Major Wildfires Burn 2 Million Acres in 7 U.S. States

70 Large fires or complexes char nearly 8,000 km² across 7 U.S. states

Currently, 70 large wildfires or complexes have burned nearly 2 million acres (~ 8,000 km²) across seven U.S. states, NIFC reported.

The fires are burning in Alaska (1), California (10), Idaho (17), Montana (16), Oregon (10), Texas (4) and Washington (12).

Two hundred soldiers based out of Fort Lewis, Washington have been deployed in Washington state to assist the civilian fie crews,

Dozens of crews and fire management personnel from Canada, Australia and elsewhere have also been deployed.

Preparedness: Level 5

[Geographic Areas are experiencing major incidents which have the potential to exhaust all agency fire resources. Eighty percent (80%) of Type 1 and Type 2 Incident Management Teams and crews are committed, as well as the majority of other National Resources.]

Acres from active fires: 1,954,138
Number of new large fires: 9
Number of active large fires: 70 (individual fires in complexes not included)

Year-to-date statistics 2015 (1/1/15 – 8/29/15)
Fires: 43,396 – Acres: 7,825,559 (an area nearly the size of state of Maryland)

Annual average prior 10 years (2005-2014)
Fires: 52,884 – Acres: 5,467,292

Warnings

Red Flag Warnings, Air Quality Alerts or Dense Smoke Advisories due to wildfires are currently in effect across vast swathes of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

FIRE-EARTH Q&A DAY: Adobes of Time

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Adobes of Time

FIRE-EARTH Q&A TODAY will start @ 23:02 UTC.

Dominica Set Back 20 Years by ERIKA: PM

Deadly tropical storm ERIKA, devastates Dominica, killing at least 20

Tropical storm ERIKA has devastated the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica prompting the prime minister to declare that his country has been set back 20 years.

“The visual damage I saw today, I fear, may have set our development process back by 20 years,” said Skerrit after surveying his storm-ravaged island country, which has a population of only about 75,000.

Flooding and mudslides caused by the storm has claimed at least 20 lives, and the authorities expect the death toll to rise.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit the deadly storm had caused “monumental destruction” to his country including key infrastructure facilities and roads, and that “hundreds of homes around the country have been destroyed or rendered unsafe to occupy,” local media reported.

Skerrit said the that massive damage had been inflicted on key infrastructure facilities and roads, and that “hundreds of homes around the country have been destroyed or rendered unsafe to occupy.”