Tag: Evacuations

1 dead, 185 structures destroyed in eastern Washington wildfire

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MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. — A wind-driven wildfire in eastern Washington state has destroyed at least 185 structures, closed a major highway and left one person dead, authorities said Saturday.

The blaze began shortly after midday Friday on the west side of Medical Lake, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of Spokane, and then expanded, Washington State Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Isabelle Hoygaard said.

It grew to nearly 15 square miles (38 square kilometers) by Saturday morning, with zero containment. That remained the case Saturday evening. Officials didn’t expect to have new size estimates until Sunday morning, she said.

The burned structures were a mix of homes and outbuildings.

Evacuations were ordered for the town as winds blew the flames southward, Hoygaard said. The evacuations were extended Saturday evening southeast to the town of Tyler, she said.

Among those evacuated were the parents of Spokane City Councilman Zack Zappone.

“They were driving into Spokane when they got alerts on their phone that there were … evacuations at their house,” Zappone told The Associated Press in a phone interview Saturday. “They went back to get their dogs. My stepmom said it was a giant cloud of smoke and darkness. Embers were falling from the sky. She was having trouble breathing.”

The fire swept through the neighborhood soon after they left, destroying his parents’ home and his uncle’s home, just two houses away. Zappone said his parents had lived there since 2003 and had just paid it off last year.

“It’s shocking,” Zappone said. “I’m just in disbelief.”

The blaze burned through the south side of the town and then jumped Interstate 90 on Friday night, forcing its closure, Hoygaard said. The major east-west thoroughfare remained closed in both directions Saturday evening.

“The fire is burning on both sides of the highway,” the Washington state Department of Transportation said on its webpage.

There was one confirmed fatality associated with the fire, Hoygaard said. Further details were not immediately released.

Staff, patients and residents at Eastern State Hospital, one of the state’s two psychiatric facilities, and those living at the Lakeland Village Residential Habilitation Center, both in Medical Lake, were sheltering in place Saturday, said Norah West, a spokesman for the Department of Social and Health Services.

Evacuees from the town were given shelter at a high school overnight.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

“My thoughts are with the … residents who have been ordered to evacuate as the Gray Fire grows,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said on X, formally known as Twitter. “I’m also praying for the safety of the first responders working to contain the fire. May you all remain safe and out of harm’s way.”

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August 19, 2023
Canadian firefighters wage epic battle to save communities after mass evacuations

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Firefighters battling wildfires in western Canada received help from reinforcements and milder weather Saturday, after the nation’s worst fire season on record destroyed structures, fouled the air with thick smoke and prompted evacuation orders for tens of thousands of residents.

Flames were being held at bay 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, and weary firefighters had a reprieve around Kelowna in British Columbia. But the firefighters were nowhere close to declaring victory, especially with drier and windier weather forecast for the coming days.

“We’re by no means out of the woods yet,” Mike Westwick, wildfire information officer for Yellowknife, told The Associated Press. “We still have a serious situation. It’s not safe to return.”

Yellowknife has been a virtual ghost town since a majority of the city’s 20,000 residents started to flee following an evacuation order issued Wednesday evening, officials said. Long caravans of cars choked the main highway for days and those who couldn’t take to the road lined up for emergency flights out of the city. The last 39 hospital patients were flown out Friday night on a Canadian Forces plane, officials said.

On Saturday, officials said the only road leading out of Yellowknife was safe, for the time being. About 2,600 people remained, including emergency teams, firefighters, utility workers and police officers, along with some residents who refused to leave.

Charlotte Morritt was among those who left on Thursday, reaching that decision because of the unbearable smoke that she feared would be unhealthy for her 4-month-old son.

Morritt, a journalist with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and her son took an evacuation flight some 1,500 kilometers (950 miles) west to safety in Whitehorse, Yukon, while her partner stayed behind to monitor their property, and help create firebreaks and fight fires.

“We knew it was only a matter of time,” said Morritt, who had been following media updates and satellite images of the approaching wildfires.

Air tankers dropped water and fire retardant to keep the flames from Yellowknife. A 10-kilometer (6-mile) fire line was dug, and firefighters deployed 20 kilometers (12 miles) of hose and a plethora of pumps.

Canada has seen a record number of wildfires this year that have caused choking smoke in parts of the U.S. All told, there have been more than 5,700 fires, which have burned more than 137,000 square kilometers (53,000 square miles) from one end of Canada to the other, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

All of British Columbia was under a state of emergency Saturday. About 35,000 people have been ordered to evacuate wildfire zones across the province and another 30,000 people were under an evacuation alert, meaning they should be prepared to leave, Premier David Eby announced.

Eby told reporters Saturday that the situation was “grim” and warned that the “situation changes very quickly.”

He said he was restricting non-essential travel to fire-affected areas to free up accommodations such as hotels, motels and campgrounds for displaced residents and firefighters.

Ian Stewart and his wife made the “anxiety producing” decision Friday to evacuate Kelowna, B.C., with their 4-year-old border collie and drive 335 kilometers (210 miles) to Clearwater, B.C.

“The smoke was really oppressive and there were big chunks of ash falling everywhere,” he said Saturday. They packed a couple of suitcases, passports, laptop computers and dog food, and drove in bumper-to-bumper traffic to escape.

A change in the weather pattern carried smoke and haze from British Columbia into the Seattle area on Saturday, said Dustin Guy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The Puget Sound region was just recovering from record heat when a wind shift began streaming smoke into the region from Canada and eastern Washington state. The agency warned that air quality could reach unhealthy levels Saturday night through Monday, Guy said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who met Friday with some of the Yellowknife evacuees who traveled south to Edmonton, Alberta, on Saturday shared on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter: “We’ve got your back.”

Trudeau praised firefighters, police, military personnel, the Red Cross and others who responded to the fires and other natural disasters this summer.

“Terrible loss, increased extreme weather events. And all through it, we’ve seen Canadians step up,” he told reporters in Edmonton.

___

Sharp reported from Portland, Maine. Associated Press journalists Andrea Thomas in Chicago and Martha Bellisle in Seattle contributed to this report.

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August 19, 2023
City empties as thousands flee wildfire closing in on capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Firefighters worked to keep open the only route out of the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories as a wildfire moved closer to the city of 20,000 and residents rushed to beat a noon Friday deadline to evacuate.

Airtankers flew missions overnight to keep the highway out of Yellowknife open, and authorities were guiding a long caravan of motorists through fire zones, officials said. Meanwhile, a network of fire guards, sprinklers and water cannons was being established to try to protect the city from the fire, which had moved to within 15 kilometers (9 miles).

