International Fire News

[NJFFSA16]

July 22nd

Firefighters battle blazes from Adriatic to Siberia
MOSCOW, July 22 (Reuters) - Firefighters are tackling blazes
across Europe and Russia's Far East as a prolonged heatwave and
some of the highest temperatures on record dry forests and
grassland from the Adriatic to Siberia.
In Russia, emergency ministry officials said firefighters
were trying to douse around 518 separate forest fires across the
vast country.
In Portugal, firefighters finally put out a blaze which
ravaged 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of pine forest north of
the capital, Lisbon, after battling to control the inferno since
Saturday.
As a precaution Poland banned access to 40 percent of its
forests.
The German government was considering action to support
farmers who in parts of the country were facing what one
agricultural leader described as desert conditions.
"It's becoming a disaster for German agriculture," a German
farmers' federation leader Gerd Sonnleitner. "We've almost got a
desert with the climate in Brandenburg at present. It's Mexico,
it's Siberia."
The drought had hit 3.5 million hectares of grain fields,
mainly in eastern and southern Germany, causing millions of
euros of damage, he said. Other crops affected were maize,
potatoes and turnips.
The German office for marine, shipping and hydrography said
water temperatures in the North Sea were recording the longest
and most intensive phase of warmth in 130 years.
TRANSPORT DISRUPTED
In Russia, forest fires raged across nearly 200,000 hectares
(440,000 acres), mostly in the Far East, according to
Emergencies Ministry figures.
"It is bad, it is very bad, but our people are out fighting
the fires," said an emergencies ministry spokesman.
The fires disrupted transport in many areas. The airport of
Anadyr -- the Arctic hometown of new Chelsea football club owner
Roman Abramovich -- was closed as thick smoke from a forest fire
blanketed runways.
Firefighters in Bosnia, unable to reach some fires in more
mountainous areas, attempted to snuff out a blaze around the
southeastern town of Trebinje, Bosnian radio reported.
Vineyards around the Balkan country's only coastal town of
Neum were destroyed in a fire on Monday while temperatures on
Tuesday reached 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit).
Italy, which has suffered power cuts due to demands on
electricity supplies due to the heat, took the unusual action of
opening up the gates of Alpine reservoirs to pump water into the
arid Po River in the north.
Weather forecasters warned temperatures could climb further
in the next few days and hit 40C (104F) in Florence, Sardinia
and in the southern toe of the peninsula.

Reut09:02 07-22-03

[NJFFSA16]

TOULON, France (AP) - Forest fires that may have been
deliberately set crunched through the Riviera on Tuesday, killing
at least three people, devastating the scenic backwoods and forcing
the evacuation of thousands of people.
Firefighters speculated that the fires - some 30 that broke out
nearly simultaneously on Monday - were criminal in origin.
Firefighters found Molotov ****tails in the region, according to
radio and television reports.
The mayor of Roquebrune-Sur-Argens, Luc Jousse, called the
blazes "a new form of terrorism."
Firefighters and equipment were being sent from elsewhere in
France, and even from Italy, to back up the approximately 1,500
firefighters who worked through the night. Some 100 extra soldiers
also were sent to help 300 troops already in place.
At least three people were killed. France Info reported reported
that two of the dead were British. No precise information on
identities or the circumstances of the deaths were immediately
available.
Fires raged through some of the most prized vacation areas in
the Var region, concentrated in the area around Frejus.
"It's the apocalypse," Jousse, the mayor of
Roquebrune-Sur-Argens, said on LCI television. He said that in his
sector alone more than 10,000 people were evacuated.
"I think we've understood that these fires are a new form of
terrorism," Jousse said. "They are all deliberate."
President Jacques Chirac, in Papeete, Tahiti, promised that
"the guilty will be sought out with extreme rigor" and
"sanctions will be of an extraordinary severity."
At least seven campsites packed with vacationers were evacuated
near Sainte-Maxime and 11 others near Frejus.
Electricity was briefly cut overnight in the Golf of St. Tropez,
and numerous roads were closed to traffic.
A fire in the same area just over a week ago burned some 10,000
hectares (24,710 acres) of the Massif des Maures.
The latest fire raged through some 8,000 hectares (19,770)
additional hectares with no sign Tuesday morning of being
contained.
(parf-eg)

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

SAINTE-MAXIME, France (AP) - Forest fires swept through the
French Riviera on Tuesday, killing at least three people,
devastating scenic woods and forcing the evacuation of thousands of
people from prized vacation areas.
Firefighters speculated that the fires - some 30 that broke out
nearly simultaneously on Monday - were caused by arson. Molotov
****tails were found in the region, according to radio and
television reports.
The mayor of Roquebrune-Sur-Argens, Luc Jousse, called the fires
"a new form of terrorism."
The blazes were described as the worst ever in the Var region,
an area thick with Mediterranean pine trees and picturesque bays
that is a magnet for tourists. The fires were located between
Toulon and Nice.
Three women - two British and one Dutch - were killed by the
blazes, according to Col. Jacques Baudot, the Var fire chief.
The British women had apparently been trying to escape by car
when they were caught by the flames around La Garde-Freinet, he
said. The Dutch woman died while being transferred to a hospital by
helicopter from Sainte-Maxime. Their identities were not made
public.
Firefighters and equipment were sent from elsewhere in France,
and even from Italy, to back up the approximately 1,500
firefighters who worked through the night. Some 100 extra soldiers
also were sent to help 300 troops already in place.
Fires raged through some of the most prized vacation areas in
the Var region, concentrated in the areas around Frejus, 25 miles
from Cannes and Sainte-Maxime, to the west.
At least seven campsites packed with vacationers were evacuated
near Sainte-Maxime and 11 others near Frejus.
Electricity was briefly cut overnight in the Gulf of St. Tropez
region - a playground for the rich and famous - and numerous roads
were closed to traffic.
"It's the apocalypse," Jousse, the mayor of
Roquebrune-Sur-Argens, said on LCI television. He said that in his
sector alone more than 10,000 people were evacuated.
President Jacques Chirac, in Papeete, Tahiti, promised that
"the guilty will be sought out with extreme rigor" and
"sanctions will be of an extraordinary severity."
A fire in the same area just over a week ago burned some 24,710
acres of the Massif des Maures.
The latest fire raged through an additional 19,770 acres with no
sign Tuesday morning of being contained.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

SAINTE-MAXIME, France, July 29 (Reuters) - Hundreds of
firefighters battled on Tuesday to control raging forest fires
that killed four tourists and destroyed vast tracts of woodland
near France's southern Riviera coast.
Local officials said they suspected arsonists were behind
some 30 devastating blazes that shrouded the picturesque
Provencal countryside in thick smoke and forced hundreds of
holidaymakers to flee their villas and camp sites.
"There has rarely been such a powerful blaze in the region,"
said a spokesman for the regional emergency centre.
There were scenes of panic as the flames engulfed caravans,
cars and electricity poles, forcing people to ditch their
vehicles by the side of the road. Some tourists were stranded
wearing nothing but their swimming suits.
The badly burnt corpses of two female holidaymakers from the
British town of Wigan were found near the mountain village of La
Garde-Freinet, according to a spokesman for the local government
of the Var region.
A Dutch woman and a Polish citizen had also been found dead,
the official said.
President Jacques Chirac, on an official visit to French
Polynesia, promised harsh punishment for the culprits.
"If some of the fires are of criminal origin -- and there is
every reason to believe they are -- the culprits will be pursued
with extreme severity," Chirac told a news conference.
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy visited the scene
of what he described as an "ecological massacre," and Italy lent
a helicopter to help the firefighters while reinforcements were
also rushed to the region from northwestern France.
Powerful Mistral winds were fanning the flames, which have
destroyed more than 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) of pinewood
since the blazes started on Monday afternoon.
Around 1,700 firemen backed by some 15 water-carrying planes
and helicopters were fighting to control the fires, which
stretched from the mountain town of Fayence to the coastal
resort of Sainte-Maxime.
The mayor of Frejus, Elie Brun, said he planned to file a
criminal complaint, which will automatically trigger an
investigation into the cause of the disaster. Firefighters had
found Molotov ****tails at the scene of the fires, he said.
"It is quite difficult to explain how in the space of three
hours, you can have seven, eight, or ten different fires
starting. It is obvious that there is a criminal cause," Brun
told French television station LCI.
Around 1,500 people were evacuated from Sainte-Maxime, where
100 homes were destroyed. Close to 4,000 holidaymakers were
forced to leave their camp sites nearby.
Local officials were expecting 1,000 additional firefighters
to arrive on Tuesday, including some from neighbouring Italy.
REUTERS

