European fires

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70g1602l1no

This is not too far from me and has been so bad, so much wildlife will be lost, there are wild horses there I hope they are safe

Why have you started two thread about this Nana8 I replied on your other thread and had to look twice to see why it wasn’t showing up

There are at least 2,200 wildfires across the world right now. Mostly exacerbated by the heat and lack of rainfall. If we don’t do more to address climate change this will be a yearly occurrence at some point. There are at least 3 wildfires in the UK. In the next hot dry spell it could increase, no-one is safe.

nanna8

I remember in a bad bushfire year seeing glowing embers flying overhead and we were many kms away from the fires. The wind was picking them up and transporting them to way beyond the source. Very frightening. Sometimes by the time they tell you to evacuate it is too late and the roads become blocked with falling trees.

My GDD is a volunteer fire fighter on OZ and has been out regularly making fire breaks around properties, including her own. Hope you have a cool summer and light winds. nanna8

MartavTaurus

missdeke

One of my daughters lives in Southern Spain as does my school friend who I have known almost 60 years, so I have been following the news as it comes through. Luckily neither of them have been badly affected so far, so keeping my fingers crossed. I really am baffled by the thought that anyone could actually start these fires on purpose. If anybody dies they should be arrested and charged with manslaughter at the very least.

In France the French PM said 162 arrests have been made. If found guilty and charged they are given 15 years in prison.

Good to know., thank you.

missdeke

One of my daughters lives in Southern Spain as does my school friend who I have known almost 60 years, so I have been following the news as it comes through. Luckily neither of them have been badly affected so far, so keeping my fingers crossed. I really am baffled by the thought that anyone could actually start these fires on purpose. If anybody dies they should be arrested and charged with manslaughter at the very least.

In France the French PM said 162 arrests have been made. If found guilty and charged they are given 15 years in prison.

Uncountable human and wildlife deaths.

We live very close to the city centre and we were able to smell the burnt wood and pine.

We both have had to avoid the constant news.

Our tears could of put the fires out !

Take care and avoid Spain at this time and the endangered areas of France and The U.K.

missdeke

One of my daughters lives in Southern Spain as does my school friend who I have known almost 60 years, so I have been following the news as it comes through. Luckily neither of them have been badly affected so far, so keeping my fingers crossed. I really am baffled by the thought that anyone could actually start these fires on purpose. If anybody dies they should be arrested and charged with manslaughter at the very least.

Indeed. Beggars belief doesn't it.I always wonder if any of these people get caught out by their own fires.
Probably not.

One of my daughters lives in Southern Spain as does my school friend who I have known almost 60 years, so I have been following the news as it comes through. Luckily neither of them have been badly affected so far, so keeping my fingers crossed. I really am baffled by the thought that anyone could actually start these fires on purpose. If anybody dies they should be arrested and charged with manslaughter at the very least.

We had one here, caused by the explosion of those awful cannisters that the kids sniff and left lying in the grass.

It was a bit lucky that the place they had chosen was not far from the river. It took several fire engines and 2 days to finally put it out, although they contained the spread within hours, and kept it from the nearby houses.

Quite alarming, but thankfully it was not where they also go which is close to me and not near the water. We are now officially in drought.

I honestly do not know enough about French or Spanish forests to know whether there are sufficient fire breaks in them.

One thing that governments could do, would be to ban the sale of disposable barbecues.

Obviously, just banning their use or the lighting of fires out-of-doors during heatwaves is never going to be enough, for there is no way forests, heaths etc. can be patrolled to check that people are actually obeying bans on open fires, camp-stoves, barbecues etc. during heat-waves.

Teaching school-children how to vehave responsibly on trekking or camping trips might do some good. After all, our generation were taught as girl guides or boy scouts how to safely light fires and put them out when on camping trips, to always break used matches in two and stick the ends of them down into the ground and either to bury rubbish or take it with us to the nearest bin.

Perhaps it is time for an enormous advertising campaign for fire prevention?