Northwest winds combined with minimal rain were complicating efforts to slow the fire, which could reach the city limits by the weekend, emergency officials said. There was a chance of limited rain on Friday, but officials said it likely wouldn’t be enough to stop the fire.

“We’re heading into a critical couple of days,” Shane Thompson, a government minister for the Territories, told a news conference.

Hundreds of kilometers (miles) south of Yellowknife, homes were burning in West Kelowna, British Columbia. Residents had already been ordered to evacuate 2,400 properties, while another 4,800 properties were on evacuation alert after a wildfire grew “exponentially worse” than expected overnight, the fire chief said.

Some first responders became trapped rescuing people who failed to evacuate, said Jason Brolund, chief of the West Kelowna fire department, but there was no known loss of life.

Brolund said residents face another “scary night.”

The BC Wildfire Service said the fire grew six times larger overnight and is stretches over 68 square kilometers (26 square miles).

In Yellowknife, gas stations that still had fuel were open Friday morning, though the city was virtually empty, with one grocery store, a pharmacy and a bar still open, the Canadian Press reported. “It’s kind of like having a pint at the end of the world,” said Kieron Testart, who went door-to-door in the nearby communities of Dettah and NDilo to check on people.

Thousands of people have fled the fire, one of hundreds of wildfires raging in the territories, driving hundreds of kilometers (miles) to safety or waiting in long lines for emergency flights, as the worst fire season on record in Canada showed no signs of easing.

Ten planes left Yellowknife with 1,500 passengers on Thursday, said Jennifer Young, director of corporate affairs for the Northwest Territories’ Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. The city of Calgary said in a statement that another 26 flights are expected to arrive Friday from the Territories, carrying about 2,300 more people.

Federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez said Friday that all commercial airlines have added more flights, and that the government was contracting private aircraft to supplement military flights.

Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty said the fire didn’t advance as much as expected on Thursday, but “it is still coming,” and heavy smoke that is expected to move in increases the urgency of evacuating while it’s still possible.

Alice Liske left Yellowknife by road with her six kids earlier this week because the air quality was so bad. She worried about how so many people would flee the city in such a short time.

“Not only that,” she said, “but when we go back, what will be there for us?”

Canada has seen a record number of wildfires this year — contributing to choking smoke in parts of the U.S. — with more than 5,700 fires burning more than 137,000 square kilometers (53,000 square miles) from one end of Canada to the other, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

As of Friday morning, more than 1,000 wildfires were burning across the country, over half of them out of control.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with his incident response group Thursday. He asked ministers to work to ensure communication services remained available and said there would be no tolerance for price gouging on flights or essential goods.

The evacuation order issued Wednesday night applied to Yellowknife and the neighboring First Nations communities of Ndilo and Dettah. Indigenous communities have been hit hard by the wildfires, which threaten important cultural activities such as hunting, fishing and gathering native plants.

About 6,800 people in eight other communities in the territory have already been forced to evacuate their homes, including the small community of Enterprise, which was largely destroyed. Officials said everyone made it out alive.

A woman whose family evacuated the town of Hay River on Sunday told CBC that their vehicle began to melt as they drove through embers, the front window cracked and the vehicle filled with smoke that made it difficult to see the road ahead.

“I was obviously scared the tire was going to break, our car was going to catch on fire and then it went from just embers to full smoke,” said Lisa Mundy, who was traveling with her husband and their 6-year-old and 18-month-old children. She said they called 911 after they drove into the ditch a couple of times.

She said her son kept saying: “I don’t want to die, mommy.”

___

Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.

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August 18, 2023
Evacuations ordered as Northern California fire roars through forest near site of 2022 deadly blaze

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A wildfire pushed by gusty winds from a thunderstorm is racing through national forest land near California’s border with Oregon, prompting evacuations in the rural area

HAMBURG, Calif. — A wildfire pushed by gusty winds from a thunderstorm raced through national forest land near California’s border with Oregon on Tuesday, prompting evacuations in the rural area.

The blaze in Siskiyou County, dubbed the Head Fire, was one of at least 15 fires — most of them tiny — that erupted in the Klamath National Forest as thunderstorms rolling through the area brought lightning and downdrafts that drove the flames through timber and rural lands.

In the space of a few hours, the blaze had grown to more than 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometers) and spot fires from the main blaze had jumped the Klamath River, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

There weren’t any immediate reports of injuries or homes burned Tuesday night. However, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office issued evacuation orders for several areas, including one south of Hamburg, a riverside community of around 100 people.

State Route 96 also was closed.

The Head Fire was burning near the site of the McKinney Fire, which began on July 29 of last year. That fire started in the Klamath National Forest and exploded in size when a thunderstorm created winds up to 50 mph (80 kph). It reduced much of Klamath River, a scenic community of about 200 people, to ash and killed four people, including two who may have been trying to flee the flames. Their bodies were found inside a charred vehicle in the driveway of a home.

A slew of other lightning-caused fires were reported Tuesday in Northern California, including in Mendocino County, Shasta-Trinity National Forest and the Tahoe area, although most were small and quickly contained, fire officials said.

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August 15, 2023
A fiery explosion in Dominican Republic kills 3 and injures dozens of others

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SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — A powerful explosion rocked a bustling market area in a town near the capital of the Dominican Republic on Monday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 30 others, authorities said.

The explosion occurred at a bakery in the town of San Cristobal, which lies just west of Santo Domingo. Officials said in a statement that the fire then spread to a hardware store located next door and a nearby furniture store. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the explosion.

Charred cars and debris from several collapsed buildings lined the streets as thick black smoke rose from the town’s center and prompted several businesses to evacuate while crowds gathered to film the incident.

The explosion occurred in an area known as “Old Marketplace,” where throngs of people shop daily for goods ranging from fruits to clothes. The victims were a four-month-old baby who died from a head injury and two adults whose bodies were 90% burned, according to a statement from Dr. Mario Lama, director of the country’s National Health Service. Several people were transferred to a hospital in the capital of Santo Domingo, including seven patients who had burns on up to 40% of their bodies, he said.

Pura Casilla, the governor of San Cristobal province, told Noticias SIN that the explosion occurred in a commercial area and greatly affected businesses near the city center.

Firefighters were still battling the blaze early Monday evening as authorities ordered people to clear the area, warning that other buildings could collapse.

Government officials arrived on scene, including legislator Franklin Rodríguez, who told local media he was worried about people’s health and safety given the heavy smoke still streaming from several buildings.

“These buildings are very weak,” he said.