[NJFFSA16]

SAINTE-MAXIME, France (AP) - Forest fires swept through parts of
the ritzy French Riviera for a second day Tuesday, devastating
scenic woods and forcing thousands to be evacuated. At least four
people have been killed.
Authorities speculated that the blazes - some 30 broke out
nearly simultaneously on Monday - were caused by arson. Molotov
****tails were found in the region, local officials said.
The mayor of Roquebrune-Sur-Argens, Luc Jousse, called the fires
"a new form of terrorism," although authorities were still
investigating and had not definitely determined the cause.
Firefighters met with some success battling the fires near the
western portion of the French Riviera, but at least one re-erupted
Tuesday east of Draguignan, about 30 miles from the fashionable
resort of Cannes, which was untouched.
Forest fires frequently devastate wide swaths of the Riviera
backcountry during the summer. But these have been described as the
worst in decades.
Clouds of yellow and gray smoke blew across the skyline halfway
between Toulon and Nice. The region is a magnet for tourists and a
favorite of painters.
About 60 homes were destroyed or damaged as flames burned across
some 21,000 acres by Tuesday morning.
Police in Draguignan said they had detained a 30-year-old
municipal employee from the village of Figanieres who is suspected
of having started several fires.
Homes and campsites were abandoned as 20,000 people were
evacuated, although many had returned by Tuesday afternoon.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, visiting the ravaged area,
said a Russian helicopter that can carry 12 tons of fire retardant
was being called in. Italy also was sending firefighters and
vehicles to help, according to the Civil Defense Department in
Rome. The defense ministry also sent in 600 soldiers to help some
2,000 French firefighters.
President Jacques Chirac, in Papeete, Tahiti, promised that
"the guilty will be sought out with extreme rigor" and
"sanctions will be of an extraordinary severity."
Var fire chief Col. Jacques Baudot said authorities had not
definitely concluded that arson was to blame. But he noted that 28
fires were started Monday. "There is little probability that this
is by chance," he said.
A fire in the same area just over a week ago burned some 24,710
acres of the Massif des Maures.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

French Riviera blazes stop spreading but burn on
NICE, France, July 30 (Reuters) - Fires ravaging the hills
along France's Riviera coast stopped spreading on Wednesday as
winds fanning them calmed down, but firemen warned they still
had to bring several large blazes under control.
Fire-fighting planes and helicopters bombarded the charred
hills with water, and exhausted firemen sprayed brush and trees
to hold back the flames that have destroyed a large swathe of
the Mediterranean resort region between Cannes and Toulon.
Police stepped up the search for suspected arsonists thought
to be responsible for the fires, which started at several
different spots at once. President Jacques Chirac has pledged
severe punishment for arsonists.
"At the moment, the fire seems to be retreating, but it is
not completely extinguished," Colonel Francis Mene told Reuters,
referring to a large fire that restarted on Tuesday at La Motte.
"But the signs are favourable," he added, speaking from the
rescue operations command.
The blazes have killed four tourists and destroyed more than
8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) of pine woods. It has taken around
1,700 firefighters -- including units from neighbouring Italy --
and 15 water-carrying planes and helicopters to control them.
Local authorities suspect arsonists of being behind some 30
devastating blazes that started late on Monday and shrouded the
picturesque Provencal countryside in thick smoke, forcing
thousands of holidaymakers to flee villas and camp sites.
A suspected arsonist was due to be brought before a judge on
Wednesday as officials warned pyromaniacs risked jail sentences
of up to 30 years if fires they started took any lives. Even
accidental fires could be punished by five years in prison.
The burnt corpses of a teenage girl and her grandmother from
the British town of Wigan were found near their burnt out car,
just 100 metres (yards) away from their intact holiday home in
the mountain village of La Garde-Freinet on Tuesday. A Dutch
woman and a Polish man were also found dead.
There were scenes of panic on Tuesday as the flames, fanned
by heavy winds, engulfed caravans, cars and electricity poles,
forcing people to ditch their vehicles by the roadside. Some
tourists were stranded, wearing nothing but swimming suits.
"If some of the fires are of criminal origin -- and there is
every reason to believe they are -- the culprits will be pursued
with extreme severity," Chirac told a news conference.
The region has already seen three outbreaks of forest fires
this month, favoured by exceptionally dry and sunny weather.
A separate blaze on Monday on the nearby Mediterranean
island of Corsica killed one man.

Reut04:23 07-30-03

[NJFFSA16]

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer
SAINTE-MAXIME, France (AP) - Stunned vacationers sorted through
their blackened belongings while firefighters battled to contain
the last of nearly 30 forest fires that tore through the foothills
of the French Riviera this week. Officials said that they suspect
arson.
The blazes, fueled by parched undergrowth, transformed the
picturesque and touristic region between Toulon and Nice into an
ashen moonscape dotted with tree stumps.
Weary fire crews were concentrating on a remaining blaze moving
through the craggy, brush-covered hills east of Draguignan, about
45 kilometers (25 miles) from the fashionable resort of Cannes.
Heat, wind and jagged terrain made for a tough fight Wednesday
against the flames in an area where some 28 separate,
near-simultaneous fires broke out two days earlier, and
firefighters warned that further fires could erupt if a three-month
dry spell continued, part of a drought stretching as far as
northeast Italy.
"This area is a tinder box of dried vegetation," Col. Eric
Martin of the regional Var rescue squad, adding that the flames
were advancing at 4 kph (2.5 mph) and his men were suffering from
dehydration.
Fires also were reported elsewhere in southern France, the
Mediterranean island of Corsica and Portugal. Near
Salon-de-Provence, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the
port city of Marseille, nine firefighters were injured.
Up to 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of land have gone up in
flames since the start of the Riviera infernos, making them the
worst in a generation, fire officials said. Scores of homes have
been damaged or destroyed, some 20,000 people temporarily evacuated
and four people were killed.
Officials said that they were looking into arson as a possible
cause of the blazes after soft drink bottles made into Molotov
****tails were found scattered in the region.
On Wednesday, regional prosecutors were questioning two suspects
who had displayed "bizarre behavior" in the area, said state
prosecutor Michel Raffin.
Meanwhile, Stephane Jousse, 29, of Figanieres, was under
investigation for setting nine fires in the area earlier this year
but is not suspected in this week's blazes, Raffin said.
He said Jousse has admitted to having the urge to set fires.
Jousse faces 10 years in prison and a euro150,000-euro (US$170,000)
fine if convicted.
Elsewhere, Pierre Giolitto, a 71-year-old historian and author,
returned to his villa in the posh French resort village of Les
Issambres to find his street lined with smoldering fires.
His roof collapsed, water pipes burst and the second floor was a
heap of broken terra cotta tiles, but Giolitto said the worst part
was the damage to his rare book collection and his computer, which
held the only copy of a 500-page manuscript that he had nearly
finished.
"Even talking about it makes me come to tears," he said, on
the verge of crying. "This home has been the work of my life - I
put my whole life into it."

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

DRAGUIGNAN, France (Reuters) - A 29-year-old man admitted
Wednesday to starting some of the forest fires that have torn
through the French Riviera and killed four tourists, saying he
was furious at being rejected as a voluntary fireman.
Stephane Jousse, who has been placed under formal
investigation and risks up to 10 years in prison if charged,
said he acted "out of spite" when he started seven fires this
month, public prosecutor Michel Raffin said.
Some 30 fires broke out Monday, shrouding the picturesque
Provencal countryside in thick smoke and forcing thousands of
vacationers to flee villas and campsites. After 48 hours,
hundreds of firefighters were still battling blazes at La
Motte, inland from the Cote d'Azur resort of St. Tropez.
In central Portugal, more than 500 firefighters and 300
soldiers were battling for the third day to contain the latest
in a wave of forest fires while scores of Croatian firefighters
struggled to contain blazes along the tourist coast of the
Adriatic.
Portuguese authorities said flames had killed a 60-year-old
man near Fundao, 140 miles northeast of Lisbon.
Most of the fires ravaging France's picture-postcard
Riviera forests stopped spreading as winds eased, but new
blazes broke out near Aix-en-Provence during the afternoon,
sending dark smoke billowing up into the sky.
Some of the thousands of evacuees returned Wednesday to
discover their holiday cottages reduced to burnt-out shells and
the once-green countryside looking like a moonscape.

