A blanket of toxic haze is enveloping parts of Indonesia and spreading into Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, as weeks-long wildfires continue to burn. Millions of people across large swathes of South East Asia have been exposed to the smog, which in some areas has fuelled “acutely unhealthy” pollution more than 15 times the World
If there were an apex predator among fires, tropical peatland fires would be a top contender. These fires, which burn in dried wetland soils, are slow-burning, highly polluting, and notoriously difficult to extinguish because they smolder at low temperatures and often burn underground through expansive deposits of peat. By one estimate, peat fires generate three
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers are expected to vote Tuesday on a bill aimed at supporting wildfire survivors after rejecting an ambitious proposal by Gov. Gavin Newsom that would have limited electric companies’ financial liability for blazes sparked by their equipment. The Democratic governor said the last-minute compromise he made with lawmakers will have some
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has said he wants to reinstate the death penalty for arsonists, following a wave of forest fires that have killed at least 12 people. The president ordered the justice ministry to introduce changes to the criminal law introducing capital punishment for arsonists. Capital punishment remains in the country’s penal code for
BIG SUR, Calif. — Fire crews with water-dropping aircraft attacked a small wildfire that prompted new evacuations Thursday along California’s remote Big Sur coast, where a much larger blaze has been burning for nearly three weeks. The Plaskett Fire erupted the previous day in steep terrain in Monterey County near Highway 1. Officials briefly closed
BILLINGS, Mont. — Shovelful by shovelful, investigators sifted through the charred remnants of a Montana home where four generations of a family were killed as they gathered for Sunday dinner, searching for evidence that might help explain what happened and why. Alan Smith, 44, killed his grandmother, his parents, his younger sister and her children