He added that toll roads leading to San Cristobal were suspended to allow a greater number of ambulances into the area, with dozens of people rushing to nearby hospitals and clinics to search for loved ones. Some cried outside the main hospital as others hugged them for comfort.

Eddy Montás, a local representative, told Noticias SIN that he saw a couple of bodies in the area, in addition to the three deaths that authorities reported.

“We are saddened by what happened today,” he said.

San Cristobal, the birthplace of dictator Rafael Trujillo, was the site of another explosion nearly 23 years ago. An arms depot exploded in October 2000, killing at least two people and injured more than two dozen others, forcing authorities to evacuate thousands.

___

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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August 14, 2023
Survivors of Maui’s fires return home to ruins, death toll up to 67. New blaze prompts evacuations

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LAHAINA, Hawaii — Blackened hulks of burned-out cars, the pavement streaked with melted and then rehardened chrome. Block after block of flattened homes and businesses. Incinerated telephone poles and elevator shafts rising from ashy lots where apartment buildings once stood. A truck bed full of glass bottles, warped into surreal shapes by the furious heat.

Anthony Garcia assessed the devastation as he stood under Lahaina’s iconic banyan tree, now charred, and swept twisted branches into neat piles next to another heap filled with dead animals: cats, roosters and other birds killed by the smoke and flames. Somehow it made sense in a world turned upside-down.

“If I don’t do something, I’ll go nuts,” said Garcia, who lost everything he owned. “I’m losing my faith in God.”

Garcia and other residents were faced with widespread destruction as they took stock of their shattered homes and lives Friday, when the toll rose to 67 confirmed dead in the wildfires that tore through parts of Maui this week and were still short of full containment.

A new fire late Friday triggered the evacuation of Kaanapali in West Maui, a community northeast of the area that burned earlier, the Maui Police Department announced on social media. No details of the evacuation were immediately provided.

Attorney General Anne Lopez announced plans to conduct a comprehensive review of decision-making and standing policies impacting the response to the deadly wildfires.

“My Department is committed to understanding the decisions that were made before and during the wildfires and to sharing with the public the results of this review,” Lopez said in a statement.

The wildfires are the state’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, surpassing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people. An even deadlier tsunami in 1946, which killed more than 150 on the Big Island, prompted development of a territory-wide emergency system with sirens that are tested monthly.

Many fire survivors said they didn’t hear any sirens or receive a warning giving them enough time to prepare, realizing they were in danger only when they saw flames or heard explosions.

“There was no warning,” said Lynn Robinson, who lost her home.

Hawaii emergency management records do no indicate warning sirens sounded before people had to run for their lives. Officials sent alerts to mobile phones, televisions and radio stations, but widespread power and cellular outages may have limited their reach.

Gov. Josh Green warned the death toll would likely rise as search and rescue operations continue. Authorities set a curfew from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. Saturday.

“The recovery’s going to be extraordinarily complicated, but we do want people to get back to their homes and just do what they can to assess safely, because it’s pretty dangerous,” Green told Hawaii News Now.

Cadaver-sniffing dogs were deployed to search for the dead, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said.

Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, at least three wildfires erupted on Maui, racing through parched brush covering the island.

The most serious blaze swept into Lahaina on Tuesday and left a grid of gray rubble wedged between the blue ocean and lush green slopes. Associated Press journalists found the devastation included nearly every building on Front Street, the heart of historic Lahaina and the economic hub of Maui.

There was an eerie traffic jam of charred cars that didn’t escape the inferno as surviving roosters meandered through the ashes. Skeletal remains of buildings bowed under roofs that pancaked in the blaze. Palm trees were torched, boats in the harbor were scorched and the stench of burning lingered.

“It hit so quick, it was incredible,” Kyle Scharnhorst said as he surveyed his damaged apartment complex.

Summer and Gilles Gerling sought to salvage keepsakes from the ashes of their home. All they could find was the piggy bank Summer Gerling’s father gave her as a child, their daughter’s jade bracelet and watches they gifted each other for their wedding. Their wedding rings were gone.

They described their fear as the strong wind whipped the smoke and flames closer, but said they were happy to have made it out alive with their two children.

“Safety was the main concern. These are all material things,” Gilles Gerling said.

The wildfire is already projected to be the second-costliest disaster in Hawaii history, behind only Hurricane Iniki in 1992, according to disaster and risk modeling firm Karen Clark & Company. The fire is the deadliest in the U.S. since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise.

The danger on Maui was well known. Maui County’s hazard mitigation plan updated in 2020 identified Lahaina and other West Maui communities as having frequent wildfires and several buildings at risk. The report also noted West Maui had the island’s second-highest rate of households without a vehicle and the highest rate of non-English speakers.

“This may limit the population’s ability to receive, understand and take expedient action during hazard events,” the plan stated.

Maui’s firefighting efforts may have been hampered by limited staff and equipment.

Bobby Lee, president of the Hawaii Firefighters Association, said there are a maximum of 65 county firefighters working at any given time with responsibility for three islands: Maui, Molokai and Lanai.

The department has about 13 fire engines and two ladder trucks, but no off-road vehicles to thoroughly attack brush fires before they reach roads or populated areas, he said.

Maui water officials warned Kula and Lahaina residents not to drink running water, which may be contaminated even after boiling, and to only take short, lukewarm showers in well-ventilated rooms to avoid possible chemical vapor exposure.

Andrew Whelton, a Purdue University engineering professor whose team assisted with the Camp Fire and Colorado’s 2021 Marshall Fire, said showering in water potentially containing hazardous waste levels of benzene is not advisable and a do-not-use order would be appropriate until analysis is complete.

Lahaina resident Lana Vierra, who filled out FEMA assistance forms Friday at a relative’s house, fled Tuesday and was eager to return, despite knowing the home where she raised five children and treasured items like baby pictures and yearbooks were gone.

“To actually stand there on your burnt grounds and get your wheels turning on how to move forward — I think it will give families that peace,” she said.

Riley Curran said he fled his Front Street home after climbing up a neighboring building to get a better look. He doubts county officials could have done more due to the speed of the onrushing flames.

“It’s not that people didn’t try to do anything,” Curran said. “The fire went from 0 to 100.”

Curran had seen horrendous wildfires growing up in California, but “I’ve never seen one eat an entire town in four hours.”

