Canada: Alberta wildfires force nearly 30,000 residents to flee
- Thread starter Wise
- Start date
Wildfire smoke can damage brain long after flames are extinguished, research says
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Hina Alam
Published Aug 23, 2023 • 4 minute read
A growing body of international research suggests pollution from wildfire smoke can produce cognitive deficits, post-traumatic stress and may even increase the risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Until recently, the effects of wildfires have been studied on patients’ lungs, hearts and blood. But several researchers have started looking into how fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke can enter the body and travel to the brain.
Kent Pinkerton, pediatrics professor at the University of California, Davis, said the nose is typically a good filter and keeps a number of inhaled particles out of the lungs. But there is concern that during wildfires, tiny particles of soot and other chemicals in smoke have the ability to enter the cells and nerves of the nose, both of which scientists have shown have a direct connection to the brain.
Cells and nerves connecting the nose-brain passage, Pinkerton said, can get inflamed and damaged by wildfire smoke.
“Some particles from wildfire smoke have been shown to be able to cross the blood-brain barrier and cause inflammation of the brain,” he said in a recent interview.
This year has been one of the worst for wildfires in Canada with nearly 137,000 square kilometres of land scorched. Currently, there are out-of-control wildfires blazing in the Northwest Territories and British Columbia, forcing thousands of people from their homes. Wildfire smoke is not only composed of vegetation from trees and other plants that are burned but also everyday products that are caught in the flames, including metals from vehicles and homes, plastic, and clothes.
Ray Dorsey, neurology professor at the University of Rochester, New York, said some of the particulate matter from wildfire smoke is small enough that it can travel into the smell centres of the brain.
“Hitchhiking on these tiny particulate matter are pieces that are toxic metals — lead from leaded gasoline, iron from brake pads and platinum from catalytic converters,” he said in an interview.
Brains of people with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s show higher concentrations of heavy metal, Dorsey said. Damage to the smell centres of the brain is found almost universally in patients with these two diseases, he said.
“It may be that this particulate matter entering into our nose,” he said, “and the gateway to our brain, which is normally protected by a blood-brain barrier, is getting exploited by the front door.”
He pointed to a July 2018 study published in the journal Environmental Research in which a group of international researchers found that people exposed to air pollution in Mexico City showed Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s signatures in their brains.
“Exposure to air pollutants plays a major role in the development and-or acceleration of Alzheimer’s disease,” said the study, called “Hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease are evolving relentlessly in Metropolitan Mexico City infants, children and young adults.”
Dorsey said he’s seen recent reports suggesting air pollution from wildfires has a denser or higher concentration of particulate matter than air pollution from vehicle traffic.
“In short, whether you are a newborn baby or an older adult with Alzheimer’s disease, air pollution is likely harmful to your brain,” he said.
A study published in January in the journal PLOS Climate found that people exposed to smoke from the 2018 Camp fire — the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history — had “significantly” greater chronic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression than those who were not exposed to the fire.
“Studying cognitive abilities is important because they are core to all daily life functioning and can be key to understanding individual needs as they rebuild and rehabilitate in disaster-affected communities,” said the study.
Exposure to wildfires also caused a decrease in cognitive performance, which is the ability to suppress distractions and focus on the task at hand, said Jyoti Mishra, lead author of the California fire study and associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.
The study began six months after the wildfire and the smoke had subsided. The particulates could have entered the lungs at the height of the wildfires and affected the brain in a chronic way, she said.
“We don’t know that exact link as to how the particulates can affect the brain systems over the long term but what we found in a series of studies was that there was definitely prevalence of climate trauma.”
There’s “lots of complex interactions” when a person suffers from loss of property, family and injury, she said. Wildfires can set off emotional responses that are usually associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. The particulate matter from wildfire smoke causes the body to react in the same way as when there is an inflammation, she said.
“We see the final outcome, we see that there’s cognitive deficits, there are brain changes, there are psychiatric symptoms, but how do you get from wildfire smoke to that kind of an end point?” Mishra said. “Those intermediate complexities and mechanisms are not well understood.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Hina Alam
Published Aug 23, 2023 • 4 minute read
A growing body of international research suggests pollution from wildfire smoke can produce cognitive deficits, post-traumatic stress and may even increase the risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Until recently, the effects of wildfires have been studied on patients’ lungs, hearts and blood. But several researchers have started looking into how fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke can enter the body and travel to the brain.
Kent Pinkerton, pediatrics professor at the University of California, Davis, said the nose is typically a good filter and keeps a number of inhaled particles out of the lungs. But there is concern that during wildfires, tiny particles of soot and other chemicals in smoke have the ability to enter the cells and nerves of the nose, both of which scientists have shown have a direct connection to the brain.
Cells and nerves connecting the nose-brain passage, Pinkerton said, can get inflamed and damaged by wildfire smoke.
“Some particles from wildfire smoke have been shown to be able to cross the blood-brain barrier and cause inflammation of the brain,” he said in a recent interview.
This year has been one of the worst for wildfires in Canada with nearly 137,000 square kilometres of land scorched. Currently, there are out-of-control wildfires blazing in the Northwest Territories and British Columbia, forcing thousands of people from their homes. Wildfire smoke is not only composed of vegetation from trees and other plants that are burned but also everyday products that are caught in the flames, including metals from vehicles and homes, plastic, and clothes.
Ray Dorsey, neurology professor at the University of Rochester, New York, said some of the particulate matter from wildfire smoke is small enough that it can travel into the smell centres of the brain.
“Hitchhiking on these tiny particulate matter are pieces that are toxic metals — lead from leaded gasoline, iron from brake pads and platinum from catalytic converters,” he said in an interview.
Brains of people with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s show higher concentrations of heavy metal, Dorsey said. Damage to the smell centres of the brain is found almost universally in patients with these two diseases, he said.
“It may be that this particulate matter entering into our nose,” he said, “and the gateway to our brain, which is normally protected by a blood-brain barrier, is getting exploited by the front door.”
He pointed to a July 2018 study published in the journal Environmental Research in which a group of international researchers found that people exposed to air pollution in Mexico City showed Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s signatures in their brains.
“Exposure to air pollutants plays a major role in the development and-or acceleration of Alzheimer’s disease,” said the study, called “Hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease are evolving relentlessly in Metropolitan Mexico City infants, children and young adults.”
Dorsey said he’s seen recent reports suggesting air pollution from wildfires has a denser or higher concentration of particulate matter than air pollution from vehicle traffic.
“In short, whether you are a newborn baby or an older adult with Alzheimer’s disease, air pollution is likely harmful to your brain,” he said.
A study published in January in the journal PLOS Climate found that people exposed to smoke from the 2018 Camp fire — the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history — had “significantly” greater chronic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression than those who were not exposed to the fire.
“Studying cognitive abilities is important because they are core to all daily life functioning and can be key to understanding individual needs as they rebuild and rehabilitate in disaster-affected communities,” said the study.
Exposure to wildfires also caused a decrease in cognitive performance, which is the ability to suppress distractions and focus on the task at hand, said Jyoti Mishra, lead author of the California fire study and associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.
The study began six months after the wildfire and the smoke had subsided. The particulates could have entered the lungs at the height of the wildfires and affected the brain in a chronic way, she said.
“We don’t know that exact link as to how the particulates can affect the brain systems over the long term but what we found in a series of studies was that there was definitely prevalence of climate trauma.”
There’s “lots of complex interactions” when a person suffers from loss of property, family and injury, she said. Wildfires can set off emotional responses that are usually associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. The particulate matter from wildfire smoke causes the body to react in the same way as when there is an inflammation, she said.
“We see the final outcome, we see that there’s cognitive deficits, there are brain changes, there are psychiatric symptoms, but how do you get from wildfire smoke to that kind of an end point?” Mishra said. “Those intermediate complexities and mechanisms are not well understood.”
Wildfire smoke can damage brain long after flames are extinguished, research says
A growing body of international research suggests pollution from wildfire smoke can produce cognitive deficits, post-traumatic stress
How did we survive that past 200,000 years huddled around the fire?Wildfire smoke can damage brain long after flames are extinguished, research says
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Hina Alam
Published Aug 23, 2023 • 4 minute read
A growing body of international research suggests pollution from wildfire smoke can produce cognitive deficits, post-traumatic stress and may even increase the risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Until recently, the effects of wildfires have been studied on patients’ lungs, hearts and blood. But several researchers have started looking into how fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke can enter the body and travel to the brain.
Kent Pinkerton, pediatrics professor at the University of California, Davis, said the nose is typically a good filter and keeps a number of inhaled particles out of the lungs. But there is concern that during wildfires, tiny particles of soot and other chemicals in smoke have the ability to enter the cells and nerves of the nose, both of which scientists have shown have a direct connection to the brain.
Cells and nerves connecting the nose-brain passage, Pinkerton said, can get inflamed and damaged by wildfire smoke.
“Some particles from wildfire smoke have been shown to be able to cross the blood-brain barrier and cause inflammation of the brain,” he said in a recent interview.
This year has been one of the worst for wildfires in Canada with nearly 137,000 square kilometres of land scorched. Currently, there are out-of-control wildfires blazing in the Northwest Territories and British Columbia, forcing thousands of people from their homes. Wildfire smoke is not only composed of vegetation from trees and other plants that are burned but also everyday products that are caught in the flames, including metals from vehicles and homes, plastic, and clothes.
Ray Dorsey, neurology professor at the University of Rochester, New York, said some of the particulate matter from wildfire smoke is small enough that it can travel into the smell centres of the brain.
“Hitchhiking on these tiny particulate matter are pieces that are toxic metals — lead from leaded gasoline, iron from brake pads and platinum from catalytic converters,” he said in an interview.
Brains of people with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s show higher concentrations of heavy metal, Dorsey said. Damage to the smell centres of the brain is found almost universally in patients with these two diseases, he said.
“It may be that this particulate matter entering into our nose,” he said, “and the gateway to our brain, which is normally protected by a blood-brain barrier, is getting exploited by the front door.”
He pointed to a July 2018 study published in the journal Environmental Research in which a group of international researchers found that people exposed to air pollution in Mexico City showed Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s signatures in their brains.
“Exposure to air pollutants plays a major role in the development and-or acceleration of Alzheimer’s disease,” said the study, called “Hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease are evolving relentlessly in Metropolitan Mexico City infants, children and young adults.”
Dorsey said he’s seen recent reports suggesting air pollution from wildfires has a denser or higher concentration of particulate matter than air pollution from vehicle traffic.
“In short, whether you are a newborn baby or an older adult with Alzheimer’s disease, air pollution is likely harmful to your brain,” he said.