THICK SMOKE
The fires have stirred up strong feelings in France, and
President Jacques Chirac made a pledge from French Polynesia
that any arsonists would be severely punished.
Jousse was arrested near Nice with a lit cigarette lighter
in his hand. Passers-by had called police to report that he was
behaving oddly at the scene of a blaze that destroyed 40
hectares of woodland near his home village of Figanieres.
He admitted to starting five fires in Draguignan, one in
Figanieres, one in La Motte and two at Callas using matches or
a lighter to set fire to twigs by the roadside late in the
evening. He also said he started two fires a year ago.
Jousse, a local council employee, was set to be placed in
detention later Wednesday. His lawyer described him as
"psychologically fragile" and "intellectually limited."
Local officials warned that pyromaniacs risked jail
sentences of up to 30 years if fires they started took any
lives. Even accidental fires can be punished by five years in
prison.
As fire-fighting aircraft bombarded the scorched hills with
water, police investigators spent Wednesday testing samples of
taken from charred woodland for traces of petrol.
This week's blazes killed four tourists, destroyed more
than 20,000 acres of pine woods and took some 1,700
firefighters and 15 water-carrying aircraft to control them.
The charred corpses of a British teen-ager and her
grandmother were found Tuesday near their burnt out car, just
100 yards from their intact chalet in the fire-razed village of
La Garde-Freinet. A Dutch woman and a Polish man also died.
The region has already seen three outbreaks of forest fires
this month, after exceptionally dry and sunny weather turned
the scrub-filled woodlands into a virtual tinderbox. A separate
blaze on the Mediterranean island of Corsica killed one man.
In Croatia, a number of blazes raged near popular tourist
destinations in the south of the country, devouring hundreds of
acres of pine forest and olive groves.
REUTERS

[NJFFSA16]

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer
SAINTE-MAXIME, France (AP) - A hail storm and falling winds
Thursday helped firefighters bring the worst of the blazes that
have ravaged the French Riviera under control, officials said.
Winds dropped to about 5 mph despite earlier forecasts of
violent gusts, easing fears that smoldering embers left by this
week's fires in the Var region would re-ignite.
Nearly 1,000 firefighters from across France, Spain and Greece
were drafted in to relieve their exhausted colleagues, many of whom
have been battling the flames around the clock since Monday.
Thousands of acres of pine forests and scrubland have been
scorched. The risk of further fires, however, still remains
"severe" Friday, Frances's Civil Security unit said.
Many roads bordering forests remain closed to the public while
dozens of police patrols have been deployed to thwart possible
arsonists. Police suspect the fires were deliberately set.
A hail storm lasting one and a half hours thankfully moistened a
region that has been stricken by drought over the last two months,
said local firefighter spokesman Florian Denan. "Humidity levels
have greatly increased," he said.
Investigators, meanwhile, kept up a search for arsonists after
the discovery of three Molotov ****tails near one of the Riviera
fires.
Four foreign tourists - two British, a Dutch and a Polish
citizen - were killed in the blazes that officials say were the
worst in decades.
One man has been placed under investigation for allegedly
setting seven fires in the region since July 5, but Draguignan
Deputy Prosecutor Michel Raffin said he was not a suspect in this
week's fires.
Stephane Jousse, 29, of Figanieres, was arrested hours before
Monday's blazes erupted, "which would have made his participating
in the three major fires impossible," Raffin said.
Authorities were preparing to interrogate other suspects, Raffin
added, without giving details. Two people taken in for questioning
on Wednesday have been released, he said.
President Jacques Chirac has vowed to punish any possible
perpetrators behind the forest fires.
The fires have left a swath of blackened moonscape across the
craggy, brush-covered hills in the tourist-filled area of the
Mediterranean coast.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) - Firefighters, villagers and even tourists
struggled Thursday to extinguish wildfires which destroyed 2,300
hectares (5,700 acres) of forests, olive groves and fields in a
national park and at least three islands in southern Croatia.
The fires broke out early Tuesday on Velebit Mountain in central
Croatia, destroying rare plants in a park listed by UNESCO as a
natural heritage site. Hundreds of firefighters were battling the
blaze but were hampered by winds and temperatures hitting 33
degrees Celsius (91.4 Fahrenheit).
On the southern island of Bisevo, firefighters failed to save
two empty homes in wildfires that began Wednesday. About 300
hectares (740 acres) of pine trees - half of the island's wooded
area - have been destroyed.
On two other islands, Hvar and Brac, firefighters frantically
fought wildfires while villagers and tourists tried to help,
throwing buckets of water on flames fanned by tinder-dry brush.
Villages and tourist resorts were threatened.
The country's five firefighting planes flew around the clock,
dumping water on the flames.
Interior Minister Sime Lucin described the fires as arson. At
least two people were in custody.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Slovenia, about 500 firefighters were
fighting the biggest fire in the past 10 years in the Slovenski
Kras area, near the Italian border. The fire, which had apparently
leapt from across the border, swept through dry, uninhabited
terrain.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

LISBON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Three more people have died in a
wave of forest fires in central Portugal, bringing to six the
number killed in the past week in the country's worst blazes for
two decades, officials said on Sunday.
Commander Antonio Roaldinho, duty officer at the National
Rescue Operations Centre, said the bodies of two women were
found in Chamusca, which is about 100 km (62 miles) northeast of
Lisbon and whose name means "singeing" in Portuguese.
A man of 50 was overcome by flames as he tried to escape by
tractor from a fire near Ponte de Sor, 100 km east of Lisbon.
Three people died last week in blazes that have spread in
unusually hot, dry weather with strong winds fanning the flames.
A fireman also died when a water-carrying truck in which he
was travelling crashed near Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, 300 km
(187 miles) northeast of the capital.
More than 2,800 firefighters and 400 soldiers are fighting
dozens of blazes. They are equipped with 500 vehicles and water
bombing planes sent by Italy and Morocco in response to an
international appeal for help by the Portuguese government.
Just over the border in southwestern Spain, helicopters and
fire-fighting planes battled forest fires in a record-breaking
heatwave that has killed seven in the country.
Roaldinho said emergency workers were desperate to prevent
fires sweeping through several Portuguese towns, including
Macao, about 120 km northeast of Lisbon.
Eyewitnesses reported that several houses had burned down in
Macao and residents were carrying buckets of water to help
firefighters battle the blaze street by street.
One blaze, extinguished on Friday after three days, burned
down more than 11,000 hectares of mostly pinewood forest in the
biggest fire tallied by the government in 15 years.
Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso told state radio he
had called an extraordinary cabinet meeting for Monday aimed at
limiting damage from Portugal's worst fires in 20 years.
The Forestry Department said apart from releasing huge
amounts of greenhouse gas, the destruction of forests that cover
about a third of Portugal made the country more prone to
desertification.

Reut12:25 08-03-03

[NJFFSA16]

Helicopters battle Spanish fires, heatwave kills 7
MADRID, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Helicopters and fire-fighting
planes battled forest fires in southern Spain on Sunday as the
death toll from a record-breaking heatwave rose to seven.
The worst fires blazed in the southwestern region of
Extremadura, near the border with Portugal where a spate of
forest fires has claimed six lives.
Temperatures were well above 40 degrees Celsius (104
Fahrenheit) in southern Spain on Sunday and high winds fanned
the flames.
Some 500 people have been evacuated from their homes in
Extremadura, a sparsely populated, rural area.
"There are three fires still active, of which two are under
control," a spokesman for the regional government said.
It was not immediately clear how much forest was affected.
RNE state radio cited health authorities in the southern
region of Andalucia as saying seven people had died since
Thursday of heat-related illnesses and 12 were in hospital.
Health officials said cases of heat stroke had risen 10
percent year-on-year as temperatures in some southern cities
topped 46 degrees (115 Fahrenheit), according to RNE.
In the last few days several towns, mostly in Andalucia,
have recorded their highest temperatures since records began.
REUTERS

[NJFFSA16]