___

Kelleher reported from Honolulu. Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; Andrew Selsky in Bend, Oregon; Bobby Caina Calvan and Beatrice Dupuy in New York; Chris Megerian in Salt Lake City; Audrey McAvoy in Wailuku, Hawaii; Adam Beam in Sacramento, California; and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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August 12, 2023
More evacuations considered in Norway where level in swollen rivers continues to rise

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More evacuations are being considered in southeastern Norway where the level of water in swollen rivers and lakes continues to grow after days of torrential rain

Water overflows the dam at Braskereidfoss, Norway, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Authorities in Norway say a dam has partially burst following days of heavy rain that triggered landslides and flooding in the mountainous southern parts of the country. Communities downstream already had been evacuated. (Cornelius Poppe/NTB Scanpix via AP)

The Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — More evacuations were being considered Friday in southeastern Norway, where the level of water in swollen rivers and lakes continued to grow after days of torrential rain.

Huge amounts of water, littered with broken trees, debris and trash, were thundering down the usually serene rivers. It flooded abandoned houses, left cars coated in mud and swamped camping sites.

One of the most affected places was the town of Hønefossen where the Begna river had gone over its banks and authorities were considering moving more people downstream for fear of landslides. Up to 2,000 people have already been evacuated.

“We constantly try to think a few steps ahead. We are ready to press an even bigger red button,” Magnus Nilholm, a local emergency manager in the Hønefossen region, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

Ivar Berthling of Norway’s Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) told Norwegian news agency NTB that the water levels around Hønefossen, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Oslo, were expected to continue rising and remain high until at least Monday. Up north, near the Strondafjorden lake, the water level was reported to be 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) above normal.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was to visit Hønefossen later Friday while King Harald and Queen Sonja were to visit the headquarters of the NVE.

Authorities did not provide a nationwide count of evacuees. According to a rough estimate, damage could so far amount to 1 billion kroner (nearly $100 million).

Storm Hans on Monday and Tuesday battered northern Europe, leading to transportation distruption, flooding and power cuts across the Nordic and Baltic region. At least three people.

Southeastern Norway was particularly badly affected. A hydroelectric river dam collapsed Wednesday as water forced its way through, and earlier this week a train derailed in neighboring Sweden when a railway embankment was washed away by floods.

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August 11, 2023
It’s very windy and dry in Hawaii. Strong gusts complicate wildfires and prompt evacuations

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HONOLULU — Several Hawaii communities were forced to evacuate from wildfires that destroyed at least two homes as of Tuesday as a dry season mixed with strong wind gusts made for dangerous fire conditions.

The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which was passing to the south of the island chain at a safe distance of 500 miles (805 kilometers), was only partly to blame for gusts above 60 mph (97 kph) that toppled power lines, rattled homes and grounded firefighting helicopters.

“It’s kind of because of Hurricane Dora, but it’s not a direct result,” said Jeff Powell, a meteorologist in Honolulu. “It’s just a peripheral result.”

Hawaii was sandwiched between high pressure to the north and a low pressure system associated with Dora, he said, noting how it was sunny and very dry.

The dryness and the gusts “make a dangerous fire situation so that fires that do exist can spread out of control very rapidly,” Powell said.

Maui and the Big Island were contending with wildfires. One Maui fire in Lahaina was contained, but firefighters were still dealing with another in the Kula area. Two homes were destroyed in a fire that engulfed about 1,100 acres (1.72 square miles), Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said. About 80 people were evacuated from 40 homes, he said.

“We’re trying to protect homes in the community,” Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said of evacuating about 400 homes in four communities in the northern part of the island. As of Tuesday, the roof of one house caught on fire, he said.

Because of the wind gusts, helicopters aren’t able to dump water on the fires from the sky — or gauge more precise fire sizes, Roth said.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who is acting governor while Gov. Josh Green is out of state, signed an emergency proclamation authorizing the activation of the Hawaii National Guard.

Fires in Hawaii are unlike many of those burning in the U.S. West. They tend to break out in large grasslands on the dry sides of the islands and are generally much smaller than mainland fires.

Fires were rare in Hawaii and on other tropical islands before humans arrived, and native ecosystems evolved without them. This means great environmental damage can occur when fires erupt. For example, fires remove vegetation. When a fire is followed by heavy rainfall, the rain can carry loose soil into the ocean, where it can smother coral reefs.

The island of Oahu, where Honolulu is located, was dealing with power outages and traffic problems, said Adam Weintraub, communication director for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.

There have been reported of multiple downed power lines, he said.

“Extreme fire danger will continue until these winds subside and we get a little more humidity here,” Weintraub said.

The weather service had in effect a high wind warning and red flag warnings for dangerous fire weather, Powell said.

These conditions were expected through Tuesday, decreasing throughout the day Wednesday and into Thursday. “It’s going to feel windy for a few days,” Powell said.

___ Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy contributed to this report.

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August 8, 2023
Fort Lauderdale airport temporarily evacuated over security investigation

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A check-in area of a terminal at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was temporarily evacuated because of a security-related law enforcement investigation

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Passengers were forced to evacuate a check-in area at a terminal of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Sunday because of a security-related law enforcement investigation, officials said.

The section of Terminal 1 was closed for about an hour until the all-clear was given for it to be reopened and airport operations returned to normal. Officials didn’t immediately say what prompted the evacuation.

The roadway leading to the upper-level section of the terminal had also been closed because of the investigation, airport officials said on social media. Officials had encouraged passengers traveling through that area to check with their airlines about the status of their flights and to get dropped off at the lower level.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is Florida’s third-busiest airport, behind airports in Orlando and Miami.

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August 6, 2023
Deadly flooding in China worsens as rescues and evacuations intensify

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BEIJING — Heavy rain and high water levels on rivers in northeastern China were threatening cities downstream on Friday, prompting the evacuation of thousands, although the country appears to have averted the worst effects of the typhoon season battering parts of east Asia.

Hebei province, which surrounds the capital Beijing on three sides, issued alerts for several of its cities. The province of Heilongjiang to the north was evacuating entire villages in anticipation of life-threatening deluges.

Rescue work remains underway. At least 20 people have been reported killed in Beijing’s outer suburbs and another 27 were missing following the weekend storms that quickly overwhelmed drainage systems.

Beijing usually has dry summers, but had a stretch of record-breaking heat this year that broke dramatically over the weekend with almost a week of constant rain and drizzle. Power was knocked out in areas, public transport and summer classes were suspended and citizens of the metropolis of more than 20 million people were told to stay home.

The nearby cities of Tianjin and Zhuozhou were also hit hard. Fire services aided by volunteer rescue groups searched apartment buildings and railway tunnels for stranded people, bringing hundreds to safety.