A study published in January in the journal PLOS Climate found that people exposed to smoke from the 2018 Camp fire — the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history — had “significantly” greater chronic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression than those who were not exposed to the fire.
“Studying cognitive abilities is important because they are core to all daily life functioning and can be key to understanding individual needs as they rebuild and rehabilitate in disaster-affected communities,” said the study.
Exposure to wildfires also caused a decrease in cognitive performance, which is the ability to suppress distractions and focus on the task at hand, said Jyoti Mishra, lead author of the California fire study and associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.
The study began six months after the wildfire and the smoke had subsided. The particulates could have entered the lungs at the height of the wildfires and affected the brain in a chronic way, she said.
“We don’t know that exact link as to how the particulates can affect the brain systems over the long term but what we found in a series of studies was that there was definitely prevalence of climate trauma.”
There’s “lots of complex interactions” when a person suffers from loss of property, family and injury, she said. Wildfires can set off emotional responses that are usually associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. The particulate matter from wildfire smoke causes the body to react in the same way as when there is an inflammation, she said.
“We see the final outcome, we see that there’s cognitive deficits, there are brain changes, there are psychiatric symptoms, but how do you get from wildfire smoke to that kind of an end point?” Mishra said. “Those intermediate complexities and mechanisms are not well understood.”
Wildfire smoke can damage brain long after flames are extinguished, research says
A growing body of international research suggests pollution from wildfire smoke can produce cognitive deficits, post-traumatic stress
Maui County sues utility, alleging negligence over fires that ravaged Lahaina
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jennifer Sinco Kelleher And Gene Johnson
Published Aug 24, 2023 • 3 minute read
HONOLULU — Maui County sued Hawaiian Electric Company on Thursday over the fires that devastated Lahaina, saying the utility negligently failed to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions.
Witness accounts and video indicated that sparks from power lines ignited fires as utility poles snapped in the winds, which were driven by a passing hurricane. The Aug. 8 fires killed at least 115 people and left an unknown number of others missing, making them the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.
A spokesperson for Hawaiian Electric didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
“This destruction could have been avoided,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the utility had a duty “to properly maintain and repair the electric transmission lines, and other equipment including utility poles associated with their transmission of electricity, and to keep vegetation properly trimmed and maintained so as to prevent contact with overhead power lines and other electric equipment.”
The utility knew that high winds “would topple power poles, knock down power lines, and ignite vegetation,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants also knew that if their overhead electrical equipment ignited a fire, it would spread at a critically rapid rate.”
A drought in the region had left plants, including invasive grasses, dangerously dry. As Hurricane Dora passed roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers) south of Hawaii, strong winds toppled at least 30 power poles in West Maui. Video shot by a Lahaina resident shows a downed power line setting dry grasses alight. Firefighters initially contained that fire, but then left to attend to other calls, and residents said the fire later reignited and raced toward downtown Lahaina.
With downed power lines, police or utility crews blocking some roads, traffic ground to a standstill along Lahaina’s Front Street. A number of residents jumped into the water off Maui as they tried to escape the flaming debris and overheated black smoke enveloping downtown.
Dozens of searchers in snorkel gear this week have been combing a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) stretch of water for signs of anyone who might have perished. Crews are also painstakingly searching for remains among the ashes of destroyed businesses and multistory residential buildings.
For now, the number of confirmed dead stands at 115, a number that the county said is expected to rise. The FBI and Maui County police are still trying to figure out how many others might be unaccounted for. The FBI said Tuesday there were 1,000 to 1,100 names on a tentative, unconfirmed list.
Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, investor-owned, publicly traded utility that serves 95% of Hawaii’s electric customers. It is also facing several lawsuits from Lahaina residents as well as one from some of its own investors, who accused it of fraud in a federal lawsuit Thursday, saying it failed to disclose that its wildfire prevention and safety measures were inadequate.
Maui County’s lawsuit notes other utilities, such as Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric, have procedures for shutting off power during during bad windstorms and said the “severe and catastrophic losses … could have easily been prevented” if Hawaiian Electric had a similar shutoff plan.
The county said it is seeking compensation for damage to public property and resources in Lahaina as well as nearby Kula.
Other utilities have been found liable for devastating fires recently.
In June, a jury in Oregon found the electric utility PacifiCorp responsible for causing devastating fires during Labor Day weekend in 2020, ordering the company to pay tens of millions of dollars to 17 homeowners who sued and finding it liable for broader damages that could push the total award into the billions.
Pacific Gas & Electric declared bankruptcy and pleaded guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter after its neglected equipment caused a fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills in 2018 that destroyed nearly 19,000 homes, businesses and other buildings and virtually razed the town of Paradise, California.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jennifer Sinco Kelleher And Gene Johnson
Published Aug 24, 2023 • 3 minute read
HONOLULU — Maui County sued Hawaiian Electric Company on Thursday over the fires that devastated Lahaina, saying the utility negligently failed to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions.
Witness accounts and video indicated that sparks from power lines ignited fires as utility poles snapped in the winds, which were driven by a passing hurricane. The Aug. 8 fires killed at least 115 people and left an unknown number of others missing, making them the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.
A spokesperson for Hawaiian Electric didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
“This destruction could have been avoided,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the utility had a duty “to properly maintain and repair the electric transmission lines, and other equipment including utility poles associated with their transmission of electricity, and to keep vegetation properly trimmed and maintained so as to prevent contact with overhead power lines and other electric equipment.”
The utility knew that high winds “would topple power poles, knock down power lines, and ignite vegetation,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants also knew that if their overhead electrical equipment ignited a fire, it would spread at a critically rapid rate.”
A drought in the region had left plants, including invasive grasses, dangerously dry. As Hurricane Dora passed roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers) south of Hawaii, strong winds toppled at least 30 power poles in West Maui. Video shot by a Lahaina resident shows a downed power line setting dry grasses alight. Firefighters initially contained that fire, but then left to attend to other calls, and residents said the fire later reignited and raced toward downtown Lahaina.
With downed power lines, police or utility crews blocking some roads, traffic ground to a standstill along Lahaina’s Front Street. A number of residents jumped into the water off Maui as they tried to escape the flaming debris and overheated black smoke enveloping downtown.
Dozens of searchers in snorkel gear this week have been combing a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) stretch of water for signs of anyone who might have perished. Crews are also painstakingly searching for remains among the ashes of destroyed businesses and multistory residential buildings.
For now, the number of confirmed dead stands at 115, a number that the county said is expected to rise. The FBI and Maui County police are still trying to figure out how many others might be unaccounted for. The FBI said Tuesday there were 1,000 to 1,100 names on a tentative, unconfirmed list.
Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, investor-owned, publicly traded utility that serves 95% of Hawaii’s electric customers. It is also facing several lawsuits from Lahaina residents as well as one from some of its own investors, who accused it of fraud in a federal lawsuit Thursday, saying it failed to disclose that its wildfire prevention and safety measures were inadequate.
Maui County’s lawsuit notes other utilities, such as Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric, have procedures for shutting off power during during bad windstorms and said the “severe and catastrophic losses … could have easily been prevented” if Hawaiian Electric had a similar shutoff plan.
The county said it is seeking compensation for damage to public property and resources in Lahaina as well as nearby Kula.
Other utilities have been found liable for devastating fires recently.
In June, a jury in Oregon found the electric utility PacifiCorp responsible for causing devastating fires during Labor Day weekend in 2020, ordering the company to pay tens of millions of dollars to 17 homeowners who sued and finding it liable for broader damages that could push the total award into the billions.
Pacific Gas & Electric declared bankruptcy and pleaded guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter after its neglected equipment caused a fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills in 2018 that destroyed nearly 19,000 homes, businesses and other buildings and virtually razed the town of Paradise, California.
Maui County sues utility, alleging negligence over fires that ravaged Lahaina
Maui County sued Hawaiian Electric Company on Thursday over the fires that devastated Lahaina
um.... that's tamefire. helloooooo!
:?P
I wondered something similar at the early covid run on toilet paper: shit how did humanity get through 10s of 1000s of years without asswipe?
Handful of grass. Salal leaves are risky. They are slippery and rip easily. NEVER use poison ivy.
Greek fire officials arrest 2 for arson as multiple wildfires continue to burn across the country
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Elena Becatoros
Published Aug 26, 2023 • 3 minute read
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Fire department officials in Greece arrested two men Saturday for allegedly starting wildfires on purpose, while hundreds of firefighters battled blazes that have killed at least 21 people in the past week.
One man was arrested on the Greek island of Evia for allegedly setting fire to dried grass in the Karystos area. The fire department said the man confessed to having set four other fires in the area in July and August.
A second man arrested in the Larissa area of central Greece also was accused of intentionally setting fire to dried vegetation.
Officials have said blamed arson for several fires in Greece over the past week, although it was unclear what sparked the country’s largest blazes, including one in the northeastern region of Evros, where nearly all the fire-attributed deaths occurred, and another on the fringes of Athens.
“Some … arsonists are setting fires, endangering forests, property and above all human lives,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Thursday. “What is happening is not just unacceptable, but despicable and criminal.”
The minister said nine fires were set in the space of four hours Thursday morning in the Avlona area in the northern foothills of Mount Parnitha, a mountain on the northwestern fringes of Athens that is one of the capital’s last green areas.
A major fire was already burning on the southern side of the mountain at the time, and it continued to burn Saturday.
“You are committing a crime against the country,” Kikilias said. “We will find you. You will be held accountable to justice.”
Later Thursday, police arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of arson for allegedly setting at least three fires in the Avlona area. A search of his home revealed kindling, a fire torch gun and pine needles, police said.
A daily outbreak of dozens of fires has plagued Greece over the past week as gale-force winds and hot, dry summer conditions combine to whip up flames and hamper firefighting efforts. Firefighters tackled 111 blazes Friday, including 59 that broke out in the 24 hours between Thursday and Friday evenings, the fire department said.
Although most new fires were controlled in their early stages, some grew to massive blazes that have consumed homes and vast tracts of forest.
Storms were forecast Saturday for some areas of Greece, and lightning strikes ignited several fires near the Greek capital. The fire department said 100 firefighters, including contingents from France and Cyprus, backed up by four helicopter, brought fires in four outlying areas near the Greek capital under partial control within hours.
The fire department called on the public “to be particularly careful” and to follow directions by authorities “given that intense thunderstorm activity is occurring in various parts of the country.”
The Evros fire, Greece’s largest current blaze, was burning for an eighth day Saturday near the city of Alexandroupolis after causing at least 20 deaths.
