Ahmet Gencturk
From North America to Australia, the world is grappling with massive forest fires
ANKARA
Wildfires have spread to many parts of the world, according to US space agency NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS).
Accordingly, most of North America and South America, the African plateau, the northern Arabian Peninsula and the Mediterranean coast of Europe as well as Northern and Eastern Europe have been affected by fires.
In Asia, fires have been detected on the coasts of India and in Russia's Siberia region as well as in China, Malaysia and Indonesia.
European countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece, which have a coast on the Mediterranean, are also struggling with forest fires.
According to an emergency map of the European Commission showing forest fires, large and small fires on the entire continent reach almost as far as the north of Russia. On the satellite map, it is seen that fires of various sizes have been burning for at least a week in EU countries.
Italy
Southern parts of the country are especially experiencing many forest fires, both large and small.
According to a statement by Italy’s National Fire Corps, more than 800 fires have broken out in the country in the last 24 hours. Firefighters have responded to 250 fires in Sicily and 130 in Puglia, while 20,000 hectares of forest burned in a fire on July 24 in the countryside of Sardinia island’s Oristano province, where 1,500 people were evacuated. Italy requested firefighting aircraft from EU countries to supplement its own aircraft.
Spain
On July 26, the largest forest fire in the last two years broke out in the northern Catalonia region, while 1,657 hectares of land were burned in a fire in Santa Coloma de Queralt municipality in the Tarragona region and 168 people in residential areas were evacuated.
Greece
Greek authorities reported 58 forest fires in the last 24 hours.
The fires intensified around the western port city of Patras and in the town of Soufli, which is close to the Turkish-Greek border.
Russia
Efforts are still underway to extinguish forest fires that started this month in Russia’s northeastern Yakutia region.
Authorities declared a state of emergency for the region, where over 1.3 million hectares of forestland have gone up in flames.
Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations reported last Thursday that teams are working to extinguish fires that are continuing in 144 locations.
US and Canada
In the US, according to data Monday from the National Interagency Fire Center, around 450,000 acres of forest have burned in 91 blazes in 13 states. Also, new blazes were reported in the states of Idaho, Alaska and Minnesota.
In the US’s northern neighbor Canada, 4,576 forest fires have been reported so far this year. This amounts to 1,000 times more the average rate of the last decade.