With it’s status as the nation’s capital, the headquarters of the ruling Communist Party and home to cultural treasures such as the ancient Forbidden City, Beijing has provided special protection from flooding through the diversion of waters to neighboring regions. That sparked complaints on social media Friday of flooding in surrounding areas that could allegedly have been avoided if the rainwater had been flushed through the capital’s system of canals and rivers.

Other regions, especially in China’s south, have suffered unusual deadly summer flooding. Other parts of the country are struggling with drought, putting further pressure on food supplies for the nation’s 1.4 billion people already struggling with the disruption in grain shipments resulting from Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Muddy water surging down streets washed away cars in the hilly Mentougou district on Beijing’s western edge.

“A couple of cars parked behind my apartment building disappeared in just one minute,” said resident Liu Shuanbao.

In Zhuozhou, southwest of Beijing, about 125,000 people from high-risk areas were moved to shelters, Xinhua said.

President Xi Jinping issued an order for local governments to go “all out” to rescue those trapped and minimize loss of life and property damage.

The government of Tianjin, a port east of Beijing, said 35,000 people were evacuated from near the swollen Yongding River.

As much as 500 millimeters (almost 20 inches) of rain has fallen in some places since Saturday, according to the Hebei province weather agency. Some areas reported as much as 90 millimeters (3½ inches) of rainfall per hour.

Thirteen rivers exceeded warning levels in the Haihe Basin, which includes Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang, Xinhua said, citing the Ministry of Water Resources.

About 42,000 people were evacuated from areas of Shanxi province to Hebei’s west, it reported, citing emergency officials.

In early July, at least 15 people were killed by floods in the southwestern region of Chongqing, and about 5,590 people in the far northwestern province of Liaoning had to be evacuated. In the central province of Hubei, rainstorms trapped residents in their vehicles and homes.

China’s deadliest and most destructive floods in recent history were in 1998, when 4,150 people died, most of them along the Yangtze River.

In 2021, more than 300 people died in flooding in the central province of Henan. Record rainfall inundated the provincial capital of Zhengzhou on July 20 that year, turning streets into rushing rivers and flooding at least part of a subway line, trapping passengers in the cars.

Meanwhile, in the eastern Shandong province, authorities also warned of flooding risks as water levels on the Zhangwei River continued to rise.

China was largely spared by Typhoon Khanun, which on Thursday lashed Japan, damaging homes and knocking out power on Okinawa and other islands. China’s National Meteorological Center had initially expected the typhoon to make landfall in the southeastern Zhejiang province, where local authorities called ships into port and halted passenger ferry services.

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August 4, 2023
Foreign nationals evacuate Niger, as regional tensions rise

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NIAMEY, Niger — Foreign nationals lined up outside an airport in Niger’s capital Wednesday morning waiting for a third evacuation flight, while a regional bloc continued talks about its response to the coup that took place last week.

French forces in the capital, Niamey, evacuated hundreds of mostly French nationals to Paris on two flights Tuesday, following concerns that their citizens and other Europeans risked becoming trapped by last week’s military coup, which ousted and detained President Mohamed Bazoum.

France, Italy and Spain all announced evacuations for their citizens and other Europeans. The United States has yet to announce plans for an evacuation, however some have left the with the help of the Europeans.

An Italian military aircraft landed in Rome Wednesday with 99 passengers, including 21 Americans and civilians from other countries, said the Italian defense minister. The first of two French flights that landed in Paris overnight had 12 babies among 262 people aboard, most of them French but including evacuees from Niger, Portugal, Belgium, Ethiopia and Lebanon, France’s Foreign Ministry said.

Before sunrise Wednesday, hundreds of people lined up outside the terminal at Niamey’s airport hoping to leave, after a third flight was canceled the night before. Some slept on the floor, others watched video games or talked on the phone.

Some parents tried to shield their children from what was happening.

“I haven’t told them very much, just that they’re going home,” said a passenger who did not want to be named for security reasons.

“If ECOWAS (a West African regional bloc) intervenes, populations can attack ECOWAS nationals here. They’ve already made threats,” he said.

On Sunday, ECOWAS said it would use force against the junta if it didn’t release and reinstate the president within a week. The announcement was immediately rejected by neighboring Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, all of which are run by mutinous soldiers who toppled their governments.

Mali and Burkina Faso’s leaders said a military intervention in Niger “would be tantamount to a declaration of war” against them.

Niger was seen as one of the region’s last democracies and a partner Western countries could work with to beat back the jihadi violence that’s wracked the region. The United States, France and other European countries have poured millions of dollars of military aid and assistance into the country.

On Tuesday, United States said its Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with President Bazoum and underscored that the U.S. rejects efforts to overturn the constitutional order, and stands with the people of Niger, ECOWAS, the African Union and international partners in support of democratic governance and respect for the rule of law and human rights.

The defense chiefs of ECOWAS’ 15 members will meet in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, from Wednesday to Friday to discuss next steps in resolving the crisis, the bloc said in a statement.

At a virtual United Nations meeting on Tuesday night, the U.N. special envoy for West Africa and the Sahel said that efforts other than the threat of force are underway to restore democracy in Niger.

“One week can be more than enough if everybody talks in good faith, if everybody wants to avoid bloodshed,” said Leonardo Santos Simao. But, he added, “different member states are preparing themselves to use force if necessary.”

But some in the diplomatic community believe the use of force could be a real option.

ECOWAS is resolved to use military force after economic and travel sanctions have failed to roll back other coups, said a Western diplomat in Niamey who did not want to be identified for security reasons.

Niamey has calmed after protests supporting the junta turned violent Sunday when demonstrators attacked the French embassy and set fire to a door.

But some say the mood is still tense. During Tuesday’s evacuation flights at the airport, a passenger who did not want to be named for security reasons said that the Nigerien military, which was escorting an Italian military convoy into the airport, sped off with soldiers who raised their middle fingers at the passengers.

That same night, the M62 Movement, an activist group that has organized pro-Russia and anti-French protests, called for residents in Niamey to mobilize and block the airport until foreign military forces leave the country.

“Any evacuation of Europeans (should be) conditional on the immediate departure of foreign military forces,” Mahaman Sanoussi, the national coordinator for the group, said in a statement.

——

AP journalists Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria, Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington DC, John Leicester in Paris and Frances D’Emilio in Rome, Italy contributed to this report.