Firefighters found 18 bodies in a forest on Tuesday, one on Monday and another Thursday. With nobody reported missing in the area, authorities think the victims might have been migrants who recently crossed the border from Turkey.
Greece’s Disaster Victim Identification Team was activated to identify the remains, and a telephone hotline set up for potential relatives of the victims to call. A man reportedly trying to save his livestock from advancing flames in central Greece also died on Monday.
More than 290 firefighters, backed by five planes and two helicopters, were battling the Evros blaze. Another 260 firefighters, four planes and three helicopters were tackling the Mount Parnitha fire.
With firefighting forces stretched to the limit, Greece called on other European countries for help. Germany, Sweden, Croatia and Cyprus sent aircraft, while dozens of Romanian, French, Czech, Bulgarian, Albanian and Slovak firefighters helped on the ground.
Greece imposes wildfire prevention regulations, typically from the start of May to the end of October, to limit activities such as the burning of dried vegetation and the use of outdoor barbecues.
Since the start of this year’s fire season, fire department officials have arrested 163 people on fire-related charges, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said Friday, including 118 for negligence and 24 for deliberate arson. The police made a further 18 arrests, he said.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Elena Becatoros
Published Aug 26, 2023 • 3 minute read
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Fire department officials in Greece arrested two men Saturday for allegedly starting wildfires on purpose, while hundreds of firefighters battled blazes that have killed at least 21 people in the past week.
One man was arrested on the Greek island of Evia for allegedly setting fire to dried grass in the Karystos area. The fire department said the man confessed to having set four other fires in the area in July and August.
A second man arrested in the Larissa area of central Greece also was accused of intentionally setting fire to dried vegetation.
Officials have said blamed arson for several fires in Greece over the past week, although it was unclear what sparked the country’s largest blazes, including one in the northeastern region of Evros, where nearly all the fire-attributed deaths occurred, and another on the fringes of Athens.
“Some … arsonists are setting fires, endangering forests, property and above all human lives,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Thursday. “What is happening is not just unacceptable, but despicable and criminal.”
The minister said nine fires were set in the space of four hours Thursday morning in the Avlona area in the northern foothills of Mount Parnitha, a mountain on the northwestern fringes of Athens that is one of the capital’s last green areas.
A major fire was already burning on the southern side of the mountain at the time, and it continued to burn Saturday.
“You are committing a crime against the country,” Kikilias said. “We will find you. You will be held accountable to justice.”
Later Thursday, police arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of arson for allegedly setting at least three fires in the Avlona area. A search of his home revealed kindling, a fire torch gun and pine needles, police said.
A daily outbreak of dozens of fires has plagued Greece over the past week as gale-force winds and hot, dry summer conditions combine to whip up flames and hamper firefighting efforts. Firefighters tackled 111 blazes Friday, including 59 that broke out in the 24 hours between Thursday and Friday evenings, the fire department said.
Although most new fires were controlled in their early stages, some grew to massive blazes that have consumed homes and vast tracts of forest.
Storms were forecast Saturday for some areas of Greece, and lightning strikes ignited several fires near the Greek capital. The fire department said 100 firefighters, including contingents from France and Cyprus, backed up by four helicopter, brought fires in four outlying areas near the Greek capital under partial control within hours.
The fire department called on the public “to be particularly careful” and to follow directions by authorities “given that intense thunderstorm activity is occurring in various parts of the country.”
The Evros fire, Greece’s largest current blaze, was burning for an eighth day Saturday near the city of Alexandroupolis after causing at least 20 deaths.
Firefighters found 18 bodies in a forest on Tuesday, one on Monday and another Thursday. With nobody reported missing in the area, authorities think the victims might have been migrants who recently crossed the border from Turkey.
Greece’s Disaster Victim Identification Team was activated to identify the remains, and a telephone hotline set up for potential relatives of the victims to call. A man reportedly trying to save his livestock from advancing flames in central Greece also died on Monday.
More than 290 firefighters, backed by five planes and two helicopters, were battling the Evros blaze. Another 260 firefighters, four planes and three helicopters were tackling the Mount Parnitha fire.
With firefighting forces stretched to the limit, Greece called on other European countries for help. Germany, Sweden, Croatia and Cyprus sent aircraft, while dozens of Romanian, French, Czech, Bulgarian, Albanian and Slovak firefighters helped on the ground.
Greece imposes wildfire prevention regulations, typically from the start of May to the end of October, to limit activities such as the burning of dried vegetation and the use of outdoor barbecues.
Since the start of this year’s fire season, fire department officials have arrested 163 people on fire-related charges, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said Friday, including 118 for negligence and 24 for deliberate arson. The police made a further 18 arrests, he said.
Greek fire officials arrest 2 for arson as multiple wildfires continue to burn across the country
Officials have said blamed arson for several fires in Greece over the past week
Greek lightning?Greek fire officials arrest 2 for arson as multiple wildfires continue to burn across the country
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Elena Becatoros
Published Aug 26, 2023 • 3 minute read
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Fire department officials in Greece arrested two men Saturday for allegedly starting wildfires on purpose, while hundreds of firefighters battled blazes that have killed at least 21 people in the past week.
One man was arrested on the Greek island of Evia for allegedly setting fire to dried grass in the Karystos area. The fire department said the man confessed to having set four other fires in the area in July and August.
A second man arrested in the Larissa area of central Greece also was accused of intentionally setting fire to dried vegetation.
Officials have said blamed arson for several fires in Greece over the past week, although it was unclear what sparked the country’s largest blazes, including one in the northeastern region of Evros, where nearly all the fire-attributed deaths occurred, and another on the fringes of Athens.
“Some … arsonists are setting fires, endangering forests, property and above all human lives,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Thursday. “What is happening is not just unacceptable, but despicable and criminal.”
The minister said nine fires were set in the space of four hours Thursday morning in the Avlona area in the northern foothills of Mount Parnitha, a mountain on the northwestern fringes of Athens that is one of the capital’s last green areas.
A major fire was already burning on the southern side of the mountain at the time, and it continued to burn Saturday.
“You are committing a crime against the country,” Kikilias said. “We will find you. You will be held accountable to justice.”
Later Thursday, police arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of arson for allegedly setting at least three fires in the Avlona area. A search of his home revealed kindling, a fire torch gun and pine needles, police said.
A daily outbreak of dozens of fires has plagued Greece over the past week as gale-force winds and hot, dry summer conditions combine to whip up flames and hamper firefighting efforts. Firefighters tackled 111 blazes Friday, including 59 that broke out in the 24 hours between Thursday and Friday evenings, the fire department said.
Although most new fires were controlled in their early stages, some grew to massive blazes that have consumed homes and vast tracts of forest.
Storms were forecast Saturday for some areas of Greece, and lightning strikes ignited several fires near the Greek capital. The fire department said 100 firefighters, including contingents from France and Cyprus, backed up by four helicopter, brought fires in four outlying areas near the Greek capital under partial control within hours.
The fire department called on the public “to be particularly careful” and to follow directions by authorities “given that intense thunderstorm activity is occurring in various parts of the country.”
The Evros fire, Greece’s largest current blaze, was burning for an eighth day Saturday near the city of Alexandroupolis after causing at least 20 deaths.
Firefighters found 18 bodies in a forest on Tuesday, one on Monday and another Thursday. With nobody reported missing in the area, authorities think the victims might have been migrants who recently crossed the border from Turkey.
Greece’s Disaster Victim Identification Team was activated to identify the remains, and a telephone hotline set up for potential relatives of the victims to call. A man reportedly trying to save his livestock from advancing flames in central Greece also died on Monday.
More than 290 firefighters, backed by five planes and two helicopters, were battling the Evros blaze. Another 260 firefighters, four planes and three helicopters were tackling the Mount Parnitha fire.
With firefighting forces stretched to the limit, Greece called on other European countries for help. Germany, Sweden, Croatia and Cyprus sent aircraft, while dozens of Romanian, French, Czech, Bulgarian, Albanian and Slovak firefighters helped on the ground.
Greece imposes wildfire prevention regulations, typically from the start of May to the end of October, to limit activities such as the burning of dried vegetation and the use of outdoor barbecues.
Since the start of this year’s fire season, fire department officials have arrested 163 people on fire-related charges, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said Friday, including 118 for negligence and 24 for deliberate arson. The police made a further 18 arrests, he said.
Greek fire officials arrest 2 for arson as multiple wildfires continue to burn across the country
Officials have said blamed arson for several fires in Greece over the past week
Bare electrical wire and leaning poles on Maui were possible cause of deadly fires
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jennifer Mcdermott, Bernard Condon And Michael Biesecker
Published Aug 26, 2023 • 7 minute read
In the first moments of the Maui fires, when high winds brought down power poles, slapping electrified wires to the dry grass below, there was a reason the flames erupted all at once in long, neat rows — those wires were bare, uninsulated metal that could spark on contact.
Videos and images analyzed by The Associated Press confirmed those wires were among miles of line that Hawaiian Electric Company. left naked to the weather and often-thick foliage, despite a recent push by utilities in other wildfire- and hurricane-prone areas to cover up their lines or bury them.
Compounding the problem is that many of the utility’s 60,000, mostly wooden power poles, which its own documents described as built to “an obsolete 1960s standard,” were leaning and near the end of their projected lifespan. They were nowhere close to meeting a 2002 national standard that key components of Hawaii’s electrical grid be able to withstand 105 mile per hour winds. A 2019 filing said it had fallen behind in replacing the old wooden poles because of other priorities and warned of a “serious public hazard” if they “failed.”
Google street view images of poles taken before the fire show the bare wire.
It’s “very unlikely” a fully-insulated cable would have sparked and caused a fire in dry vegetation, said Michael Ahern, who retired this month as director of power systems at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
Experts who watched videos showing downed power lines agreed wire that was insulated would not have arced and sparked, igniting a line of flame.
Hawaiian Electric said in a statement that it has “long recognized the unique threats” from climate change and has spent milllons of dollars in response, but did not say whether specific power lines that collapsed in the early moments of the fire were bare.
“We’ve been executing on a resilience strategy to meet these challenges, and since 2018, we have spent approximately $950 million to strengthen and harden our grid and approximately $110 million on vegetation management efforts,” the company. “This work included replacing more than 12,500 poles and structures since 2018 and trimming and removing trees along approximately 2,500 line miles every year on average.”
But a former member of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission confirmed many of Maui’s wooden power poles were also in poor condition. Jennifer Potter lives in Lahaina and until the end of last year was on the commission, which regulates Hawaiian Electric.
“Even tourists that drive around the island are like, ‘What is that?’ They’re leaning quite significantly because the winds over time literally just pushed them over,” she said. “That obviously is not going to withstand 60, 70 mile per hour winds. So the infrastructure was just not strong enough for this kind of windstorm … The infrastructure itself is just compromised.”
