaze, but firefighters remain concerned it may flare again because of dry conditions and gusting winds.

Kramer said it's too early to know an exact dollar figure, but the fire hit as local farmers were harvesting and storing crops for winter. "That's what we're focusing on now — protecting structures and trying to hold the fire line," Kramer said. "This is going to be a million-plus dollar deal." Gov. Dave Heineman declared a state of emergency for Stapleton and surrounding Logan County to help local responders. State emergency officials said early damage estimates had reached $4 million.

At least 12 pivot irrigation systems were damaged in the fire, and four homes sustained varying levels of damage, said Al Berndt, assistant director of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. Berndt said air operations dropped 14 loads of water on the fire — about 3,000 gallons total — before high winds forced them to stop. Kramer said the fire has scorched between 20,000 and 23,000 acres. Local pilots dumped water on the blaze from crop-duster planes, but had to stop by Wednesday afternoon because of the wind. - MSNBC.

EARTH CHANGES: Minnesota Wildfires Spread "Creepy Haze" Over 100,000 Acres - Evacuations, Troops And Black Hawk Helicopters?!

A Minnesota forest fire has made the Chicago area smoky on Tuesday. The fast-growing blaze that has prompted the activation of National Guard troops and Black Hawk helicopters, was ignited by lightning on August 18, the fire in the Boundary Waters straddling the border with Canada, growing from about 11,000 acres on Monday to more than 100,000 by Tuesday afternoon.

A rapidly expanding wildfire in Minnesota's north woods spread a plume of smoke across the Upper Midwest on Tuesday, with haze smudging the sky as far away as Chicago and Milwaukee, where the Brewers closed their stadium roof before a night game. The haze was heavy enough that some people reported burning eyes and difficulty breathing in the Chicago area, about 600 miles south of the forest fire, the National Weather Service said. The plume came from a fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a lake-dotted region along the Minnesota-Canada border, that grew swiftly this week to cover nearly 160 square miles. No structures have burned and no one has been hurt, officials said. The residents of Isabella, a small town of about 200, were standing ready to evacuate if needed. The fire started Aug. 18 with a lighting strike 20 miles from Ely, but only began spreading quickly this week in windy, dry conditions. The fire raced 16 miles east in a single day from Monday to Tuesday. "Nobody would have guessed it would be doubling and quadrupling in size," said Jean Bergerson, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center. Winds up to 25 mph forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday were likely to spread the fire, dubbed the Pagami Creek fire for its point of origin, further. She predicted it would be days or weeks before the fire was under control. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources agency's air quality monitor showed a spike in particle pollution throughout the day in the southeast part of the state including Milwaukee, and it issued an air quality alert for sensitive groups in the area. The haze forced Miller Park officials to close the stadium's roof before the Milwaukee Brewers took the field for a game against the Colorado Rockies, park officials said.

The smoke also reached Michigan, where forecasters said it rode northwesterly winds from a cool front. Jim Richardson, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in Minnesota, said it wasn't unusual for the plume to spread so far, noting that smoke from Arizona's massive wildfire in May reached Minnesota. Richardson said changing winds Wednesday may shift the plume more directly south of the blaze. The Boundary Waters is a wild region popular with canoe campers for its beauty. Several lakes and entry points into the wilderness were closed, and about 120 campers were evacuated from the fire zone earlier this week, some by Forest Service float planes. About 36 residences on the eastern edge of the fire were evacuated Monday night. In Isabella, residents were told earlier this week to have their medicine, valuables and pets close by so they could leave on short notice, Bergerson said. Tom Person, co-owner of the Stony River Café in Isabella, said he had been there 29 years and this was the closest a forest fire had gotten to town. He said it looked like a huge white thunderhead rising out of the woods about 10 miles from town. "It's quite a sight," Person said. "You can see it and smell it when the winds are right." The café was open Tuesday, but Person said he was prepared to go if the winds changed and sent the fire roaring back toward town. "That's just common sense," Person said. About 200 firefighters were assigned to the fire on Tuesday and more were pouring into the area. Bergerson said the first of a group of about 50 elite firefighters were coming in from the Rocky Mountains and would probably take over on Thursday. Gov. Mark Dayton announced Tuesday that he was sending in four Minnesota National Guard helicopters equipped with huge buckets for water drops to assist the firefighters. - WSBTV.

WATCH: FOX 11's report on the Pigami Creek fire.

MONUMENTAL EARTH CHANGES: The Great Thaw - Arctic Sea Ice Levels Shrinking To A New Record Low, A New Historic Minimum!

