An 80-year-old woman died as she tried to flee her home during a fast-moving wildfire in British Columbia, Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said late yesterday.
The Summerland blaze ignited Friday near Okanagan Lake and quickly expanded, prompting authorities to order more than 20,000 people to evacuate.
Meanwhile, many of the tens of thousands of residents driven from their homes by a group of wildfires near Spokane, Washington, were permitted to return yesterday as crews intensified efforts to contain lingering hot spots.
Although hot, dry conditions returned over the weekend, nearly 1,700 firefighters held the lines around three fires that broke out on the outskirts of Washington’s second-most populous city on 1 August, officials said.
Authorities said no serious injuries or deaths had been reported.
Tens of thousands were forced to flee a cluster of wildfires near Spokane, Washington
For several days, the fires around Spokane were regarded as the highest firefighting priority in the United States, even amid a drought-stricken Pacific Northwest where dozens of blazes have burned for weeks, sending smoke and soot across a broad area.
Across the US-Canadian border, another wildfire tore through more than 10,300 hectares in a wine-producing area of British Columbia over the weekend, officials said.
The Canadian province declared a state of emergency, while roughly 18,000 people were ordered to leave as towering flames consumed homes and other properties.
In Washington, crews continued mopping up the damage, turning their attention to extinguishing hot spots buried in the smoldering remains of the neighborhoods hit hardest, fire officials said.
Residents will not be allowed back into communities at the center of the fire zones until authorities determine that the areas are safe.
However, officials reopened roads and lifted evacuation orders in communities outside the fires’ immediate reach, enabling displaced residents there to return, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said during a news conference.
Greece battles new fire near Athens driven by winds
A fresh wildfire erupted Monday morning southeast of Athens, Greece, with winds exceeding 70 kilometres per hour helping drive the flames, firefighters said.
The fire service said 172 firefighters and about 40 vehicles had been sent to the blaze in Kouvaras, 60km southeast of Athens in the Attica region.
“Two water-bombing aircraft and four helicopters” were also assisting with the response, the service said on X.
Civil protection authorities ordered the evacuation of Agios Stylianos, a village near Kouvaras.
The blaze is the second to strike the area around Athens this summer. A fire that began 10 days ago northwest of the capital destroyed more than 11,000 hectares of pine forest and farmland.
Gusts of up to 130km/ph delayed efforts to bring that fire under control, which took five days.
Two helicopter crew members were killed when their aircraft collided with another helicopter as they battled the flames.
Greece, like much of the Mediterranean, has faced wildfires that are becoming more frequent and severe, a trend scientists associate with climate change.
The country remains under an extreme alert, with several regions still designated as facing a very high risk of fire.
Experts have cautioned that fires in Attica, home to Athens, are becoming increasingly destructive.From 2017 to 2026, 42% of the total forest area in the region burned because of 15 major fires.