John Morgan, a personal injury and trial attorney in Florida who lives part-time in Maui noticed the same thing. “I could look at the power poles. They were skinny, bending, bowing. The power went out all the time.”
Morgan’s firm is suing Hawaiian Electric on behalf of one person and talking to many more about their rights. The fire came 500 yards within his house.
Sixty percent of the utility poles on West Maui were still down on Aug. 14, according to Hawaiian Electric CEO Shelee Kimura at a media conference — 450 of the 750 poles.
Hawaiian Electric is facing a spate of new lawsuits that seek to hold it responsible for the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. The number of confirmed dead stands at 115, and the county expects that to rise.
Lawyers plan to inspect some electrical equipment from a neighborhood where the fire is thought to have originated as soon as next week, per a court order, but they will be doing that in a warehouse. The utility took down the burnt poles and removed fallen wires from the site.
This was a “preventable tragedy of epic proportions,” said attorney Paul Starita, lead counsel on three of the lawsuits.
“It all comes back to money,” said Starita, of the California firm Singleton Schreiber. “They might say, oh, well, it takes a long time to get the permitting process done or whatever. OK, start sooner. I mean, people’s lives are on the line. You’re responsible. Spend the money, do your job.”
Hawaiian Electric also faces criticism for not shutting off the power amid high wind warnings and keeping it on even as dozens of poles began to topple. Maui County sued Hawaiian Electric on Thursday over this issue.
Michael Jacobs, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that with power lines causing so many fires in the United States: “We definitely have a new pattern, we just don’t have a new safety regime to go with it.”
Insulating an electrical wire prevents arcing and sparking, and dissipates heat.
Other utilities have been addressing the issue of bare wire. Pacific Gas & Electric was found responsible for the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California that killed 85 people. The disaster was caused by downed power lines.
Its program to eliminate uninsulated wire in fire zones has covered more than 1,200 miles of line so far.
PG&E also announced in 2021 it would bury 10,000 miles of electrical line. It buried 180 miles in 2022 and is on pace to do 350 miles this year.
Another major California utility, Southern California Edison, expects to have replaced more than 7,200 miles, or about 75% of its overhead distribution lines, with covered wire in high fire risk areas by the end of 2025. It, too, is burying line in areas at severe risk.
Hawaiian Electric said in a filing last year that it had looked to the wildfire plans of utilities in California.
Some don’t fault Hawaiian Electric for its comparative lack of action because it has not faced the threat of wildfires for as long. And the utility is not at all alone in continuing to use bare metal conductors high up on power poles.
The same is true for public safety power shutoffs. It’s been only a few years that utilities have been willing to preemptively shut off people’s power to prevent fire and the disruptive practice is not yet widespread.
But Mark Toney called wildfires caused by utilities absolutely preventable. He is executive director of the ratepayer group The Utility Reform Network in California. It is pushing PG&E to insulate its lines in high-risk areas.
“We have to stop utility-caused wildfires. We have to stop them and the quickest, cheapest way to do it is to insulate the overhead lines,” he said.
As for the poles, in a 2019 Hawaiian Electric regulatory document, the company said its 60,000 poles, nearly all wood, were vulnerable because they were already old and Hawaii is in a “severe wood decay hazard zone.” The company said it had fallen behind in replacing wood poles because of other priorities and warned of a “serious public hazard” if the poles “failed.”
The document said many of the company’s poles were built to withstand 56 mph (90 kph), when a Category 1 Hurricane has winds of at least 74 mph.
In 2002, the National Electric Safety Code was updated to require utility poles like those on Maui to withstand 105 mile per hour winds.
The U.S. electrical grid was designed and built for last century’s climate, said Joshua Rhodes, an energy systems research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. Utilities would be smart to better prepare for protracted droughts and high winds, he added.
“Everyone considers Hawaii to be a tropical paradise, but it got dry and it burned,” he said Thursday. “It may look expensive if you’re doing work to stave off starting wildfires or the impact of wildfires, but it’s much cheaper than actually starting one and burning down so many people’s homes and causing so many people’s deaths.”
Tony Takitani, an attorney born and raised on Maui, is working with Morgan on the litigation.
Takitani said in his 68 years there, it’s getting drier and drier. He said what happened on the island is so horrific it’s hard to talk about. But he does think it will force improvements to the grid.
“When the poles go down, it’s kindling,” he said. “The combination of what’s going on with our Earth and people not being properly prepared for it, I think caused this. From living here, from the videos I’ve seen of poles going down and fires igniting, it seems kind of obvious.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jennifer Mcdermott, Bernard Condon And Michael Biesecker
Published Aug 26, 2023 • 7 minute read
In the first moments of the Maui fires, when high winds brought down power poles, slapping electrified wires to the dry grass below, there was a reason the flames erupted all at once in long, neat rows — those wires were bare, uninsulated metal that could spark on contact.
Videos and images analyzed by The Associated Press confirmed those wires were among miles of line that Hawaiian Electric Company. left naked to the weather and often-thick foliage, despite a recent push by utilities in other wildfire- and hurricane-prone areas to cover up their lines or bury them.
Compounding the problem is that many of the utility’s 60,000, mostly wooden power poles, which its own documents described as built to “an obsolete 1960s standard,” were leaning and near the end of their projected lifespan. They were nowhere close to meeting a 2002 national standard that key components of Hawaii’s electrical grid be able to withstand 105 mile per hour winds. A 2019 filing said it had fallen behind in replacing the old wooden poles because of other priorities and warned of a “serious public hazard” if they “failed.”
Google street view images of poles taken before the fire show the bare wire.
It’s “very unlikely” a fully-insulated cable would have sparked and caused a fire in dry vegetation, said Michael Ahern, who retired this month as director of power systems at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
Experts who watched videos showing downed power lines agreed wire that was insulated would not have arced and sparked, igniting a line of flame.
Hawaiian Electric said in a statement that it has “long recognized the unique threats” from climate change and has spent milllons of dollars in response, but did not say whether specific power lines that collapsed in the early moments of the fire were bare.
“We’ve been executing on a resilience strategy to meet these challenges, and since 2018, we have spent approximately $950 million to strengthen and harden our grid and approximately $110 million on vegetation management efforts,” the company. “This work included replacing more than 12,500 poles and structures since 2018 and trimming and removing trees along approximately 2,500 line miles every year on average.”
But a former member of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission confirmed many of Maui’s wooden power poles were also in poor condition. Jennifer Potter lives in Lahaina and until the end of last year was on the commission, which regulates Hawaiian Electric.
“Even tourists that drive around the island are like, ‘What is that?’ They’re leaning quite significantly because the winds over time literally just pushed them over,” she said. “That obviously is not going to withstand 60, 70 mile per hour winds. So the infrastructure was just not strong enough for this kind of windstorm … The infrastructure itself is just compromised.”
John Morgan, a personal injury and trial attorney in Florida who lives part-time in Maui noticed the same thing. “I could look at the power poles. They were skinny, bending, bowing. The power went out all the time.”
Morgan’s firm is suing Hawaiian Electric on behalf of one person and talking to many more about their rights. The fire came 500 yards within his house.
Sixty percent of the utility poles on West Maui were still down on Aug. 14, according to Hawaiian Electric CEO Shelee Kimura at a media conference — 450 of the 750 poles.
Hawaiian Electric is facing a spate of new lawsuits that seek to hold it responsible for the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. The number of confirmed dead stands at 115, and the county expects that to rise.
Lawyers plan to inspect some electrical equipment from a neighborhood where the fire is thought to have originated as soon as next week, per a court order, but they will be doing that in a warehouse. The utility took down the burnt poles and removed fallen wires from the site.
This was a “preventable tragedy of epic proportions,” said attorney Paul Starita, lead counsel on three of the lawsuits.
“It all comes back to money,” said Starita, of the California firm Singleton Schreiber. “They might say, oh, well, it takes a long time to get the permitting process done or whatever. OK, start sooner. I mean, people’s lives are on the line. You’re responsible. Spend the money, do your job.”
Hawaiian Electric also faces criticism for not shutting off the power amid high wind warnings and keeping it on even as dozens of poles began to topple. Maui County sued Hawaiian Electric on Thursday over this issue.
Michael Jacobs, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that with power lines causing so many fires in the United States: “We definitely have a new pattern, we just don’t have a new safety regime to go with it.”
Insulating an electrical wire prevents arcing and sparking, and dissipates heat.
Other utilities have been addressing the issue of bare wire. Pacific Gas & Electric was found responsible for the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California that killed 85 people. The disaster was caused by downed power lines.
Its program to eliminate uninsulated wire in fire zones has covered more than 1,200 miles of line so far.
PG&E also announced in 2021 it would bury 10,000 miles of electrical line. It buried 180 miles in 2022 and is on pace to do 350 miles this year.
Another major California utility, Southern California Edison, expects to have replaced more than 7,200 miles, or about 75% of its overhead distribution lines, with covered wire in high fire risk areas by the end of 2025. It, too, is burying line in areas at severe risk.
Hawaiian Electric said in a filing last year that it had looked to the wildfire plans of utilities in California.
Some don’t fault Hawaiian Electric for its comparative lack of action because it has not faced the threat of wildfires for as long. And the utility is not at all alone in continuing to use bare metal conductors high up on power poles.
The same is true for public safety power shutoffs. It’s been only a few years that utilities have been willing to preemptively shut off people’s power to prevent fire and the disruptive practice is not yet widespread.
But Mark Toney called wildfires caused by utilities absolutely preventable. He is executive director of the ratepayer group The Utility Reform Network in California. It is pushing PG&E to insulate its lines in high-risk areas.
“We have to stop utility-caused wildfires. We have to stop them and the quickest, cheapest way to do it is to insulate the overhead lines,” he said.
As for the poles, in a 2019 Hawaiian Electric regulatory document, the company said its 60,000 poles, nearly all wood, were vulnerable because they were already old and Hawaii is in a “severe wood decay hazard zone.” The company said it had fallen behind in replacing wood poles because of other priorities and warned of a “serious public hazard” if the poles “failed.”
The document said many of the company’s poles were built to withstand 56 mph (90 kph), when a Category 1 Hurricane has winds of at least 74 mph.
In 2002, the National Electric Safety Code was updated to require utility poles like those on Maui to withstand 105 mile per hour winds.
The U.S. electrical grid was designed and built for last century’s climate, said Joshua Rhodes, an energy systems research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. Utilities would be smart to better prepare for protracted droughts and high winds, he added.