Arctic sea ice is at an-all time low and still shrinking, researchers have revealed. The area covered by ice is now the smallest it has been since scientists started studying it almost 40 years ago.

It fell below 4.6 million sq km last week with two weeks of the melt season still to go, compared with the record low of 4.13 million sq km in 2007. By comparison, the minimum ice extent in the early 1970s was about 7 million square km. Georg Heygster, head of the Physical Analysis of Remote Sensing Images unit at the University of Bremen's Institute of Environmental Physics said: 'On September 8, the extent of the Arctic sea ice was 4.240 million square kilometres (1.637 million square miles). This is a new historic minimum.' Ice melts every year during the summer and reaches a minimum extent in mid-September. Most experts now agree that the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free in late summer at some point this century but disagree about exactly when. The ice cap has been dropping by about 11 per cent per decade. Less ice is likely to spur new oil exploration opportunities but possibly also disrupted weather patterns further afield and a faster rise in sea levels. While sea ice itself does not raise sea levels when it melts, a warmer Arctic could speed up melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which is freshwater ice trapped over land and contains enough water to raise world sea levels by seven meters. The ice cap is vital in regulating the Earth's climate, reflecting sunlight and stopping the world becoming too hot. When it melts, deep blue sea water is left exposed which absorbs heat. The last time the Arctic was free of summertime ice was 125,000 years ago, during the height of the last major interglacial period, known as the Eemian. The researchers wrote in their report warning of the impact on wildlife: 'Directly, the livelihood of small animals, algae, fishes and mammals like polar bears and seals is more and more reduced.' Shaye Wolf, climate science director of the U.S. Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said the thaw was a concern. He told CNN: 'This stunning loss of Arctic sea ice is yet another wake-up call that climate change is here now and is having devastating effects around the world.' - Daily Mail.

EARTH CHANGES: Mass Evacuations from Forest Fire in Spain!

A camp fire has resulted in the evacuation of 300 homes and a drug dependency centre in Mijas overnight. The fire started about 8,30pm on Sunday night in the area of the municipality known as Entrerríos. Overnight the area affected has extended with the fire being described as being particularly virulent.

More than 300 people have been evacuated from their homes as a forest fire which started in the Parque de Entrerríos, Mijas Sierra has moved rapidly on a front towards Marbella. It’s thought the fire was started deliberately as there were several flashpoints found in Mijas. First reports of the blaze indicate it started about 8pm on Sunday night. Mijas Town Hall spokesman, Mario Bravo, has said ‘it does not seem to be a natural accident, although it does not have to have been started deliberately, ‘because it could have been someone with a bar-b-que at the worst possible moment’. He contended that it would have been a small incident, had it not been for the 40km/h winds in the area. More than 300 hectares has been affected by the blaze which is now being fought by as many as 300 firemen from 5 Andalucian provinces. The flames have been reported to be very close to several urbanisations, with both La Mairena and La Bugancilla being evacuated. Residents the upper areas of Calahonda have also been told to leave their homes. It’s reported that about four homes have been reached by the flames in Entrerriós and the La Mairena area close to the Calahonda tool booths on the A-7. Latest reports indicate that some residents of Ojén and Marbella are now facing being moved from their homes, while those in the Mijas area are being allowed home. The A-7 motorway had to be closed for a time in Mijas because of the closeness of the flames, although it is now back open. Many people evacuated their horses from the area overnight, and the Mijas Hipódromo has been made available as a refuge. The regional councillor for the environment, José Juan Díaz Trillo, is making his way to Mijas to help coordinate the fight against the flames. - Typically Spanish.

EARTH CHANGES: California Fire Threatens 800 Homes!

A fire caused by a plane crash threatened 800 homes or structures in Tehachapi, California, on Monday, with nearly 5,000 acres ablaze in rugged terrain, according to state and local officials.

The fire started Sunday and was 5% contained by Monday, but there was no estimate of when it would be fully contained, according to a statement from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Kern County Fire Department. Evacuations were recommended in the area threatened by the fire and at least three roads were closed, the statement said. A relief center has been set up at Jacobsen Junior High School in Tehachapi for evacuees. "Firefighters are working in extreme conditions, high heat, low humidity, with the potential for erratic winds," according to the statement. The fire was burning in a mix of grass, brush and trees in steep rugged terrain, officials said. It was moving southeast toward Old West Ranch, Tehachapi City and Oak Creek and local power lines were threatened, according to the statement. Bulldozers were building perimeter lines to try to halt the fire, the statement said. California Gov. Jerry Brown's office said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to provide money to offset the state and local costs of fighting the fire. - CNN.