LISBON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Portugal declared a national
disaster on Monday due to forest fires that have killed nine
people in the last week as a heatwave fanned blazes across
Europe.
The fires in Portugal, the worst in a generation, have
flared amid a heatwave stretching from Russia to the Iberian
Peninsula and Britain's Atlantic coast.
The heat has killed at least 12 people in Spain and Germany
and threatens to break national temperature records in France
and Britain.
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said the
declaration of a national disaster, approved by the cabinet on
Monday, would make more than 100 million euros ($113 million)
available in disaster aid.
"The situation the country is facing is exceptional, caused
by absolutely exceptional climatic conditions," he said. "That
is why we have to act with exceptional measures."
Durao Barroso said Portugal would also seek disaster relief
funding from the European Union.
The heatwave was due to a mass of hot, dry air from the
southeast, said Mario Almeida, a spokesman at Portugal's weather
service.
"Temperatures are certainly unusual and the highest for some
years, but it is too early to say whether they are due to
climate change," he said.
Fires in Spain's Extremadura region, which borders Portugal,
and the province of Avila forced hundreds of people to evacuate
their homes.
In Spain's southern region of Andalucia, seven people have
died from the heatwave since Thursday, a spokeswoman for the
regional health service said. Most were elderly.
HEAT KILLS FIVE IN GERMAN TOWN
Temperatures in the high 30s Centigrade (upper 90s F) caused
five deaths in the northern German town of Holzminden over the
weekend.
Construction work on a soccer stadium in Munich was halted
on Monday because engineers feared temperatures reaching 36 C
(96.8 F) could cause cracks in the structure.
In the eastern state of Brandenburg, about 30 hectares (74
acres) of forest were ablaze 60 km (37 miles) south of Berlin,
forcing closure of a national road.
In France, a spokeswoman for the state weather office said
temperatures this week were expected to near the national record
of 44 C (111.2 F) set in 1923. In Britain, temperatures
threatened to top the 37.1 C (98.8 F) all-time high.
Authorities in southern France have limited water use and
there were fears of rising air pollution levels. Many parts of
Switzerland have banned open fires for fear of forest fires.
Britain's rail network slapped speed restrictions on a wide
range of lines due to risk of rails buckling and warned of
extended journey times.
Speed limits were cut to 60 miles per hour (100 km) from the
more usual 90 or 120 miles per hour and could go even lower.
Some 431 fires were raging in Russia. Heavy rain has tamed
blazes that devastated swathes of Siberia and the Russian Far
East.
Firefighters in Croatia battled fires on the Adriatic
islands of Brac, Hvar and Bisevo, where temperatures reached 37
C (98.6 F). Blazes have burned an estimated 5,000 to 6,000
hectares (12,500 to 15,000 acres) of pine forests, olive groves
and scrubland in southern Croatia since last week.
SMOKE SHROUDS PORTUGAL
Smoke from the fires in Portugal's central mountain areas
have shrouded much of the Indiana-sized nation and limited the
use of water-bombing aircraft.
More than 2,300 firefighters, mostly volunteers, were
tackling 72 blazes in Portugal, which is about one-third forest.
Weary firefighters in Semideiro, a town of 1,500 people
about 100 km (65 miles) northeast of Lisbon, battled to keep
flames from a blazing pine forest away from houses. With
afternoon temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees
Fahrenheit), they hoped a southern wind would hold.
"If the wind shifts from the south and changes to the north
there could be a tragedy, since many towns are at risk,"
firefighter Manuel Policarpo told Reuters.
"Today the planes came, which were a big help," Celestiana
Antunes, a Semideiro resident in her 60s, said as she surveyed
the burned pine stand surrounding her house.
"It's too bad they didn't come sooner," she added.
The national Forestry Commission estimated 54,000 hectares
(135,000 acres) had burned in the most recent wave of fires
which began last week. The figure is slightly more than twice
the amount destroyed by fire for the year to July 27.
A spokesman for the National Rescue Operations Centre said
nine people had died in the past week. Eight were overcome by
flames and a firefighter was killed when a fire truck crashed.
(Additional reporting by Tobias Matthies in Berlin, Dan Trotta
in Madrid and by Zurich, Moscow, Helsinki, Paris, Berlin and
Zagreb newsrooms)

Reut14:20 08-04-03

[NJFFSA16]

LISBON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Portugal's worst forest fires in a
generation have killed two more people, bringing the death toll
to 11 in a week, authorities said on Tuesday.
A 62-year-old man was found dead with signs of having been
overcome by fumes, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported, and the
charred body of an elderly woman was found in Oleiros, 170 kms
(105 miles) northeast of Lisbon.
Commander Antonio Gualdino, duty officer at the National
Rescue Operations Centre, confirmed the two deaths but had no
details.
About 3,400 firefighters and soldiers had worked through the
night to take advantage of a drop in temperatures to combat
fires, many of which have raged for days.
"Weather conditions were favourable last night and we
managed to put some fires out, but temperatures will climb again
today to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and the
wind is beginning to blow from the east, which will certainly
complicate matters," he said.
Portugal declared national disaster on Monday and made more
than 100 million euros ($113.6 million) available to victims of
the blazes.
In the past week some 54,000 hectares (135,000 acres) of
woodland have been destroyed by fires, according to a
preliminary estimate by the Forestry Commission.
About one-third of Portugal is covered by forest and fires
have spread in woods dried out by weeks of drought as high
temperatures and strong winds have fanned the flames.

Reut04:38 08-05-03

[NJFFSA16]

LISBON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Forest fires burned across Europe
on Tuesday, with the death toll from blazes in Portugal hitting
11 and France facing a potential "volcano" amid a heat wave
gripping the continent.
The high temperatures strained power supplies in Italy and
chimpanzees in the Amsterdam zoo were getting iced fruit to stay
cool. The heat has fanned forest fires from Poland to the
Iberian Peninsula, with Portugal's fires so extensive they can
be seen in satellite photos.
Portugal's Lusa news agency said the bodies of a 62-year-old
man and an elderly woman were found near Oleiros, a town about
170 km (105 miles) northeast of Lisbon near the centre of the
fires. The man had signs of smoke poisoning and the woman was
burned.
The deaths raise the number killed to 11 since the latest
spate of fires started at the beginning of last week, while in
Spain and Germany 12 have died in the heat wave. Portugal
declared a national disaster on Monday because of the fires.
About 3,400 firefighters and soldiers worked through the
night to take advantage of a drop in temperatures, a spokesman
for Portugal's National Rescue Operations Centre said.
"Weather conditions were favourable last night and we
managed to put some fires out," he said. But daytime
temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit)
and a wind coming from the east could hinder firefighting
efforts, he said.
The Portuguese weather service has said Europe's hot spell
was caused by a mass of hot, dry air moving from the southeast.
FRENCH "VOLCANO"
With temperatures nearing records in many parts of France,
hundreds of firefighters struggled to contain a forest fire near
the picturesque Gorges du Tarn in the south of the country.
"We're sitting on a volcano which could light up anywhere at
any moment," Jean Schmidt, a spokesman for the fire service in
the Lozere region, told LCI TV. "The danger is everywhere."
In Paris, people thronged the banks of the Seine River that
have been turned into an urban beach with sand, cafes, deck
chairs and palm trees. The temperature in the capital was
expected to near 40 C (104 F) again on Tuesday.
The Amsterdam zoo was giving its chimpanzees iced fruit and
spraying ostriches with cold water to keep them cool as
temperatures in the Dutch capital edged towards 30 C (86 F),
Dutch news agency ANP reported.
Italy's national electricity grid said it had cut power to
some big industrial customers amid soaring demand. Italy has
suffered from power outages in recent weeks and has imported
power from France, Switzerland and Slovenia.
German firefighters had largely put out blazes in the
eastern state of Brandenburg by early Tuesday. However,
authorities barred people from entering forests in parts of
Brandenburg to lessen the risk of fire.
Temperatures in Germany were expected to reach 38 or 39 C
(100.4 or 102.2 F), close to the record of 40.2 C (104.4 F) set
in 1983.
Polish fire crews battled 35 forest fires on Monday and
about a quarter of its woodlands were at serious risk of fire
after temperatures topped 30 C (86 F) for much of July,
authorities said.
In southern Bosnia, mines left over from Bosnia's 1992-95
war have barred firefighters from coming to grips with a
three-day-old fire near Mostar.