“Everyone considers Hawaii to be a tropical paradise, but it got dry and it burned,” he said Thursday. “It may look expensive if you’re doing work to stave off starting wildfires or the impact of wildfires, but it’s much cheaper than actually starting one and burning down so many people’s homes and causing so many people’s deaths.”
Tony Takitani, an attorney born and raised on Maui, is working with Morgan on the litigation.
Takitani said in his 68 years there, it’s getting drier and drier. He said what happened on the island is so horrific it’s hard to talk about. But he does think it will force improvements to the grid.
“When the poles go down, it’s kindling,” he said. “The combination of what’s going on with our Earth and people not being properly prepared for it, I think caused this. From living here, from the videos I’ve seen of poles going down and fires igniting, it seems kind of obvious.”
Bare electrical wire and leaning poles on Maui were possible cause of deadly fires
Google street view images of poles taken before the fire show the bare wire.
This could go into the Climate Bullshit thread too.
N.W.T. fires have released 97 megatonnes of carbon, says European agency — 277 times what its people emit
Let's walk through the math: 97.09 megatonnes of carbon emitted as of Aug. 23 this year is equivalent to 356.32 megatonnes of carbon dioxide. You can convert the rate of carbon into carbon dioxide equivalent by multiplying the figure by 3.67.
It's important to make that conversion because the territory reports its annual human-caused emissions in the form of carbon dioxide equivalent — which also take into account other greenhouse gases, like methane and nitrous oxide.
In 2021, the territory emitted 1.287 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Now, we can compare those two numbers equally.
The carbon dioxide equivalent emitted by wildfires this year (356.32 megatonnes) is 277 times more than what was emitted by humans in 2021 (1.287 megatonnes).
How does it all compare to 2014?
The N.W.T.'s vast boreal forest usually sequesters more carbon than it emits — except during big fire years.
Up until now, 2014 has been considered the territory's worst wildfire year. According to CAMS data up until Aug. 23, the current wildfire season has not quite eclipsed 2014 in terms of emissions. (It has, however, if you compare it to Natural Resources Canada data which says fires that year emitted roughly 94.5 megatonnes of carbon.
ENTERPRISE, NWT BURNED
(Tyson Koschik/CBC)
According to N.W.T. Fire, 2.96 million hectares of land have burned in fires so far this year, but it's calculating an updated figure. The agency said the territory is well on its way to beating the record set back in 2014 of 3.4 million hectares burned.
Wildfires emit more than just carbon
CAMS monitors where wildfires are around the world and how intensely they're burning. It also tracks emissions and forecasts the effect smoke has on the atmosphere.
Parrington said they're able to do this using meteorology and satellite imagery. It's important to monitor wildfire emissions, he said, because of the effects it has on air quality and human health.
"Fires release far more pollutants into the atmosphere than the usual activities like road transport, energy production, industry," he said. "As well as the carbon gases, there's a lot of very harmful and hazardous constituents of smoke, including particulate matter, things like benzene, which a lot of people might associate only as an industrial pollutant."
When fires stop and the wind shifts, Parrington said air quality improves — but pollution from wildfires can persist for a long time if it settles on rivers and water bodies too.
The group says it's exploring options to study wildfires in other parts of Canada, but Yan Boulanger, a forest ecology scientist with Natural Resources Canada and one of the Québec study's authors, said its findings can be extrapolated to Canada's North.
Québec is one of the areas of Canada that's least affected by climate change, he explained, yet climate change still played a very big role in the fires there.
Given that climate change is having a bigger effect on British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and Yukon, Boulanger said wildfires in those provinces and territories are probably made more than twice as likely by climate change.
"These are very, very conservative estimates," he said.
Expected to hit 2030 climate target, N.W.T. considers more ambitious goal
IN DEPTH The Arctic is warming 4 times faster than the world. What does that mean for the N.W.T.?
Still, Boulanger said he's shocked by the record number of people displaced across the N.W.T. and the evacuations that have taken place in Québec, B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Yukon.
He said Indigenous people are over-represented among evacuees, and they will continue to be over-represented in the future because their communities are typically in very fire-prone environments.
World Weather Attribution's Québec analysis has not yet been subject to scientific peer review, but it is based on peer-reviewed modelling. In the past, the research group has subjected its analyses to review and has not had to change its findings.
N.W.T. fires have released 97 megatonnes of carbon, says European agency — 277 times what its people emit
Clarifications
- Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story had a headline that suggested that N.W.T. fires released more carbon than all people. It's been updated to clarify that the fires released more carbon than all people in the N.W.T.
Let's walk through the math: 97.09 megatonnes of carbon emitted as of Aug. 23 this year is equivalent to 356.32 megatonnes of carbon dioxide. You can convert the rate of carbon into carbon dioxide equivalent by multiplying the figure by 3.67.
It's important to make that conversion because the territory reports its annual human-caused emissions in the form of carbon dioxide equivalent — which also take into account other greenhouse gases, like methane and nitrous oxide.
In 2021, the territory emitted 1.287 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Now, we can compare those two numbers equally.
The carbon dioxide equivalent emitted by wildfires this year (356.32 megatonnes) is 277 times more than what was emitted by humans in 2021 (1.287 megatonnes).
How does it all compare to 2014?
The N.W.T.'s vast boreal forest usually sequesters more carbon than it emits — except during big fire years.
Up until now, 2014 has been considered the territory's worst wildfire year. According to CAMS data up until Aug. 23, the current wildfire season has not quite eclipsed 2014 in terms of emissions. (It has, however, if you compare it to Natural Resources Canada data which says fires that year emitted roughly 94.5 megatonnes of carbon.
ENTERPRISE, NWT BURNED
(Tyson Koschik/CBC)
According to N.W.T. Fire, 2.96 million hectares of land have burned in fires so far this year, but it's calculating an updated figure. The agency said the territory is well on its way to beating the record set back in 2014 of 3.4 million hectares burned.
Wildfires emit more than just carbon
CAMS monitors where wildfires are around the world and how intensely they're burning. It also tracks emissions and forecasts the effect smoke has on the atmosphere.
Parrington said they're able to do this using meteorology and satellite imagery. It's important to monitor wildfire emissions, he said, because of the effects it has on air quality and human health.
"Fires release far more pollutants into the atmosphere than the usual activities like road transport, energy production, industry," he said. "As well as the carbon gases, there's a lot of very harmful and hazardous constituents of smoke, including particulate matter, things like benzene, which a lot of people might associate only as an industrial pollutant."
When fires stop and the wind shifts, Parrington said air quality improves — but pollution from wildfires can persist for a long time if it settles on rivers and water bodies too.
The link between fires and climate change
World Weather Attribution, a U.K. based group that estimates the contribution of climate change to individual extreme weather events, recently released a study that found record-setting fires in Québec earlier this year were made twice as likely because of human-caused warming.The group says it's exploring options to study wildfires in other parts of Canada, but Yan Boulanger, a forest ecology scientist with Natural Resources Canada and one of the Québec study's authors, said its findings can be extrapolated to Canada's North.
Québec is one of the areas of Canada that's least affected by climate change, he explained, yet climate change still played a very big role in the fires there.
Given that climate change is having a bigger effect on British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and Yukon, Boulanger said wildfires in those provinces and territories are probably made more than twice as likely by climate change.
"These are very, very conservative estimates," he said.
Expected to hit 2030 climate target, N.W.T. considers more ambitious goal
IN DEPTH The Arctic is warming 4 times faster than the world. What does that mean for the N.W.T.?
Still, Boulanger said he's shocked by the record number of people displaced across the N.W.T. and the evacuations that have taken place in Québec, B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Yukon.
He said Indigenous people are over-represented among evacuees, and they will continue to be over-represented in the future because their communities are typically in very fire-prone environments.
World Weather Attribution's Québec analysis has not yet been subject to scientific peer review, but it is based on peer-reviewed modelling. In the past, the research group has subjected its analyses to review and has not had to change its findings.
Huh. I never knew trees could burn from CO2.
I guess I need to sell my CO2 fire extinguisher. I dont want to burn my garage down.
I guess I need to sell my CO2 fire extinguisher. I dont want to burn my garage down.
To stop wildfires, residents in some Greek suburbs put their own money toward early warning drones
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Elena Becatoros
Published Aug 28, 2023 • 5 minute read
Grigoris Konstantellos, a commercial airline pilot and mayor of the southern Athens seaside suburbs of Vari, Voula and Vouliagmeni, shows on his cellphone the application of a drone warning system, at the control room in Voula, Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Greece is plagued by hundreds of wildfires each summer. To protect their area from potentially deadly blazes, a group of residents from a suburb in northern Athens have joined forces to hire a company using long-range drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras and a sophisticated early warning system to catch fires before they can spread.
Grigoris Konstantellos, a commercial airline pilot and mayor of the southern Athens seaside suburbs of Vari, Voula and Vouliagmeni, shows on his cellphone the application of a drone warning system, at the control room in Voula, Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Greece is plagued by hundreds of wildfires each summer. To protect their area from potentially deadly blazes, a group of residents from a suburb in northern Athens have joined forces to hire a company using long-range drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras and a sophisticated early warning system to catch fires before they can spread. PHOTO BY THANASSIS STAVRAKIS /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The nightmare repeats itself every year: A towering wall of flames devours forests, farmland and homes, forcing animals and people to flee for their lives.
With their hot, dry summers, Greece and its southern European neighbors experience hundreds of devastating wildfires each year. Last week alone, wildfires killed 21 people in Greece. The country’s deadliest, in 2018, cost more than 100 lives. And experts warn that climate change is likely to exacerbate extreme weather, fueling more wildfires.
This summer, a group of residents in a leafy suburb of the Greek capital united in determination to prevent the nightmare from reaching their homes.
In less than a week in early August, an initial group of three people with a shared concern grew to an online community of about 320 offering donations to hire a company using long-range drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras as a sophisticated early warning system to catch wildfires before they can spread.
“We’re all worried, we’re all anxious,” said Melina Throuvala, a psychologist and one of the three residents who started the project for drone patrols in the northern Athens suburbs of Kifissia, Ekali and Nea Erithrea. “We don’t want to mourn victims, or to see our environment and our forests burning or our homes threatened. That was the main incentive.”
And with wildfires, prevention is key.
Operated by drone pilots with advanced training to fly beyond the visual line of sight and with permission from civil aviation authorities, the drones provide live images and detect changes in temperature, alerting their handlers in the critical early stages before a fire spreads. The drones run 24/7, with pilots working in six-hour shifts.
“The first few minutes are the most crucial for a fire,” said Giorgos Dertilis, who heads the local volunteer firefighting unit. “At the start it’s easier to put out the fire. The more the minutes go by, the harder our job becomes.”