WATCH: Small plane crash sparks brush fire in California.

EARTH CHANGES: Major Wildfire Destroys 10 Homes in Louisiana!

State and federal firefighters, along with aerial crews, are battling a major wildfire in Natchitoches Parish that has destroyed 10 residences, officials said.

Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain said wildland firefighting crews from the department are battling the blaze near Ashland and Creston. The fire "consumed" 10 residences and several out buildings in the area on Friday, a department news release said. The fire is being fanned by a headwind generated by Tropical Storm Lee. Approximately 400 acres of wildland was burned by 6 p.m. Friday, and no rainfall associated with Lee had fallen in the area. The fire was reported to the Natchitoches LDAF office about 1:45 p.m. Natchitoches Parish is enduring "extreme" drought conditions, according to the United States Drought Monitor.Strain said nine LDAF and three U.S. Forest Service crews are on the scene and establishing firelines. A crew is composed of a bulldozer, an operator and a ground crew member called a "swamper." - The Town Talk.

EARTH CHANGES: Wildfire Blazes in Southern California!

A fast-moving wildfire on Southern California national forest land shut down Interstate 15 at the Cajon Pass Friday afternoon, scuttling Las Vegas travel plans and forcing evacuations for the nearby community of Oak Hills.

Though most lanes were closed for a chunk of the afternoon afternoon, and Caltrans had said the southbound lanes would be closed all night, Caltrans reported Friday evening that all but one lane in each direction would reopen at 7 p.m. By nightfall, 1,100 acres had been burned, and the fire was 20 percent contained. Firefighters expected the fire to burn through Saturday. The blaze was located roughly 5 miles south of the outskirts of Hesperia, and at least one home has burned, though it may have been an abandoned structure. About 1,500 homes have been evacuated with more evacuations expected. Josh Wilkins, a captain with the San Bernardino Fire Department, said more homes were being threatened, "although we do have folks in place to protect those structures so we don't anticipate any more loss." U.S. Forest Service spokesman John Miller said it began around 1 p.m. Friday along the northbound lanes of the major route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, swept across the southbound lanes and into San Bernardino National Forest land. In little more than an hour it grew to 250 acres of the high desert northeast of Los Angeles. Another hour later, it was at 500 acres. Then, some reports had the fire at between 800 and 1,000 acres around 5 p.m. Wilkins told KPCC he expected the official number to hit 1,000 early Friday night. The wildfire threatens homes in the Oak Hills area west of I-15 and east of Baldy Mesa Road. It’s unclear how many houses and ranches are in that area. A Victorville man told TV news station KCAL that million-dollar luxury homes lie west of the freeway where flames raced up the hills. Terri Kasinga of CalTrans told KPCC that drivers should avoid the Cajon Pass for the rest of the evening. The Victorville Daily Press is reporting that the southbound lanes of I-15 around the Cajon Pass are a veritable parking lot. The California Highway Patrol says many side streets are congested as drivers try to exit I-15. Some motorists apparently backed up or drove into oncoming lanes to avoid the smoke. Firefighters are battling flames by hand and water with dropping aircraft including a DC-10 jumbo jet tanker. At least one firefighter suffered smoke inhalation and was airlifted to Loma Linda Medical Center. - SCPR.

EARTH CHANGES: Wildfire Closes Massive Okefenokee Swamp!

All entrances to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on the Georgia–Florida border, are closed through the holiday weekend as firefighters continue to battle a 10-week-old blaze that has burned well over half the 400,000-acre preserve.

Jason Curry, a spokesman for the federal Incident Management Team, said the preserve will be shuttered to the public indefinitely -- at least until authorities, likely with major help from the weather, get it under control. The group is trying to corral what is being called the Honey Prairie Complex Fire. "Mother Nature is in charge, with both the cause of the fire and the resolution to it," he said. Lightning first sparked a fire on April 28 and it has been burning, in some form, ever since -- consuming about 268,000 of the refuge's 402,000 acres. National Weather Service meteorologist Coleen Decker noted that there's no immediate relief in sight. "We are looking forward to dry conditions, with relative humidity near 30 to 35% (and) temperatures slightly above normal at 95 degrees," she said of the upcoming forecast for the region. "We are not expecting significant precipitation until Tuesday." - CNN.