Reut07:12 08-05-03

[NJFFSA16]

ROME (AP) - Roadways buckled under the scorching sun in Germany,
water levels on the Danube and other rivers dropped and wildfires
forced tourists and residents to flee Wednesday as record-breaking
heat, blamed for at least 37 deaths, tormented Europe.
Londoners experienced the hottest day in the city's history when
the temperature hit 95.7 degrees Fahrenheit, beating the 95 degrees
recorded in 1990.
The day's high in Paris - 103 degrees - fell just shy of the
record 104.7 set in 1947.
"One can safely say that this is one of the hottest summers of
the last 50 years," said Capt. Alessandro Fuccello, of the Italian
air force's meteorology office.
He was speaking about Italy, but the heat wave was the hottest
in recent memory in much of Europe.
Fuccello blamed the heat wave on a high-pressure area sitting
over southern Europe for 2½ months.
Experts from Italy's state-funded CNR research center said the
heat wave was among the five worst in the past 150 years. They
linked the combination of exceptional heat and drought to intense
monsoon activity in Africa and said the situation would likely last
until September.
Air conditioning is uncommon in much of northern Europe because
it doesn't usually get so hot and it's discouraged in the south,
where temperatures are often warmer, because of high energy costs.
A few hotels in Frankfurt were slashing rates to offer an
air-conditioned break to city residents struggling with sleepless
nights.
Suffocatingly hot air and high temperatures helped fuel brush
and forest fires from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.
Exhausted firefighters were battling Portugal's worst wildfires
in recent memory. The discovery of two bodies in a charred forest
190 miles northeast of Lisbon brought the death toll in that
country to at least 14.
"They were cornered by fire" on Tuesday, said Antonio
Gualdino, spokesman for Portugal's National Fire Coordination
Center.
Two people in southern Spain died of heat stroke, raising the
death toll to 14 in the heat wave stifling much of the country.
Among the deaths was a firefighter who had a heart attack Tuesday
after battling a blaze.
Forest fires fanned by hot winds near the French Riviera last
week killed four people, and a fifth person died in Corsica when he
tried to put out a fire near his home.
On the Tuscan island of Elba and in Tuscany itself, scores of
people were evacuated from homes and vacation spots as firefighters
battled blazes with the aid of water-spraying planes and
helicopters.
Italian news reports reported that authorities had questioned a
16-year-old boy suspected of possible arson in brush fire along
part of Tuscany's coast.
No injuries were reported in the estimated 16 fires raging in
Italy, which broke out Tuesday night, said civil defense spokesman
Luca Spoletini.
Greek firefighters, aided by aircraft, extinguished a forest
fire despite strong gales Wednesday on Salamis, a tiny island in
the Saronic Gulf near Athens. Fire chief Panayiotis Fourlas said he
was certain the cause was arson.
Two deaths were linked to the heat in Britain and two more in
Croatia, officials said.
Trying to escape the heat wave was getting harder.
In Lower Saxony, Germany, authorities were forced to forbid
swimming in some of the lakes after high temperatures triggered a
dangerous increase in algae counts.
A stretch of highway near the southwestern German city of Worms
swelled as high as a yard in some places.
The stretch of Danube river passing through the Balkans dropped
so low that wrecks of World War II boats became visible.
Environmentalists warned that aquatic life could be destroyed in a
few days because of a dramatic drop in oxygen levels.
The hot weather was also forcing a British Airways Concorde jet
to make an unscheduled refueling stop in Gander, Canada, during a
flight from London to New York because it uses more fuel during hot
weather, officials said.
Rail service across Britain was also affected. For a third day,
officials limited train speeds to 60 mph - down from 110 mph -
because of the fears the tracks could buckle.
Belgium's Royal Meteorological Institute predicted it could
reach 104 degrees Thursday - the highest temperature it has ever
forecast since its founding in 1833 - and several rivers were
declared off-limits to kayakers because of low water levels.
In Florence, where the temperature was hovering around 104,
Yvonne Mitton, who was vacationing from Worthing, England, said she
tried to avoid the hottest hours.
"We come out early in the morning, then we go back to the villa
and then we come out again at night," she said. "It is absolutely
beautiful and we are not going to miss it. I don't care how hot we
get."
Animals also were suffering. In Birmingham, England, the
National Sea Life Centre sent a refrigerated van to an indoor ski
center for a supply of snow to help its otters stay cool.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

ROME (AP) - Rivers and ponds were drying up, while wildfires
blazed in several countries as Europe staggered through a deadly
heat wave forecast to last until September.
The death toll from the heat and flames stood at 37 Wednesday
night.
Belgium's Royal Meteorological Institute predicted the
temperature could reach 104 on Thursday - the highest it has ever
forecast since its founding in 1833.
Records have been broken in several French cities and on
Wednesday, London registered its highest-temperature ever - 95.7.
Two deaths were linked to the heat in Britain, officials said.
Wildfires, fanned by hot winds, were reported in Croatia,
Greece, Spain, Portugal and France.
The discovery of two bodies in a charred forest 190 miles
northeast of Lisbon brought the death toll in that country to at
least 14. Two others died in Croatia.
Forest fires fanned by hot winds near the French Riviera last
week killed four people, and a fifth person died in Corsica when he
tried to put out a fire near his home.
With air conditioning uncommon in much of Europe, natives and
tourists alike struggled to find ways to cope.
On the Croatian island of Pag, residents were banned from
washing cars, watering gardens or taking showers at beaches.
In Amsterdam, about a hundred soccer fans in a crowd of 47,000
Ajax boosters who came to a kind of open-house day Wednesday
received first aid after feeling sick, dehydrated or overheated.
A British Airways Concorde was forced to make an unscheduled
stop Wednesday in Gander, Canada, because hot air, with its higher
pressure, meant more fuel was needed.
A highway swelled in Germany, and trains were moving slower the
last few days in Britain for fear the tracks might buckle.
Experts from Italy's state-funded CNR research center said the
heat wave was among the five worst in the last 150 years and would
likely last until September.
Europe was hit more by "hot air from northern Africa than by
the usual weather patterns that come in from the Atlantic," said
Capt. Alessandro Fuccello, from the Italian air force's meteorology
office in Rome.
Intense monsoon activity south of the Sahara also was blamed.
A high-pressure system has been hanging over southern Europe for
2½ months.
Spanish TV and radio broadcasts were urging people to drink lots
of water, limit exercise outdoors and wear loose-fitting clothing.
Two people in southern Spain died of heat stroke, raising the
death toll to 14. Among the deaths was a firefighter who had a
heart attack Tuesday after battling a blaze.
A hospital in eastern Belgium was giving patients free ice cream
twice a day, but kayaking was banned on several rivers because the
level was too low.
The stretch of Danube passing through the Balkans dropped so low
that wrecks of World War II boats became visible.
Animals were suffering, too.
Tons of fish died in Croatia's fish ponds. In Birmingham,
England, the National Sea Life Centre sent a refrigerated van to an
indoor ski center for snow to help otters stay cool, and handlers
at the London Zoo gave bears iced snacks.
Waves of hot air in Rome's largely deserted downtown made an
afternoon stroll feel more like a trek through the desert.
"We could stay at home in this terrible heat, but we prefer to
get out and be outside," said Simone Bacci, an 18-year-old Roman
who pedaled a rented ricksaw-like bicycle with friends.
Federico Abbett, 25, was walking with other seminarians, all
dressed in black, near the Pantheon.
"We're used to dressing in this garb, even when the temperature
is so high. We drink a lot and we try to walk on the shady side of
the street," said Abbett.
Robert Wood, an English tourist, said he was surviving by
dashing back to his hotel room for frequent showers.
In an odd twist, Athens, notorious for almost unbearable summer
heat, was being cooled by fierce northerly gusts known locally as
the "meltemia," causing some to even wear long sleeves at night.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

CASTELO BRANCO, Portugal, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Portuguese
firefighters put out some of the forest fires that have killed
14 people in a week as temperatures fell overnight but thousands
were still working on Thursday to prevent more blazes.
Commander Nuno Santos, duty officer at the National Rescue
Operations Centre, reported two fires out of control and said
more than 2,500 firefighters and soldiers were combating the
blazes and burying smouldering remains to be seen in much of
central Portugal.
"No lives are under threat at the moment, as the two fires
are in uninhabited areas," Santos said.
But temperatures were again forecast to rise to nearly 40
degrees Celsius later in the day, putting at risk tinder-dry
forests in a heatwave that has fannned blazes throughout Europe.
Portugal's Forestry Commission estimated that about 100,000
hectares (250,000 acres) of woodlands, or about three percent of
forested area, had burned since the start of last week.
The tally is about four times the area recorded for the year
to July 27.
martin.roberts1.reuters.com+re uters.net))

[NJFFSA16]

MADRID, Spain (AP) - The heat wave sweeping much of Spain has
killed two women on Thursday, bringing to rising to 16 the number
of fatalities in the country, officials said Thursday.
A 89-year-old woman, who had a heart condition, died at her home
in the town of Casas de Millan. The other victim was a 76-year-old
woman who died in a hospital in San Pedro de Alcantara, the
regional government of Extremadura said.
Meanwhile, some 1,600 people were evacuated Thursday from a
camping ground and several villas in northeastern Spain when a
forest fire spread through surrounding hills, local police said.
Firefighters using water-carrying aircraft were deployed to
extinguish the fire which began shortly after 1p.m. (1100 GMT) near
the town of Macanet de la Selva, police in the northeastern city of
Girona said.
Abetted by strong winds, the fire spread rapidly. Traffic along
a local road and a train line were cut off because of dense smoke.
As a preventative measure, authorities ordered the evacuation of
some 1,600 people from two villas and a camping ground which were
most threatened by the blaze although no houses were reported
burned in the fire.
Also on Thursday, polmcu"arrested three men on suspicion of
setting a fire in central Spain that burned for three days and
charred 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) of land.
The Civil Guard in Avila said two men, who had previous criminal
records, had been arrested in connection with a blaze that started
Sunday afternoon in that bone-dry province.
Searches carried out in the men's homes in the village of Los
Loros turned up stolen objects and unlicensed firearms, Civil Guard
spokesman Amable Guerrero said.
The fire, extinguished Wednesday, was one of the biggest of
dozens that began last weekend in several areas of Spain and were
exacerbated by temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius (104
Fahrenheit).
A third man was arrested in the southern province of Cordoba and
accused of starting a fire last July 13 in Espiel.
Altogether the blazes charred more than 27,000 hectares (60,000
acres) of land, the Spanish Environment Ministry said.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