Volunteer units are integrated into Greece’s Civil Protection system, working closely with professional fire departments. With no fire station in the wider Kifissia area, volunteers often can get to local blazes faster.
The drone company operates from the volunteer firefighters’ headquarters, so they can react immediately at any signs of a fire.
Right from the start, the drone program’s value was apparent. In the first couple of days after the drone system was installed, a fire broke out near a shuttered hotel in the area, Dertilis said.
“The (drone) handler called us, we saw the smoke, so when we were on our way … we knew, we were prepared to see a fire,” he said. They quickly extinguished the blaze. “It’s very important to know what to expect.”
The system’s innovation, said Emmanouil Angelakis, managing director of the company operating the drones, is that it includes specialized personnel, software, servers and satellite antenna so that “drones, day and night, can scan all the forest areas with thermal cameras and sensors and give live images and coordinates of where a fire starts.”
It’s a tried and tested operation. Designed and set up with the help of Grigoris Konstantellos, a commercial airline pilot and mayor of the southern Athens seaside suburbs of Vari, Voula and Vouliagmeni, it began operating there last year.
“We didn’t discover it, we created it,” Kontantellos said of the program. “We said, ‘Why shouldn’t this capability exist?”‘
The idea came in June 2022, after a wind-whipped wildfire descended on his municipality from a mountain ridge. As they coordinated the emergency response, authorities realized they had a problem.
“We were chasing the fire,” the mayor said. With the flames moving rapidly, keeping track of where water trucks were needed was a challenge. “We couldn’t see basic things on the ground. We’d see them with a delay, because we weren’t right in front of them.”
An extensive review of the emergency response followed. “We saw that what was missing is for us to not chase the fire, but to be able to have a live image of the fire, of where our assets are and where the threat is,” Konstantellos said. They thought of drones.
The fire department already uses drones during an active blaze, covering a small area. What was needed was to see a fire right at the start, and stop it in its tracks.
Getting in touch with the drone company, the fire prevention program was born. In the year and a half it’s been operational, it’s given early warnings for fires 12 times, Konstantellos said.
“We’ve caught fires at 3:30 in the morning,” the mayor said. “When we sent the Civil Protection, they couldn’t even find the fire. We could see it on the drone.” Last week, when 270 lighting strikes sparked six blazes in the area during a storm, emergency services got there before the fires could spread.
The drones have a range of 15 kilometers (nearly 10 miles) and are equipped with loudspeakers and searchlights to warn off people doing banned outdoor work on high fire-risk days — or to frighten off potential arsonists. The municipality is even running a pilot program to prevent drownings, whereby drones can drop lifejackets to swimmers in distress.
The municipality pays 13,000-14,000 euros ($14,000-15,000) per month for 24/7 coverage. “For a municipality, it’s a viable number to have peace of mind from the fires,” Konstantellos said.
Angelakis, the drone company’s managing director, said the Kifissia residents’ privately funded initiative “was the first time this happened on a volunteer basis and not by a state body.”
Kifissia’s nearby municipality of Dionysos followed, with its privately funded operation working out of the town hall.
Residents of less affluent areas would be less able to afford private funding. But other municipal and regional authorities are interested, said Konstantellos, who noted the drone system can be used to coordinate responses to other events such as floods, earthquakes or major traffic accidents.
“As we say in aviation, ‘A well-trained pilot is the best safety device’,” he said. “We convert this to the civil protection and we say: ‘A well-prepared city is the best defense of a city against crisis’.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Elena Becatoros
Published Aug 28, 2023 • 5 minute read
Grigoris Konstantellos, a commercial airline pilot and mayor of the southern Athens seaside suburbs of Vari, Voula and Vouliagmeni, shows on his cellphone the application of a drone warning system, at the control room in Voula, Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Greece is plagued by hundreds of wildfires each summer. To protect their area from potentially deadly blazes, a group of residents from a suburb in northern Athens have joined forces to hire a company using long-range drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras and a sophisticated early warning system to catch fires before they can spread.
Grigoris Konstantellos, a commercial airline pilot and mayor of the southern Athens seaside suburbs of Vari, Voula and Vouliagmeni, shows on his cellphone the application of a drone warning system, at the control room in Voula, Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Greece is plagued by hundreds of wildfires each summer. To protect their area from potentially deadly blazes, a group of residents from a suburb in northern Athens have joined forces to hire a company using long-range drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras and a sophisticated early warning system to catch fires before they can spread. PHOTO BY THANASSIS STAVRAKIS /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The nightmare repeats itself every year: A towering wall of flames devours forests, farmland and homes, forcing animals and people to flee for their lives.
With their hot, dry summers, Greece and its southern European neighbors experience hundreds of devastating wildfires each year. Last week alone, wildfires killed 21 people in Greece. The country’s deadliest, in 2018, cost more than 100 lives. And experts warn that climate change is likely to exacerbate extreme weather, fueling more wildfires.
This summer, a group of residents in a leafy suburb of the Greek capital united in determination to prevent the nightmare from reaching their homes.
In less than a week in early August, an initial group of three people with a shared concern grew to an online community of about 320 offering donations to hire a company using long-range drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras as a sophisticated early warning system to catch wildfires before they can spread.
“We’re all worried, we’re all anxious,” said Melina Throuvala, a psychologist and one of the three residents who started the project for drone patrols in the northern Athens suburbs of Kifissia, Ekali and Nea Erithrea. “We don’t want to mourn victims, or to see our environment and our forests burning or our homes threatened. That was the main incentive.”
And with wildfires, prevention is key.
Operated by drone pilots with advanced training to fly beyond the visual line of sight and with permission from civil aviation authorities, the drones provide live images and detect changes in temperature, alerting their handlers in the critical early stages before a fire spreads. The drones run 24/7, with pilots working in six-hour shifts.
“The first few minutes are the most crucial for a fire,” said Giorgos Dertilis, who heads the local volunteer firefighting unit. “At the start it’s easier to put out the fire. The more the minutes go by, the harder our job becomes.”
Volunteer units are integrated into Greece’s Civil Protection system, working closely with professional fire departments. With no fire station in the wider Kifissia area, volunteers often can get to local blazes faster.
The drone company operates from the volunteer firefighters’ headquarters, so they can react immediately at any signs of a fire.
Right from the start, the drone program’s value was apparent. In the first couple of days after the drone system was installed, a fire broke out near a shuttered hotel in the area, Dertilis said.
“The (drone) handler called us, we saw the smoke, so when we were on our way … we knew, we were prepared to see a fire,” he said. They quickly extinguished the blaze. “It’s very important to know what to expect.”
The system’s innovation, said Emmanouil Angelakis, managing director of the company operating the drones, is that it includes specialized personnel, software, servers and satellite antenna so that “drones, day and night, can scan all the forest areas with thermal cameras and sensors and give live images and coordinates of where a fire starts.”
It’s a tried and tested operation. Designed and set up with the help of Grigoris Konstantellos, a commercial airline pilot and mayor of the southern Athens seaside suburbs of Vari, Voula and Vouliagmeni, it began operating there last year.
“We didn’t discover it, we created it,” Kontantellos said of the program. “We said, ‘Why shouldn’t this capability exist?”‘
The idea came in June 2022, after a wind-whipped wildfire descended on his municipality from a mountain ridge. As they coordinated the emergency response, authorities realized they had a problem.
“We were chasing the fire,” the mayor said. With the flames moving rapidly, keeping track of where water trucks were needed was a challenge. “We couldn’t see basic things on the ground. We’d see them with a delay, because we weren’t right in front of them.”
An extensive review of the emergency response followed. “We saw that what was missing is for us to not chase the fire, but to be able to have a live image of the fire, of where our assets are and where the threat is,” Konstantellos said. They thought of drones.
The fire department already uses drones during an active blaze, covering a small area. What was needed was to see a fire right at the start, and stop it in its tracks.
Getting in touch with the drone company, the fire prevention program was born. In the year and a half it’s been operational, it’s given early warnings for fires 12 times, Konstantellos said.
“We’ve caught fires at 3:30 in the morning,” the mayor said. “When we sent the Civil Protection, they couldn’t even find the fire. We could see it on the drone.” Last week, when 270 lighting strikes sparked six blazes in the area during a storm, emergency services got there before the fires could spread.
The drones have a range of 15 kilometers (nearly 10 miles) and are equipped with loudspeakers and searchlights to warn off people doing banned outdoor work on high fire-risk days — or to frighten off potential arsonists. The municipality is even running a pilot program to prevent drownings, whereby drones can drop lifejackets to swimmers in distress.
The municipality pays 13,000-14,000 euros ($14,000-15,000) per month for 24/7 coverage. “For a municipality, it’s a viable number to have peace of mind from the fires,” Konstantellos said.
Angelakis, the drone company’s managing director, said the Kifissia residents’ privately funded initiative “was the first time this happened on a volunteer basis and not by a state body.”
Kifissia’s nearby municipality of Dionysos followed, with its privately funded operation working out of the town hall.
Residents of less affluent areas would be less able to afford private funding. But other municipal and regional authorities are interested, said Konstantellos, who noted the drone system can be used to coordinate responses to other events such as floods, earthquakes or major traffic accidents.
“As we say in aviation, ‘A well-trained pilot is the best safety device’,” he said. “We convert this to the civil protection and we say: ‘A well-prepared city is the best defense of a city against crisis’.”
To stop wildfires, residents in some Greek suburbs put their own money toward early warning drones
And with wildfires, prevention is key.
Hawaii power utility takes responsibility for first fire on Maui, but faults county firefighters
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
er McDermott and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher
Published Aug 28, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read
HONOLULU — Hawaii’s electric utility acknowledged its power lines started a wildfire on Maui but faulted county firefighters for declaring the blaze contained and leaving the scene, only to have a second wildfire break out nearby and become the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.
Hawaiian Electric Company released a statement Sunday night in response to Maui County’s lawsuit blaming the utility for failing to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions. Hawaiian Electric called that complaint “factually and legally irresponsible,” and said its power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for more than six hours when the second blaze started.
In its statement, the utility addressed the cause for the first time. It said the fire on the morning of Aug. 8 “appears to have been caused by power lines that fell in high winds.” The Associated Press reported Saturday that bare electrical wire that could spark on contact and leaning poles on Maui were the possible cause.
But Hawaiian Electric appeared to blame Maui County for most of the devastation — the fact that the fire appeared to reignite that afternoon and tore through downtown Lahaina, killing at least 115 people and destroying 2,000 structures.
Richard Fried, a Honolulu attorney working as co-counsel on Maui County’s lawsuit, countered that if the power company’s lines hadn’t caused the initial fire, “this all would be moot.”