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August 2, 2023
Heat wave returns as Greece grapples with more wildfire evacuations

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A third successive heat wave in Greece pushed temperatures back above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across parts of the country following more nighttime evacuations from fires that have raged out of control for days

Flames burn a tree in Vati village, on the Aegean Sea island of Rhodes, southeastern Greece, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. A third successive heat wave in Greece pushed temperatures back above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across parts of the country Tuesday following more nighttime evacuations from fires that have raged out of control for days. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

The Associated Press

RHODES, Greece — A third successive heat wave in Greece pushed temperatures back above 40 C (104 F) across parts of the country Tuesday following more nighttime evacuations from fires that have raged out of control for days.

The latest evacuations orders were issued on the islands of Corfu and Evia, while a blaze on the island of Rhodes continued to move inland, torching mountainous forest areas, including part of a nature reserve.

Desperate residents, many with wet towels around their necks to stave off the scorching heat, used shovels to beat back flames approaching their homes, while firefighting planes and helicopters resumed water drops at first light.

Authorities said that more than 20,000 people has been involved in successive evacuations on the island, mostly tourists over the weekend, when fire swept through two coastal areas on the southeast of Rhodes.

The European Union has sent 500 firefighters, 100 vehicles and seven planes from 10 member states, while Turkey, Israel, Egypt and other countries have also sent help.

“For the 12th day, under extreme conditions of heat and strong winds, we are fighting nonstop on dozens of forest fire fronts … The Greek Fire Service has battled more than 500 fires — more than 50 a day,” said Vassilis Kikilias, the minister for climate crisis and civil protection.

In Athens, authorities resumed afternoon closing hours at the ancient Acropolis, as part of broader measures to cope with the high heat.

EU officials have blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires across the European continent, noting that 2022 was the second-worst year for wildfire damage on record after 2017.

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Follow AP’s coverage of climate issues at https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment

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July 25, 2023
Fire still blazing on the Greek island of Rhodes as dozens more erupt across the country.

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ATHENS, Greece — Firefighters were struggling through the night to contain 82 wildfires across Greece, 64 of which started Sunday, the hottest day of the summer so far.

Their ongoing efforts were without the help of firefighting planes and helicopters, which do not operate at night.

The most serious fire is on the island of Rhodes. Some 19,000 people have been evacuated from several locations on Rhodes as wildfires burned for a sixth day, Greek authorities said. No further evacuations have been ordered so far Sunday evening.

The Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection said it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country.”

Local police said 16,000 people were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea from 12 villages and several hotels. Six people were briefly treated at a hospital for respiratory problems. A person who fell and broke a leg during a hotel evacuation and a pregnant woman remained hospitalized, the latter in good condition, authorities said.

A number of tourists have been waiting to fly back home from Rhodes International Airport. Package holiday companies TUI and Jet2 canceled flights to Rhodes.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport later announced that 14 TUI and Jet2 flights carrying 2,700 passengers will depart from Rhodes airport by 3 a.m. Monday (0000 GMT). On Saturday and early Sunday, 70,000 passengers traveled through the airport, with some being arrivals, the ministry said. The announcement did not break down the figures by arrivals and departures.

British tourist Kevin Evans was evacuated twice on Saturday with his wife and three young children — first from Kiotari to Gennadi, then as the fire approached to the island’s capital in the northeast, he told Britain’s PA news agency.

“There were lots of people in Gennadi sent from the hotels — many in just swimsuits having been told to leave everything in the hotel,” he told PA. “As night fell, we could see the fire on the top of the hills in Kiotari. They said all the hotels were on fire.”

Rhodes travel agent Stelios Kotiadis confirmed to the Associated Press that the evacuation was hasty. “There was panic. … The authorities were overwhelmed,” he said.

But, he said, the abandoned hotels “are in much better condition than reported in social media. … They will be ready to reopen very soon if Civil Protection gives the go-ahead.”

Kotiadis said he and other travel agents sent buses to the island’s southeast to pick up evacuated tourists. They had to go the long way around, since the road running down Rhodes’ eastern side was blocked in places.

“There were 80-90 people cramming into 50-seater buses,” he said. He added that 90% of the evacuated tourists are from European countries.

The British ambassador to Greece, Matthew Lodge, said the U.K. government was sending a rapid deployment team to support British nationals on Rhodes.

The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that personnel had set up a help desk at Rhodes International Airport for visitors who have lost their travel documents.

There are substantial reinforcements from the European Union.

“Over 450 firefighters and seven airplanes from the EU have been operating in Greece as fires sprout across the country,” EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic tweeted early Sunday afternoon.

“I called (Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis ) to express our full support for Greece, which is confronted with devastating forest fires and a heavy heat wave due to climate change. Greece is handling this difficult situation with professionalism, putting emphasis on safely evacuating thousands of tourists, and can always count on European solidarity,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Sunday evening.

The weather remained hot in the Mediterranean country on Sunday. A total of 180 locations experienced temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) and above. The highest reading, 46.4 C (115.5 F), was reached at the seaside town of Gytheio in southern Greece.

Of the 64 wildfires that broke out elsewhere in the country Sunday, the most serious was on Evia, Greece’s second- largest island, where authorities told residents of four southern villages to evacuate to the town of Karystos, west of where the fire was advancing.

Central Greece Vice Governor Giorgos Kelaiditis, who was near one of the villages, told state agency ANA-MPA that the situation is difficult:

“The fire may be 2 kilometers (1 1/4 miles) away, but the wind is strong, the growth is low, the smoke thick and the air is hard to breathe,” he said.

Northern Evia was devastated by wildfires in August 2021.

Other fires requiring evacuations broke out on the northeast side of the island of Corfu and in the northern Peloponnese, near the town of Aigio. Traffic on the old Athens-Patras national road, running across the coast, has been cut off.

A fire that broke out west of the important archaeological site of Epidaurus, including a famous ancient theater, has been partly contained, the Fire Service said.

A relative respite from the heat Monday, with highs of 38 C (100 F) forecast, will be followed by yet more high temperatures starting Tuesday. However, it should get significantly cooler on Thursday, with temperatures in the low- to mid-30s Celsius, the country’s Meteorological Service said Sunday evening.

___

Jill Lawless in London and Cinar Kiper in Istanbul contributed to this report.

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July 23, 2023
2,000 people including tourists evacuated as a wildfire rages on the Greek island of Rhodes

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ATHENS, Greece — A large wildfire burning on the Greek island of Rhodes for a fifth day has forced authorities to order an evacuation of four locations, including two seaside resorts.

About 2,000 people, including tourists, were evacuated by sea, fire department spokesman Yannis Artopios said Saturday evening. He added that the hotels and rented homes evacuated “represent less than 10% of the island’s tourist accommodations.” He added that all visitors had been evacuated without incident.