Jennifer Eccles - I think Nanna8 may have missed your query. Yes, we do have prescribed burns to mitigate the risk of wildfires, but it's quite controversial because of the damage it causes to native fauna and flora. The "Power People" are at last realising that the Aborigines do know what they are talking about and beginning to take advice from them, but it's a slow process.

We had a number of fires here (London/Essex border) last week.

It's a very dry part of the country at the best of times, and 19 houses in the borough were destroyed by fire during a heatwave in 2022.

Last weekend I heard fireworks being set off in back gardens on two occasions at gone midnight.

It doesn't surprise me that the French authorities have said 90% of their wildfires are the result of human activity.

I remember in a bad bushfire year seeing glowing embers flying overhead and we were many kms away from the fires. The wind was picking them up and transporting them to way beyond the source. Very frightening. Sometimes by the time they tell you to evacuate it is too late and the roads become blocked with falling trees.

nanna8

We are getting quite a bit of news about the awful fires in France and Spain. I hope they can get them under control soon and those evacuated can get back to some sort of normal life.
I think they need to really crack down on people starting th3 fires and a lot more publicity about how they can start accidentally through carelessness. Watching the poor people sat with their pets in big open evacuation halls I feel really sad. Hope it doesn’t happen in 5he UK. I know it will happen again nearwhere we live, it always does, but we catch them pretty quickly after having a shocking history of loss of life .

Some of those evacuated in France and Spain, have nothing left to return to. Home and business gone. The aerial pictures of the devastation are awful.

In the Scottish Highlands there;s been a large fire burning for weeks; last week a whole village was evacuated.

People living in wild rural and forested areas know perfectly well how to avoid fire risk. Here in Scotland, there are Rangers whose full time job is patrolling risk areas, teaching tourists and campers not to damage the beauty they came to see. How to stay safe. How not to die of falling over in a steppplace, as two did last week.

Some supermarkets here have stopped selling cheap disposable barbecues BECAUSE tourists take them out in the countryside for a picnic. They take bottled drinks and leave the empty glass behind, in the sun, by piles of flammable litter. They smoke. They fly candle powered hot air balloons to celebrate. They collect some dry wood for a bonfire after a "wild swim". There's no limit to the stupidity and irresponsibility of inebriated idiots on holiday, despite umpteen notices, social media warnings etc.

There’s fires on Crete now . Two firefighters have tragically died .

MawsRosie

It is absolutely incredible that we are still hearing of idiots (no other word for them) lighting camp fires or disposable barbecues.

You can’t educate spam 🤦🏼‍♀️

Government should tell us about plans and actions to mitigate wildfire risks in the UK.

Maremia

One has started in Suffolk now

DD3s In Laws have been evacuated from their holiday home nr Dunwich.

One has started in Suffolk now.

Meanwhile, looks like we're in for more of these due to the weather. Time to spend money in preparation for this. More reservoirs?

Oreo

Yes it’s awful isn’t it, losing your home and neighbourhood to wildfires must be so distressing.
My DD amazed me yesterday by saying they’re thinking of booking a last minute holiday in Spain, the temperatures there!

My dh, dd, Gdcs and some extended family, are all off to S Spain next week. I opted out even before the fires - couldn’t face the heat and the crowds.

I won’t be happy until they’re all safely back, but at least they’ll be staying very close to the sea - at least they’ll be able to get in it if any fire threatens - and thankfully they’re all competent swimmers.

Whitewavemark2

Has anyone read whether food is being supplied to surviving wildlife - because if not they are going to starve.

I read an interesting, but sad, report from the OFB (Office français de la biodiversité) that tens of thousands will die. And not just from the fire, but from the ashes which accumulate in the soil and contain heavy metals. When the rains do come, this same soil will drain towards the waters and will have a devaststing effect on all aquatic life for many years to come.

Has anyone read whether food is being supplied to surviving wildlife - because if not they are going to starve.

nanna8 I remember reading once that many years ago now, how the Aborigines were very successful in reducing the number of wild fires in Australia by a system of deliberate burning to create fire breaks.
Does a similar system still exist in your country?