“That’s the biggest problem,” Fried said Monday. “They can dance around this all they want. But there’s no explanation for that.”
The wrestling over the cause could be crucial in determining who is liable for billions of dollars in damage beyond the loss of life.
On Monday, Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez urged property owners in the burned areas to report any unsolicited offers to buy that property — an action that can be punished by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine under an emergency proclamation issued by Gov. Josh Green earlier this month. Green said he was concerned that real estate investors would swoop in and dispossess local residents.
“Preying on people who suffered the most from the tragedy on Maui is despicable,” said Lopez.
John Fiske, an attorney at a California firm that’s also representing the county of Maui in the lawsuit, said the ultimate responsibility rests with Hawaiian Electric to properly keep up its equipment, and make sure lines are not live when they’re downed or could be downed. Fiske said that if the utility has information about a second ignition source, it should offer that evidence now.
Mike Morgan, an Orlando attorney who’s currently on Maui to work on wildfire litigation for his firm, Morgan & Morgan, said he thinks Hawaiian Electric’s statement was an attempt to shift liability and total responsibility.
“By taking responsibility for causing the first fire, then pointing the finger on a fire that started 75 yards away and saying, ’That’s not our fault, we started it but they should’ve put it out,’ I’m not sure how that will hold up,” Morgan, who manages complex litigation, said Monday. “It’s also so premature because there are ongoing investigations.”
Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who are investigating the cause and origin of the fire, and lawyers involved in the litigation, were at a warehouse Monday to inspect electrical equipment taken from the neighbourhood where the fire is thought to have originated. The utility took down the burnt poles and removed fallen wires from the site.
Videos and images analyzed by AP confirmed that the wires that started the morning fire were among miles of line that the utility left naked to the weather and often-thick foliage, despite a recent push by utilities in other wildfire- and hurricane-prone areas to cover up their lines or bury them.
Compounding the problem is that many of the utility’s 60,000, mostly wooden power poles, which its own documents described as built to “an obsolete 1960s standard,” were leaning and near the end of their projected lifespan. They were nowhere close to meeting a 2002 national standard that key components of Hawaii’s electrical grid be able to withstand 105 mile per hour winds.
As Hurricane Dora passed roughly 800 kilometres south of Hawaii Aug. 8, Lahaina resident Shane Treu heard a utility pole snap next to Lahainaluna Road. He saw a downed power line ignite the grass and called 911 at 6:37 a.m. to report the fire. Small brush fires aren’t unusual for Lahaina, and a drought in the region had left plants, including invasive grasses, dangerously dry. The Maui County Fire Department declared that fire 100% contained by 9:55 a.m. Firefighters then left to attend to other calls.
Hawaiian Electric said its own crews then went to the scene that afternoon to make repairs and did not see fire, smoke or embers. The power to the area was off. Shortly before 3 p.m., those crews saw a small fire in a nearby field and called 911, the utility said.
Residents said the embers from the morning fire had reignited and the fire raced toward downtown Lahaina. Treu’s neighbour Robert Arconado recorded video of it spreading at 3:06 p.m., as large plumes of smoke rise near Lahainaluna Road and are carried downtown by the wind.
Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, investor-owned, publicly traded utility that serves 95% of Hawaii’s electric customers. CEO Shelee Kimura said there are important lessons to be learned from this tragedy, and resolved to “figure out what we need to do to keep our communities safe as climate issues rapidly intensify here and around the globe.”
The utility faces a spate of new lawsuits that seek to hold it responsible. Wailuku attorney Paul Starita, lead counsel on three lawsuits by Singleton Schreiber, called it a “preventable tragedy of epic proportions,” and said the fire department’s response does not absolve Hawaiian Electric of liability.
— McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
er McDermott and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher
Published Aug 28, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read
HONOLULU — Hawaii’s electric utility acknowledged its power lines started a wildfire on Maui but faulted county firefighters for declaring the blaze contained and leaving the scene, only to have a second wildfire break out nearby and become the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.
Hawaiian Electric Company released a statement Sunday night in response to Maui County’s lawsuit blaming the utility for failing to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions. Hawaiian Electric called that complaint “factually and legally irresponsible,” and said its power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for more than six hours when the second blaze started.
In its statement, the utility addressed the cause for the first time. It said the fire on the morning of Aug. 8 “appears to have been caused by power lines that fell in high winds.” The Associated Press reported Saturday that bare electrical wire that could spark on contact and leaning poles on Maui were the possible cause.
But Hawaiian Electric appeared to blame Maui County for most of the devastation — the fact that the fire appeared to reignite that afternoon and tore through downtown Lahaina, killing at least 115 people and destroying 2,000 structures.
Richard Fried, a Honolulu attorney working as co-counsel on Maui County’s lawsuit, countered that if the power company’s lines hadn’t caused the initial fire, “this all would be moot.”
“That’s the biggest problem,” Fried said Monday. “They can dance around this all they want. But there’s no explanation for that.”
The wrestling over the cause could be crucial in determining who is liable for billions of dollars in damage beyond the loss of life.
On Monday, Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez urged property owners in the burned areas to report any unsolicited offers to buy that property — an action that can be punished by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine under an emergency proclamation issued by Gov. Josh Green earlier this month. Green said he was concerned that real estate investors would swoop in and dispossess local residents.
“Preying on people who suffered the most from the tragedy on Maui is despicable,” said Lopez.
John Fiske, an attorney at a California firm that’s also representing the county of Maui in the lawsuit, said the ultimate responsibility rests with Hawaiian Electric to properly keep up its equipment, and make sure lines are not live when they’re downed or could be downed. Fiske said that if the utility has information about a second ignition source, it should offer that evidence now.
Mike Morgan, an Orlando attorney who’s currently on Maui to work on wildfire litigation for his firm, Morgan & Morgan, said he thinks Hawaiian Electric’s statement was an attempt to shift liability and total responsibility.
“By taking responsibility for causing the first fire, then pointing the finger on a fire that started 75 yards away and saying, ’That’s not our fault, we started it but they should’ve put it out,’ I’m not sure how that will hold up,” Morgan, who manages complex litigation, said Monday. “It’s also so premature because there are ongoing investigations.”
Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who are investigating the cause and origin of the fire, and lawyers involved in the litigation, were at a warehouse Monday to inspect electrical equipment taken from the neighbourhood where the fire is thought to have originated. The utility took down the burnt poles and removed fallen wires from the site.
Videos and images analyzed by AP confirmed that the wires that started the morning fire were among miles of line that the utility left naked to the weather and often-thick foliage, despite a recent push by utilities in other wildfire- and hurricane-prone areas to cover up their lines or bury them.
Compounding the problem is that many of the utility’s 60,000, mostly wooden power poles, which its own documents described as built to “an obsolete 1960s standard,” were leaning and near the end of their projected lifespan. They were nowhere close to meeting a 2002 national standard that key components of Hawaii’s electrical grid be able to withstand 105 mile per hour winds.
As Hurricane Dora passed roughly 800 kilometres south of Hawaii Aug. 8, Lahaina resident Shane Treu heard a utility pole snap next to Lahainaluna Road. He saw a downed power line ignite the grass and called 911 at 6:37 a.m. to report the fire. Small brush fires aren’t unusual for Lahaina, and a drought in the region had left plants, including invasive grasses, dangerously dry. The Maui County Fire Department declared that fire 100% contained by 9:55 a.m. Firefighters then left to attend to other calls.
Hawaiian Electric said its own crews then went to the scene that afternoon to make repairs and did not see fire, smoke or embers. The power to the area was off. Shortly before 3 p.m., those crews saw a small fire in a nearby field and called 911, the utility said.
Residents said the embers from the morning fire had reignited and the fire raced toward downtown Lahaina. Treu’s neighbour Robert Arconado recorded video of it spreading at 3:06 p.m., as large plumes of smoke rise near Lahainaluna Road and are carried downtown by the wind.
Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, investor-owned, publicly traded utility that serves 95% of Hawaii’s electric customers. CEO Shelee Kimura said there are important lessons to be learned from this tragedy, and resolved to “figure out what we need to do to keep our communities safe as climate issues rapidly intensify here and around the globe.”
The utility faces a spate of new lawsuits that seek to hold it responsible. Wailuku attorney Paul Starita, lead counsel on three lawsuits by Singleton Schreiber, called it a “preventable tragedy of epic proportions,” and said the fire department’s response does not absolve Hawaiian Electric of liability.
— McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island.
Hawaii power utility takes responsibility for first fire on Maui, but faults county firefighters
It also faults county firefighters.
Lawyers claim cable TV and phone companies also responsible in Maui fires
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jennifer Mcdermott, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher And Audrey Mcavoy
Published Sep 06, 2023 • 4 minute read
HONOLULU — After a visit to a warehouse where Hawaiian Electric Company is housing power poles and electrical equipment that may be key to the investigation of last month’s devastating fires on Maui, lawyers for Lahaina residents and business owners told a court Tuesday that cable TV and telephone companies share responsibility for the disaster because they allegedly overloaded and destabilized some of the poles.
The lawyers said the cables were attached in a way that put too much tension on the poles, causing them to lean and break in the winds on Aug. 8 when flames burned down much of Lahaina, killing at least 115 people and destroying more than 2,000 structures.
LippSmith LLP has filed a proposed class action against Hawaii’s electric utility and Maui County in state court in Hawaii. Attorney Graham LippSmith is now asking the court to add multiple telecommunications companies and public and private landowners to the original suit.
“In a disaster of this magnitude, it takes some time for all the potentially responsible parties to come into focus and be brought into court. Our investigation thus far shows a constellation of many serious failures that together led to this horrible tragedy,” MaryBeth LippSmith, co-founder of the Hawaii- and California-based firm, said in an interview Tuesday.
Pacific Gas & Electric in California filed for bankruptcy in 2019 due to a succession of harrowing wildfires ignited by its long-neglected electrical grid in Northern California.
But LippSmith rejected the suggestion the firm is seeking extra defendants in the event that Hawaiian Electric declares bankruptcy. Rather it’s trying to get at the root of multiple failures in order to prevent this kind of tragedy in the future, she said. The lawsuit seeks damages and injunctive relief, including a court order to force the defendants to address fire risk.
When LippSmith’s team visited the warehouse, together with officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, they said they saw a pole that had snapped at the base and fallen to the ground, damaging the cross arms of a neighboring pole. Because sections of poles had been cut up, apparently with a chainsaw, they could not tell if one pole or several had snapped, and they said they were not allowed close enough to identify pole numbers.