Three coast guard vessels, an army lifeboat, a special forces inflatable craft and 30 private sailboats helped with the evacuation.

Private passenger shipping company Blue Star has offered one of its ships to accommodate some of the evacuees, Artopios said.

“Care has been taken to accommodate all those that needed to be taken away from the stricken areas,” he added.

In previous days, the wildfire was confined to the island’s mountainous center, but aided by winds, very high temperatures and dry conditions, it spread Saturday toward the coast on the island’s central-eastern side. Local media reported the fires had reached three hotels, whose clients had already been evacuated.

Earlier Saturday, Artopios had said that the residents of four localities were sent SMS messages to evacuate — in two localities they were told to move to the northeast and, in two others, to the southwest. In those first two localities, the intensity of the blaze had abated, he said later.

Artopios said that more than 200 firefighters and 40 fire engines were operating on the ground, assisted by three planes and five helicopters. The force includes 31 firefighters from Slovakia, with five fire engines.

The main front of the fire is a triangle, with two of its points near the sea and one in the mountains. On maps, each side of the triangle appears more than 10 kilometers (six miles) long.

The blaze in Rhodes was just one, the most dangerous, of several active across Greece, Artopios said.

The fire northwest of Athens and one near Sparta were subsiding, he said, although the conditions, including temperatures set to reach 45 C (113 F) on Sunday and low humidity (below 15%), mean that the danger isn’t over and more wildfires might break out.

The fire department has designated almost the whole eastern part of the mainland, plus the islands of Evia and Rhodes as well as large swaths of the southwest, as Category 5, the highest for the risk of fire outbreaks Sunday. A further chunk of Greece has been designated Category 4, very high risk.

There will be a brief respite in the heat wave on Monday, but it will resume on Tuesday and could last until at least Friday, meteorologists have warned.

Firefighting forces from eight European Union countries are either operating or due to arrive soon, Artopios said. Israel, Jordan and Turkey have also sent reinforcements, mostly aerial equipment.

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July 22, 2023
A wildfire is raging out of control on the Greek island of Rhodes, forcing tourist evacuations

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ATHENS, Greece — A large blaze burning on the Greek island of Rhodes for the fifth day has forced authorities to order an evacuation of four locations, including two seaside resorts.

In previous days, the wildfire was confined to the island’s mountainous center, but aided by winds, very high temperatures and dry conditions, it spread Saturday toward the coast on the island’s central-eastern side. Local media reported the fires had reached three hotels, whose clients had already been evacuated.

Fire department spokesman Yannis Artopios said Saturday afternoon that the residents of four localities were sent SMS messages to evacuate — in two localities they were told to move to the northeast and, in two others, to the southwest.

Artopios said that more than 200 firefighters and 40 fire engines were operating on the ground, assisted by three planes and five helicopters. The force includes 31 firefighters from Slovakia, with five fire engines.

The main front of the fire is a triangle, with two of its points near the sea and one in the mountains. On maps, each side of the triangle appears more than 10 kilometers (six miles) long.

Three coast guard vessels, plus one from the army, were evacuating people from two beaches. Twenty private boats were assisting and the Greek navy was sending a vessel.

The blaze in Rhodes was just one, the most dangerous, of several active across Greece, Artopios said.

The fire northwest of Athens and one near Sparta were subsiding, he said, although the conditions, including temperatures set to reach 45 C (113 F) on Sunday and low humidity (below 15%), mean that the danger is not over and more wildfires might break out.

The fire department has designated almost the whole eastern part of the mainland, plus the islands of Evia and Rhodes as well as large swaths of the southwest, as Category 5, the highest for the risk of fire outbreaks Sunday. A further good chunk of the country has been designated Category 4, very high risk.

There will be a brief respite in the heat wave Monday, but it will resume Tuesday and could last until at least Friday, meteorologists have warned.

Firefighting forces from eight European Union countries are either operating or due to arrive soon, Artopios said. Israel, Jordan and Turkey have also sent reinforcements, mostly aerial equipment.

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July 22, 2023
No injuries as jetliner’s evacuation slide falls in Chicago neighborhood near O’Hare, officials say

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CHICAGO (AP) — An emergency evacuation slide fell from an airliner Monday and landed in the backyard of a home near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, causing no injuries but damaging a roof, officials and witnesses said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said a United Airlines Boeing 767 had landed safely at O’Hare on Monday on arrival from Switzerland when maintenance workers realized an emergency slide was missing from the plane’s side.

The aircraft was carrying 155 passengers and 10 crew.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson says he’s stepping down as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Chicago-based civil rights group he founded more than 50 years ago.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson plans to step down from leading the Chicago civil rights organization Rainbow PUSH Coalition he founded in 1971.

An Illinois judge has set a Nov. 6 trial date for a father charged with helping his son obtain a gun license three years before the son allegedly shot dead seven people at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago.

The National Weather Service says a tornado outbreak in the Chicago area this week produced at least 11 twisters. Preliminary findings show they were relatively weak.

WLS-TV reported that Patrick Devitt was not home at the time but his son and father-in-law were present and heard a “boom” shortly after noon. Devitt dragged the slide from his backyard to the front.

He said the slide hit part of the house, damaging the roof, downspout and a window screen.

“When it’s all stretched out, like it’s a little jumbled up I’m sure in the picture from when we dragged it out, it’s larger than a small car. It’s a very, very big piece of equipment,” Devitt told WLS.

United said it was seeking to find out exactly how the slide ended up in the neighborhood.

“We immediately contacted the FAA and are working with our team to better understand the circumstances around this matter,” United said in a statement.

The FAA said, without releasing more details, that it was continuing to investigate.

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July 18, 2023
Wind-fanned wildfires force thousands to flee seaside resorts outside Greek capital

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Wildfires outside Athens forced thousands to flee seaside resorts, closed highways and gutted vacation homes Monday, with high winds pushing flames through hillside scrub and pine forests parched by days of extreme heat

ByPETROS GIANNAKOURIS and DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press

Fire approaches houses in Kalamaki near Agioi Theodori about 60 Kilometres west of Athens , on Monday, July 17, 2023. Two wildfires threatened homes in areas outside Athens, where winds of up to 70 kph made the flames difficult to contain. Most of southern Greece, including greater Athens, was an elevated level of alert for fire risk, while more extreme temperatures are expected later this week. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

The Associated Press

LOUTRAKI, Greece — Wildfires outside Athens forced thousands to flee seaside resorts, closed highways and gutted vacation homes Monday, as high winds pushed flames through hillside scrub and pine forests parched by days of extreme heat.