LONDON (AP) - Britain sweltered through its hottest day on
record Sunday and Alpine glaciers melted as the heat wave that has
baked much of Europe for days sizzled relentlessly on.
The heat and drought-driven fires across the continent prompted
Pope John Paul II to urge people to pray for rain.
"It is just miserable. You can't get any respite from it,"
said Londoner Ranald Davidson, squinting in the late afternoon sun
as Britain surpassed 100 degrees for the first time.
The national weather service recorded a reading of 100.22
degrees at Heathrow Airport, outside a parched and baking London,
and 100.58 degrees at Gravesend in southern England. Northern parts
of the country were cooler, and torrential rain created problems in
North Yorkshire.
Germans, too, have had record heat. In the Bavarian city of
Roth, the temperature hit nearly 105 degrees Saturday. The previous
record of 104 was also in Bavaria, set in 1983.
More than 40 deaths - including a 3-year-old French girl who
died in a parked car on Sunday - have been blamed on temratures
that have hovered in the 100-degree range for days.
Pope John Paul II made his prayer appeal at the papal palace in
lakeside Castel Gandolfo, which is generally cooler than Rome.
Drought-fed fires have plagued Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, France
and arid areas of other countries.
"I invite all to join in my prayers for the victims of this
calamity, and I exhort all to raise to the Lord fervent entreaties
so that He may grant the relief of rain to the thirsty Earth,"
John Paul told pilgrims and tourists.
In northeastern Italy, firefighters worked for a third day to
put out a blaze in the countryside near Udine.
Three big fires burned in Portugal. The government asked Spain
for two firefighting planes to help tackle a wildfire near
Portimao, in the southern region of Algarve. About 145
firefighters, 45 vehicles, two helicopters and two planes were
battling the flames.
In the French Alps, a police officer warned hikers about
avalanches along a popular route on Mont Blanc. Glacial ice is
melting, loosening rocks from the mountainside. On Saturday,
helicopters evacuated 44 climbers in danger, police said.
Germany was expected to remain hot until midweek; France was
counting on at least another week of abnormally high temperatures;
and forecasters in Italy expect the country to be steamy through
August.
Spain's National Meteorological Institute predicted temperatures
above 107 degrees will continue throughout Spain for at least
another week. Authorities in the Barcelona area have asked people
not to visit national parks for picnics to avoid accidental fires.
In soutrn England, the unaccustomed stretch of very hot
weather parched lawns in the capital and taxed tempers. The
previous national record in Britain was 98.8 degrees, which was set
Aug. 3, 1990.
Two Australian women looking for an air-conditioned pub in the
Holborn area of London were fed up with the search for a cool place
to sit.
"London is not built for these temperatures!" said Jenny
Geddes, 29, of Newcastle, Australia.
"Where do you escape in London? There's nowhere to go sit and
cool off," said Heather Irvine, of Ettalong, Australia, now living
in London.
In Britain, many trains have had to reduce speeds because of the
danger that heat will buckle tracks. The London Underground is so
hot that signs have appeared at stations advising people to take
bottled water with them and to let staff know if they are feeling
unwell before they get on the train.
At Britain's beaches, people are often wrapped up in wool
cardigans as they await the appearance of the sun, thousands of
people bared nearly all on Sunday, soaking up the rays.
At the southern resort town of Bournemouth, the coastline was
jammedx
"Our capacity on the seafront is about 100,000 and there is no
spare sand here today," said senior seafront inspector Brian
Cunnings. "Everybody has just squeezed in wherever they can."
In Paris, Sonia Tiba, 28, who works for the French
administration, was strolling on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday and
sipping an icy drink. She was dreading going back to work Monday in
her office with no air conditioning.
"Tomorrow, we'll just have to take a deep breath and be brave.
We don't have any choice," Tiba said.
---
EDITOR'S NOTE: AP writer Angela Doland in Paris contributed to
this report.

[NJFFSA16]

MADRID, Spain (Reuters) - The raging forest fires of recent
weeks claimed their first victims in Spain when five members of
the same family were found dead Monday, apparently after trying
to flee their home, which was surrounded by flames.
"Five burned bodies were found on a road in the forest. It
appears as though a family tried to escape their home," said a
spokesman for firefighters in the northeastern Catalonia
region.
Emergency workers suspect the five may have died or passed
out from smoke inhalation then were burned.
"It really was an unfortunate case because the house where
they lived remained intact. It was not affected by the fire ...
Everything leads us to believe they left the house of their own
will, locked up the house, and probably died of asphyxiation,"
Artur Mas, chief councilor of the Catalonia regional
government, told reporters.
The fire in Sant Llorenc Savall, in Barcelona province in
northeastern Spain, has forced about 500 people to evacuate
their homes and has burned 3,250 acres of forest, the Catalonia
regional government said Monday.
"The fire is not yet under control," the statement said.
Another fire in nearby Gallifa has forced the evacuation of
250 to 300 people, and a third fire was reported to have broken
out in l'Albiol, the Catalan government said.
Forest fires have affected much of Europe and consumed more
than 50,000 hectares in Spain so far this year in a record heat
wave with temperatures often soaring above 104 degrees
Fahrenheit.
The heatwave has claimed more than 20 lives in Spain,
officials said. In addition, one Spanish firefighter died of a
heart attack while in action.

Reut12:06 08-11-03

[NJFFSA16]

PARIS (AP) - Some French vintners started their earliest
harvests ever Tuesday and a fire near a railroad station in Germany
delayed trains - some of the latest difficulties Europe faces as a
deadly heat wave scorches the continent.
French utility giant EDF asked customers to shut off lights and
take other steps to conserve electricity in what meteorologists say
is one of Europe's hottest summers in generations.
Power plants in Germany and France were granted temporary
government approval to discharge water into rivers at higher
temperatures than normal. In France, a limited number of power
plants have reduced their energy output or shut down altogether.
"We are mobilizing all possible means to develop production,"
Francois Roussely, EDF chairman, told RTL radio. "The biggest
danger would be to lose electricity."
The head of France's emergency hospital physicians' association
said at least 100 people in France alone have died of heat-related
illnesses since a stifling blanket of hot air settled over Europe.
Temperatures have hovered around 100 in many countries for days,
breaking heat records across Europe.
Patrick Pelloux called on the Red Cross and even the army to
lend a hand to medical facilities stretched to their limits.
"We are in an extremely difficult and tragic situation,"
Pelloux said. "With more people, we would be able to save lives."
France Info Radio reported that 500 people had been admitted to
emergency rooms in the Paris region with heat-related illnesses.
Health Ministry spokesman Mathieu Monnet said it was difficult
to determine if the deaths were weather-related but statistics on
the number of deaths were being compiled.
Outside France, authorities have counted about 45 heat-related
deaths. On Monday, five people died in Spain while fleeing a fire.
Wildfires fanned by hot winds have eaten up tens of thousands of
acres of territory in Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Portugal,
Croatia, and the Netherlands.
Algeria dispatched more than 80 firefighters and more than a
dozen water tanker trucks to the French Mediterranean port city of
Marseille to help battle fires in southeast France.
Italian firefighters were battling 21 blazes in numerous
regions, officials there said. Alpine rescue teams helped evacuate
about 100 hikers whose path was blocked by a fire near the town of
Misurina, 90 miles north of Venice.
In Germany, national railroad Deutsche Bahn said a fire that
broke out early Tuesday near Hamburg's Altona station delayed 15
trains but was extinguished within an hour.
Train service between Berlin and the eastern city of Halle
returned to normal overnight after overhead wires had to be
switched off late Monday to allow rescue services access to a
forest fire, the German national railroad said.
High temperatures also caused spikes in pollution. Reduced speed
limits went into effect in areas of southern Switzerland because of
high ozone levels.
Nature's rhythms also were disturbed: The harvest began weeks
earlier than usual in France's Beaujolais winemaking region, where
grapes have ripened quickly under a pounding sun.
Three vintners asked authorities for permission to start the
harvest Tuesday in the central French region known for its light,
fruity wines. Many more winemakers plan to begin harvesting
Thursday, said Anne Masson of the Interprofessional Union of
Beaujolais Wines.
The Beaujolais harvest has never come so early in the season.
Before now, the earliest harvest was in 1893, when it began Aug.
25. Usually, ripe grapes are gathered sometime in September.
Grouse hunters in Scotland were warned Tuesday that the birds
might be hard to find because they may have gone off looking for
water.
Britain's Environment Agency said Tuesday it rescued about 1,000
fish from a river in western England that had dried up, leaving the
fish stranded in small pools with dwindling oxygen supplies.
Italian weather experts say Europe's heat wave is one of the
five worst in the last 150 years. Intense monsoon activity in
Africa has been blamed in part for the merciless temperatures.
However, forecasters predict relief in coming days.
The Royal Meteorological Institute in Belgium said temperatures
Thursday and Friday should be only in the high 70s.
Meteo France said temperatures throughout France were expected
to drop by midweek - although they would remain well above average.
Forecasters were predicting a high of 84 for Thursday in the French
capital.
The German Weather Service forecast falling temperatures over
the next two days with Wednesday's expected arrival of a cold front
from Scandinavia.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Wildfires hit southern France
NIMES, France, July 27 (Reuters) - Wildfires swept through
the Gard region of southern France near Nimes on Tuesday,
destroying more than 700 hectares (1,700 acres) of scrub and
forcing dozens of people from their homes, officials said.
Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin said on Monday that
more than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of brush and pinewood had
been destroyed in southern France in recent days and urged
people to take extra care during the hot, dry summer weather.
More than 600 firefighters battled the flames near the
ancient city of Nimes, a local government spokeswoman said.
"There was quite a strong wind pushing the fire forward. We
hope the winds will ease during the night," she said.