The cables had also been stripped off the poles and Hawaiian Electric only brought its own equipment to the warehouse, they said. The sterile display bears little relation to the equipment after the fire, so the attorneys and their fire investigators viewed pre-fire photos of the poles. They said those showed no slack in the cable TV and telephone lines that ran between the poles, mid-height. That over-tensioning and the uneven distribution of weight caused the poles to lean downhill, they claim.
Charter Communications, which owns cable TV provider Spectrum, declined to comment.
The proposed amended complaint still holds the power utilities responsible for the wildfires. It accuses them of failing to shut off power preemptively despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions, failing to replace old wooden poles too weak to withstand 105 mile per hours winds as required by a 2002 national standard, briefly recharging the lines on Aug. 8 in parts of Lahaina and blocking evacuation routes while crews serviced downed lines.
The complaint also seeks to hold other parties responsible. It says when old wooden power poles fell, they landed on highly flammable vegetation that had not been maintained by private and state landowners and both “ignited the fire and fueled its cataclysmic spread.” It says the county should have properly maintained vegetation, aggressively reduced nonnative plants, and sounded sirens to warn people of the approaching fire.
Hawaiian Electric acknowledged last week that its power lines started a fire on the morning of Aug. 8, but faulted county firefighters for declaring the blaze contained and then leaving the scene, only to have a second wildfire break out nearby and become the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.
Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, investor-owned, publicly traded utility that serves 95% of Hawaii’s electric customers. It faces a spate of new lawsuits that seek to hold it responsible.
In response to a request for comment, a utility spokesperson said Tuesday the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation. The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, named as a defendant, said the same.
“We are awaiting guidance from our legal counsel before addressing,” a Maui County spokesperson said when asked for comment.
Maui County is blaming the utility for failing to shut off power. John Fiske, an attorney at a California firm that’s representing the county, has said the ultimate responsibility rests with Hawaiian Electric to properly keep up its equipment, and make sure lines are not live when they’re downed or could be downed.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jennifer Mcdermott, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher And Audrey Mcavoy
Published Sep 06, 2023 • 4 minute read
HONOLULU — After a visit to a warehouse where Hawaiian Electric Company is housing power poles and electrical equipment that may be key to the investigation of last month’s devastating fires on Maui, lawyers for Lahaina residents and business owners told a court Tuesday that cable TV and telephone companies share responsibility for the disaster because they allegedly overloaded and destabilized some of the poles.
The lawyers said the cables were attached in a way that put too much tension on the poles, causing them to lean and break in the winds on Aug. 8 when flames burned down much of Lahaina, killing at least 115 people and destroying more than 2,000 structures.
LippSmith LLP has filed a proposed class action against Hawaii’s electric utility and Maui County in state court in Hawaii. Attorney Graham LippSmith is now asking the court to add multiple telecommunications companies and public and private landowners to the original suit.
“In a disaster of this magnitude, it takes some time for all the potentially responsible parties to come into focus and be brought into court. Our investigation thus far shows a constellation of many serious failures that together led to this horrible tragedy,” MaryBeth LippSmith, co-founder of the Hawaii- and California-based firm, said in an interview Tuesday.
Pacific Gas & Electric in California filed for bankruptcy in 2019 due to a succession of harrowing wildfires ignited by its long-neglected electrical grid in Northern California.
But LippSmith rejected the suggestion the firm is seeking extra defendants in the event that Hawaiian Electric declares bankruptcy. Rather it’s trying to get at the root of multiple failures in order to prevent this kind of tragedy in the future, she said. The lawsuit seeks damages and injunctive relief, including a court order to force the defendants to address fire risk.
When LippSmith’s team visited the warehouse, together with officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, they said they saw a pole that had snapped at the base and fallen to the ground, damaging the cross arms of a neighboring pole. Because sections of poles had been cut up, apparently with a chainsaw, they could not tell if one pole or several had snapped, and they said they were not allowed close enough to identify pole numbers.
The cables had also been stripped off the poles and Hawaiian Electric only brought its own equipment to the warehouse, they said. The sterile display bears little relation to the equipment after the fire, so the attorneys and their fire investigators viewed pre-fire photos of the poles. They said those showed no slack in the cable TV and telephone lines that ran between the poles, mid-height. That over-tensioning and the uneven distribution of weight caused the poles to lean downhill, they claim.
Charter Communications, which owns cable TV provider Spectrum, declined to comment.
The proposed amended complaint still holds the power utilities responsible for the wildfires. It accuses them of failing to shut off power preemptively despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions, failing to replace old wooden poles too weak to withstand 105 mile per hours winds as required by a 2002 national standard, briefly recharging the lines on Aug. 8 in parts of Lahaina and blocking evacuation routes while crews serviced downed lines.
The complaint also seeks to hold other parties responsible. It says when old wooden power poles fell, they landed on highly flammable vegetation that had not been maintained by private and state landowners and both “ignited the fire and fueled its cataclysmic spread.” It says the county should have properly maintained vegetation, aggressively reduced nonnative plants, and sounded sirens to warn people of the approaching fire.
Hawaiian Electric acknowledged last week that its power lines started a fire on the morning of Aug. 8, but faulted county firefighters for declaring the blaze contained and then leaving the scene, only to have a second wildfire break out nearby and become the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.
Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, investor-owned, publicly traded utility that serves 95% of Hawaii’s electric customers. It faces a spate of new lawsuits that seek to hold it responsible.
In response to a request for comment, a utility spokesperson said Tuesday the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation. The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, named as a defendant, said the same.
“We are awaiting guidance from our legal counsel before addressing,” a Maui County spokesperson said when asked for comment.
Maui County is blaming the utility for failing to shut off power. John Fiske, an attorney at a California firm that’s representing the county, has said the ultimate responsibility rests with Hawaiian Electric to properly keep up its equipment, and make sure lines are not live when they’re downed or could be downed.
Lawyers claim cable TV and phone companies also responsible in Maui fires
Lawyers for Lahaina residents and business owners told a court that cable TV and telephone companies share responsibility for the disaster
Postmedia to publish new wildfire book this fall
The hardcover book features 100 photos and reportage from dozens of Postmedia journalists across the country.
Author of the article:Calgary Herald
Published Sep 06, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
A book chronicling Canada’s unprecedented 2023 wildfire season will be published this November by Postmedia and Greystone Books.
Wildfire has scorched more than 15 million hectares in the country this year, with several weeks still left in the season. The 10-year average of land lost to wildfires previously sat at 2.2 million hectares.
The hardcover book — called The Summer Canada Burned: A Wildfire Season That Shocked the World — will be available in November, featuring 100 photos and reportage from dozens of Postmedia journalists across the country.
“Wildfires have touched every province and every territory this year,” said Duncan Clark, Postmedia’s chief content officer.
“Hundreds of people lost their homes, while tens of thousands more were evacuated when flames invaded their community,” he said. “Additionally, all Canadians — and millions more in the United States — dealt with choking smoke from those wildfires.
“The stories from this year’s wildfires are stories that matter, with long term impacts, and that’s why it’s vital to capture them. They represent a new chapter of the history we share in Canada.”
In the months and years ahead, the wildfires will impact everything from insurance rates to local states of economic recovery, while also raising questions about Canada’s response to such disasters and the changing climate.
“The sad truth is that the escalation of climate change took centre stage in Canada,” said Rob Sanders, Greystone’s CEO and founding publisher. “This book reveals what happened and why, and it salutes the people who gave so much of themselves to limit the damage.”
Tragically, four firefighting personnel lost their lives while battling this season’s blazes. To date, more than 4,000 firefighters from 12 countries arrived here to assist thousands of Canadian firefighting personnel on the ground and in the air.
A share of proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross Wildfire Fund.
The economic losses and costs resulting from the wildfires are still being tallied, but officials expect the total to run into the billions of dollars.
Postmedia and Greystone Books have collaborated on other books, including the national bestseller The Flood of 2013: A Summer of Angry Rivers in Southern Alberta.
The new book — The Summer Canada Burned — is edited and compiled by Postmedia Calgary deputy editor Monica Zurowski.
It will be printed in Canada thanks to support from the Manitoba-based, employee-owned Friesens Corporation.
torontosun.com
greystonebooks.com
The hardcover book features 100 photos and reportage from dozens of Postmedia journalists across the country.
Author of the article:Calgary Herald
Published Sep 06, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
A book chronicling Canada’s unprecedented 2023 wildfire season will be published this November by Postmedia and Greystone Books.
Wildfire has scorched more than 15 million hectares in the country this year, with several weeks still left in the season. The 10-year average of land lost to wildfires previously sat at 2.2 million hectares.
The hardcover book — called The Summer Canada Burned: A Wildfire Season That Shocked the World — will be available in November, featuring 100 photos and reportage from dozens of Postmedia journalists across the country.
“Wildfires have touched every province and every territory this year,” said Duncan Clark, Postmedia’s chief content officer.
“Hundreds of people lost their homes, while tens of thousands more were evacuated when flames invaded their community,” he said. “Additionally, all Canadians — and millions more in the United States — dealt with choking smoke from those wildfires.
“The stories from this year’s wildfires are stories that matter, with long term impacts, and that’s why it’s vital to capture them. They represent a new chapter of the history we share in Canada.”
In the months and years ahead, the wildfires will impact everything from insurance rates to local states of economic recovery, while also raising questions about Canada’s response to such disasters and the changing climate.
“The sad truth is that the escalation of climate change took centre stage in Canada,” said Rob Sanders, Greystone’s CEO and founding publisher. “This book reveals what happened and why, and it salutes the people who gave so much of themselves to limit the damage.”
Tragically, four firefighting personnel lost their lives while battling this season’s blazes. To date, more than 4,000 firefighters from 12 countries arrived here to assist thousands of Canadian firefighting personnel on the ground and in the air.
A share of proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross Wildfire Fund.
The economic losses and costs resulting from the wildfires are still being tallied, but officials expect the total to run into the billions of dollars.
Postmedia and Greystone Books have collaborated on other books, including the national bestseller The Flood of 2013: A Summer of Angry Rivers in Southern Alberta.
The new book — The Summer Canada Burned — is edited and compiled by Postmedia Calgary deputy editor Monica Zurowski.
It will be printed in Canada thanks to support from the Manitoba-based, employee-owned Friesens Corporation.
Postmedia to publish new wildfire book this fall
Postmedia will publish a new book documenting the story of Canada's 2023 wildfires
The Summer Canada Burned
With over one hundred full-color photographs comes a harrowing portrait of Canada’s most devastating wildfire season ever, the effects of which could be felt and seen across the world.“All hell has broken loose.” That’s the phrase some fire officials use to describe the unprecedented 2023...
greystonebooks.com