Authorities issued evacuation orders for at least six seaside communities as two major wildfires edged closer to summer resort towns and gusts of wind hit 70 kph (45 mph).

The army, police special forces and volunteer rescuers freed retirees from their homes, rescued horses from a stable, and helped monks flee a monastery threatened by the flames.

Before nightfall, water-dropping planes and helicopters tackled the flames near Lagonisi, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the capital. The second large wildfire broke out in a wooded area near the resort town of Loutraki, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of Athens, where a children’s summer camp and rehabilitation center for seniors were evacuated, local officials said.

Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios said the strong and changeable winds and mountainous terrain in which both fires broke out were slowing the firefighting effort.

“The conditions are changing constantly and this has to be matched by our response. We have ordered multiple evacuations,” he said. The evacuees gathered along the coastline or were put up in schools and hotels, while coast guard vessels were dispatched to smoke-heavy beachfronts to assist if needed.

On a visit to Brusssels, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the risk posed by wildfires this month as “extremely difficult” to deal with.

“We have always had wildfires and we always will have them. But with the effects of the climate crisis, we are experiencing fires with increasing intensity,” Mitsotakis said, speaking on the margins of talks between leaders from the European Union and Latin American and Carribean countries.

Greater Athens and much of southern Greece were on the second highest level of alert for wildfires Monday and Tuesday following a four-day heat wave that eased over the weekend. More heat wave temperatures are expected later in the week.

Residents and visitors in areas affected by the two fires received cell phone alerts from the Civil Protection Ministry. Loutraki Mayor Giorgos Gionis said municipal workers were also assisting seniors in the evacuations, adding that the operation had been impeded by cell phone reception outages.

Local officials confirmed that homes had been destroyed and badly damaged in both fires. ___ Gatopoulos reported from Athens

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July 17, 2023
People evacuated, 5 sent to hospital after possible carbon monoxide exposure in Florida prison

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People were evacuated from a federal prison camp in Florida on Sunday for suspected carbon monoxide exposure that sent two employees and three inmates to the hospital

SUMTERVILLE, Fla. — People were evacuated from a federal prison camp in Florida on Sunday for suspected carbon monoxide exposure that sent two employees and three inmates to the hospital, U.S. Bureau of Prisons officials said.

The incident occurred at around 2:45 a.m. Sunday in the minimum-security Sumterville Coleman Satellite Prison Camp within the Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman — the same complex where disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed multiple times earlier this month. The complex has reportedly been experiencing staffing shortages.

Prison employees contacted emergency medical services Sunday and isolated the area to provide treatment to those at risk for exposure, Bureau of Prisons officials said. No other people in custody were injured, and “at no time was the public in danger,” officials said in a press release.

There are more than 450 adult inmates incarcerated at the camp, according to the federal government.

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July 16, 2023
2,000 evacuated in La Palma wildfire in Spain’s Canary Islands; official says blaze ‘out of control’

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BARCELONA, Spain — More than 2,000 people were evacuated as a wildfire rages “out of control” on La Palma in Spain‘s Canary Islands on Saturday, destroying around a dozen homes, authorities said.

The blaze has affected an area of about 4,500 hectares (11,000 acres) and officials warned residents that the situation could worsen because a heat wave has made the terrain tinder-dry.

“The fire has spread very fast,” Canary Islands regional president Fernando Clavijo said. “The fire is out of control.”

He said that some residents didn’t want to abandon their homes, and he appealed for people to be responsible and heed the calls for evacuation.

Clavijo said that he was very concerned about the possibility of shifting winds at night, saying they could make the evacuation operation more dangerous. He said that 10 aircraft were battling the fire, and that water-dropping planes were expected to arrive.

The wildfire and evacuations come nearly two years after a three-month volcanic eruption caused devastation on La Palma. While nobody was killed, around 3,000 buildings were buried along with many banana plantations, roads and irrigation systems.

The fire is on the western side of La Palma on wooded, hilly terrain dotted with homes. It’s not an area that was directly impacted by the 2021 volcanic eruption.

Puntagorda’s mayor, Vicente Rodríguez, told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE that the fire started inside the limits of his municipality. He added that the area has seen below-average rainfall in recent years, just like large parts of the drought-stricken mainland, because of changing weather patterns impacted by climate change.

The fire coincides with a heat wave that is hitting southern Europe.

Spain saw record high temperatures in 2022 and this spring as it endures a prolonged drought. Authorities and forestry experts are concerned that the conditions are ripe for a difficult wildfire campaign after seeing virulent fires as early as March.

La Palma, with a population of 85,000, is one of eight members of Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago off Africa’s western coast. At their nearest point, the islands are 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Morocco.

___

Frank Griffiths contributed to this report from London.

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Follow AP’s climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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July 15, 2023
Spanish authorities evacuate some 500 people to escape a wildfire on the Canary island of La Palma

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Spanish authorities say that they have preemptively evacuated some 500 people to avoid a wildfire that has broken out on the Canary island of La Palma

ByJOSEPH WILSON Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain — Spanish authorities have preemptively evacuated some 500 people to avoid a wildfire that has broken out on the Canary island of La Palma.

The regional president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said Saturday that, in addition to forcing the removal of the residents, the blaze has destroyed at least 11 homes within the relatively small burned zone of 140 hectares (345 acres). He warned that the number of evacuees could easily increase.

“With the resources that we are deploying, we hope we can control the fire today, but the winds are shifting,” Clavijo said. “More gusting winds are expected and, combined with the dryness of the terrain and the lack of rain, this situation is complicated.”

Spain’s army has deployed 150 of its firefighters to help local crews battle the blaze. More local firefighters are arriving on boats from the neighboring island of Tenerife, according to Clavijo.

The fire is on the western side of the island on wooded, hilly terrain dotted with homes. It is not an area that was directly impacted by the 2021 volcano eruption.

Puntagorda mayor, Vicente Rodríguez, told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE that the fire started inside the limits of his municipality. He added that the area has seen below-average rainfall in recent years, just like large parts of the drought-stricken mainland, due to changing weather patterns impacted by climate change.

The fire coincides with a heatwave that is hitting southern Europe.

Spain saw record high temperatures in 2022 and this spring as it endures a prolonged drought. Authorities and forestry experts are concerned that the conditions are ripe for a difficult wildfire campaign after seeing virulent fires as early as March.

La Palma, with a population of 85,000, is one of eight members of Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago off Africa’s western coast. At their nearest point, the islands are 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Morocco.

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Follow AP’s climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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July 15, 2023