Reut16:04 07-27-04

[NJFFSA16]

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Forest fires destroyed most of three
villages near the Syrian-Turkish border, officials said, forcing
3,000 people to evacuate as Syrian and Turkish firefighters
extinguished the blazes on Wednesday.
An elderly man trapped inside his burning home in the village of
Eissaweya was the only reported death. Twenty-two people, including
forest rangers and four firefighters, were treated for smoke
inhalation or minor burns, according to the official Syrian Arab
News Agency.
An official with a local police department said the fire
destroyed 400 of the 600 houses in Eissaweya, al-Faher and Um
al-Toyor. The villages' 3,000 inhabitants were evacuated, according
to the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity.
Police said the fires broke out Tuesday, affecting a
15-square-mile area, and were extinguished by midday Wednesday. The
police official said, however, that a small blaze in the nearby
village of al-Safra was still burning.
More than 60 fire engines and many volunteers worked through the
night to bring the fires under control. Firefighting planes and
vehicles from Turkey helped to fight the fires, which affected nine
villages, SANA reported.
The agency quoted Environment Minister Hilal al-Atrash, who is
supervising firefighting operations, as blaming the fires on
drought and unseasonably warm weather.
The affected villages are along the Mediterranean near a border
crossing with Turkey. They are near the port city of Latakia, 220
miles north of Damascus, but Latakia itself was not threatened.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Australians Leap into Sea to Avoid Deadly Wildfire

"PA"


At least eight people were killed in a wildfire that raced through southern Australia today, forcing terrified residents to leap into the sea to avoid the flames, emergency officials said.

The blaze on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, about 250 miles west of Adelaide, was the worst of several wildfires reported around the state, where temperatures have topped 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days.

Residents of at least one township were forced to evacuate their homes and seek refuge on a beach to avoid the flames, State Emergency Services spokesman Stuart Macleod said.

“Some people had moved into the sea to escape the fire. Our people picked them up and brought them back to shore,” Macleod said.

The peninsula fire was reported yesterday and contained by firefighters, but flared up again today before blazing out of control, police spokeswoman Kylie Walsh said.

At least eight people have been killed, but the number was expected to rise as the fire continued to blaze out of control, said police inspector Malcolm Schluter.

It was not immediately clear what started the blaze. Firefighters said today’s weather conditions made it impossible to contain.

“There is no firefighting force in the world that can stop the fire in the conditions we experienced today,” Country Fire Service spokesman Simon Vogel told the Ten television network.

Two other wildfires also forced the closure of several Adelaide roads today.

[NJFFSA16]

Sea rescue as people flee bushfires

11jan05

ABOUT six people had been rescued from the sea after fleeing bushfires raging on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula, the State Emergency Service said today.

Deputy chief officer Stuart Macleod said the SES launched a boat from Port Lincoln to rescue the group, who fled as the intense fires approached North Shields, on the lower part of the peninsula.
"We deployed a vessel out of Port Lincoln which went up to North Shields, which is where the worst of the fires has been on the coast thus far," he said.

"Some people had moved into the sea to escape the fire. Our people picked them up and brought them back to shore.

"There was only one load of people, so about half a dozen or so."

He said the vessel had since returned to Port Lincoln but it remained on standby in case it was needed again.

At least five people have died in the bushfires, police confirmed this afternoon.

Mr Macleod said the SES was working to support the efforts of the Country Fire Service, including setting up roadblocks and conducting resupply runs to fire crews.

"We're just basically helping the fire service get on with their job," he said.

[NJFFSA16]

Firefighters battle two blazes

11jan05

FIREFIGHTERS battled two grassfires in country Victoria this afternoon as temperatures reached 40C.

About 70 appliances from the Country Fire Authority were called to a 2000ha grass fire about 3km south of Carranballac in western Victoria.
The fire, which began about 3pm (AEDT), was travelling in a southerly direction but a wind change was expected by 10pm which could push it east, CFA spokesman John Tindall said.

No houses or buildings have been threatened but smoke and ash has affected the nearby towns of Lismore and Derrinallum.

The Hamilton Highway and railway line have been closed.

Mr Tindall said firefighting efforts were being hampered by rough terrain.

"This is difficult country where it's very, very rocky and it's difficult to get trucks in and out of there," he said.

"It's not one of the best places to have a fire and its caused us some concern to get into and deal with."

CFA and Department of Sustainability and Environment firefighters are also fighting a grass and scrub fire which has covered about 60ha, 11km north of Balmoral, in Victoria's far west.

About 20 tankers are in attendance.

[NJFFSA16]

Tasmanian firefighters on alert
Tasmanian firefighters are preparing themselves for hot and windy weather conditions forecast for this afternoon.

A fire weather warning in place for the state's south and King Island.

The district officer with the Tasmania Fire Service, Ken Burns, is discouraging anyone from burning off and lighting open fires.

"Any fire burning in the open has got the potential to spread rapidly and be difficult to control so we discourage people generally from doing any burning of any sort today," he said.

Firefighters worked hard to contain more than 30 vegetation fires overnight and will closely monitor them throughout the day.

[NJFFSA16]

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Firefighters struggled Wednesday to
contain Australia's most deadly wildfire in more than two decades
with nine people killed and another six missing, officials said.
The fire, which started Monday, has burned through about 145,000
hectares (358,295 acres) of grass and farmland on South Australia
state's Eyre Peninsula, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of
Adelaide.
Eight of the victims - including two children aged 4 and 2 -
burned to death in their cars as they tried to flee the blaze on
Tuesday and another woman was found dead in her home on Wednesday,
police spokeswoman Kylie Walsh said.
Six others are missing and feared dead in the wreckage left by
the raging fires.
"It will be some time, perhaps days, before the identity of any
of the deceased can be established," Walsh said.
The Eyre Peninsula blaze is the worst wildfire to hit Australia
since the so-called Ash Wednesday fires of 1983, in which 75 people
were killed in South Australia and neighboring Victoria state.
Fanned by strong winds and temperatures in excess of 44 degrees
Celsius (111 Fahrenheit), the fire raged out of control on Tuesday,
forcing many local residents to flee their homes and seek refuge on
nearby beaches or in the sea.
The inferno razed five houses, two cabins, three sheds, one
shop, seven vehicles, 15 caravans and four boats.
Peninsula resident Russell Puckridge said he had only three
minutes to vacate his home before it was enveloped by flames.
"I've been here nearly 15 years and this year we paid our house
off, but she's gone, gone," he told ABC radio.
About 250 firefighters continued to fight the blaze Wednesday
afternoon.
"Our big priority now is that the fire is not actually yet
contained," state emergency services minister Patrick Conlon said,
citing concerns that the hot weather was set to continue.
Temperatures were slightly cooler on Wednesday, but were
expected to rise again to about 36 degrees Celsius (97 Fahrenheit)
on Thursday, fire services spokesman Chris Smith said.
Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday expressed sadness over
the deaths, saying they were "a terrible reminder of the
ever-present threat of bushfires and their devastating effect on
this country."
Meanwhile, a separate wildfire in Victoria burned through about
8,500 hectares (21,004 acres) of grass in public and private
properties, destroying a house, a car, a shed and about 2,000 head
of sheep.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Worst Australia bushfires in 20 yrs under control
ADELAIDE, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Firefighters brought
Australia's deadliest bushfires in 20 years under control on
Wednesday after nine people died in the blazes.
Up to 15 more people were missing, emergency officials
said.
Large areas of southern Australia are on alert for more
outbreaks after fires raced in a line across the Eyre
peninsula, about 250 km (155 miles) west of the South Australia
state capital Adelaide.
The South Australian Country Fire Service said the Eyre
peninsula fires, which began on Monday, had been brought under
control earlier on Wednesday.
State police said the body of a woman had been found in a
home in the tiny coastal hamlet of North Shields.
Eight others, including two young children, were confirmed
dead on Tuesday. All eight died in their cars as they tried to
flee the blazes, fanned by high winds and scorching
temperatures.
South Australian Police Commissioner Mal Hyde declared the
fires a major emergency, meaning emergency aid and recovery
must be provided for 48 hours.
The fires burned out about 100,00 hectares (250,000 acres),
including grazing land. Property damage has been described as
significant and estimates of livestock losses have been put at
10,000.
Fire alerts remain this week for South Australia,
neighbouring Victoria and New South Wales, Australia's most
populous state.
Bushfires are a constant threat to tinder-dry bushland
during the sweltering Australian summer, although the Eyre
peninsula fires were the first major blazes of this season.
Fires described as Australia's worst environmental disaster
destroyed more than three million hectares (7.4 million acres)
across three states and territories, killing four people in the
capital Canberra, in the summer of 2002/03.
In 1983, the devastating "Ash Wednesday" fires in South
Australia and Victoria killed 76 people.



REUTERS

[NJFFSA16]

By MERAIAH FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Firefighters contained a wildfire that
killed nine people and left three others missing, the nation's
deadliest blaze in more than two decades, officials said Thursday.
The fire, which started Monday, has consumed about 358,300 acres
of grass and farmland on South Australia state's Eyre Peninsula,
about 250 miles west of Adelaide.
Country Fire Service spokeswoman Leanne Adams said 80 new
firefighters arrived on the peninsula Thursday to relieve earlier
crews. Their next task was to burn a 100-foot fire break around the
85-mile perimeter of the fire, she said.
"The fire is contained. There were no flare ups overnight,"
Adams said.
Eight of the victims - including two children aged 4 and 2 -
burned to death in their cars as they tried to flee the blaze
Tuesday and another woman was found dead in her home Wednesday,
police spokeswoman Kylie Walsh said.
Three others were missing and feared dead, she said. "It will
be some time, perhaps days, before the identity of any of the
deceased can be established."
Fanned by strong winds and temperatures reaching 111 degrees,
the fire raged out of control Tuesday. Local residents to fled to
beaches or sought refuge in the sea. The inferno razed houses,
shops, vehicles and boats.
Peninsula resident Russell Puckridge said he had only three
minutes to vacate his home before it was enveloped by flames.
"I've been here nearly 15 years and this year we paid our house
off, but she's gone, gone," he told ABC radio.
Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday said the deaths were "a
terrible reminder of the ever-present threat of bushfires and their
devastating effect on this country."
A separate wildfire in Victoria burned through about 21,000
acres of public and private properties, destroying a house, a car,
a shed and about 2,000 head of sheep.
The Eyre Peninsula blaze is the worst wildfire to hit Australia
since the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983. That fire killed 75 people
in South Australia and neighboring Victoria state.

APTV 01-12-05 2200EST

[NJFFSA16]

Uruguay wildfire forces tourists to flee
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (Reuters) - A wildfire that has
been burning for two days has forced thousands of vacationers
out of Uruguay's Santa Teresa National Park and nearby tourist
attractions, officials said Wednesday.
The fire has partially destroyed the park, on the eastern
coast of Uruguay, and was threatening the popular fishing
village of Punta del Diablo, 190 miles east of
Montevideo.
"The fire has returned (to Punta del Diablo), it has
changed direction but it is being fought back," Jose Maria
Rivero, director of the National Emergency System, told
Reuters.
So far, 10,000 people have been forced to leave the area.
Uruguay's beaches and nearby woodlands are very popular
with Latin American tourists, particularly Argentines.
Another fire that was creeping toward the beach resort of
La Coronilla, further east, was stopped just miles from town.
La Coronilla is 25 miles from the border with Brazil.
Argentina has offered assistance in fighting the blaze and
Brazilian firefighters were already helping.
Four men have been arrested in connection with the blazes,
fire chief Hugo Romeo told a local newspaper Wednesday.
REUTERS

[NJFFSA16]

By JOSE P. MONEGRO
Associated Press Writer
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - The Dominican Republic
may ask Puerto Rico to help fight a forest fire that's been raging
in the Caribbean nation's central mountain range for nearly two
weeks, officials said Monday.
Clouds at high elevation and smoke from the fire has hindered
firefighting efforts and made it impossible to estimate how much
land is burning, said Milton Tejada, a spokesman for the
environment secretary.
"We have more than 700 men working in the area, but conditions
are favorable for the fire," Tejada said. "If necessary, we would
ask Puerto Rico to use a plane and a helicopter" to dump retardant
on the blaze.
Dominican authorities were investigating the cause of the fire,
which began in the lower part of Duarte Mountain in the Jose del
Carmen Ariza National Park, said Danneris Santana, sub-secretary of
environment.
Santana said vegetation in the area was dry because of little
rain in the past few months.
The National Meteorology Center said Monday no rain was expected
over the next three days.
Set at 3,175 meters (10,416 feet) above sea level, the popular
hiking area around Duarte Mountain has been closed since last
weekend because of the blaze.
The central mountain range covers approximately 758 square
kilometers (293 square miles) and comprises a handful of cities
including Santiago, the country's second largest with 1 million
people.
Though the fire is over 30 kilometers (18 miles) away from
Santiago, authorities said smoke had reached the city. Authorities
said the blaze has yet to come close to any houses or structures.
(jm-pp/fg)

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - About 700 firefighters
and soldiers dug fire lines Tuesday as they battled a raging forest
fire in the Caribbean nation's touristy central mountain range.
Clouds and thick smoke prevented military helicopters from
dropping water or retardant on the blaze, said Col. Francisco
Fernandez, spokesman for the Dominican armed forces.
The Dominican Republic has asked Puerto Rico to lend a special
plane to drop retardant during fly overs, Fernandez said.
Poor visibility has made it impossible to estimate how much land
was burning or investigate the cause of the fire, authorities said.
A dry spell over the past few months has withered vegetation and
it was likely to continue through April, said Jose Maria Duquela,
director of the National Meteorology Office.

[NJFFSA16]

By PETER PRENGAMAN
Associated Press Writer
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Hundreds of
firefighters dug trenches around the perimeter of the highest peak
in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, trying to contain a forest
fire that broke out nearly three weeks ago on its drought-stricken
slopes, an official said.
The fire has consumed at least 63 square kilometers (24 square
miles) of forest, but the devastation might turn out to be more
extensive once a thorough survey of the area can be done, said
Environment Secretary Max Puig, giving the government's first
damage estimates.
Clouds at the high elevation and smoke from the fire have
hindered firefighting efforts since the fire began March 11 in the
lower part of Duarte Mountain in the Jose del Carmen Ariza National
Park, some 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of the capital Santo
Domingo.
The popular hiking area around the 3,175-meter (10,416-foot)
Duarte Mountain has been closed since then. Puig said authorities
were still investigating what caused the fire.
About 700 firefighters and soldiers were close to containing the
blaze by digging trenches around its perimeter, while two
Venezuelan helicopters dropped retardant on hot spots. Authorities
expect the fire to burn itself out within a few days unless new
focal points pop up outside the trenches, Puig said.
The worst drought in five years has withered vegetation and made
forests in the Caribbean nation particularly flammable, said Miguel
Campusano, forecast director for the National Weather Office.
Campusano said rainfall between January and April was normally
low, but this year it had been almost nonexistent. Campusano said
in the central mountain range only 2.7 millimeters (0.1 inches) of
rain fell in February, far below the average 116 millimeters (4.6
inches) for that month.
Campusano attributed the drought to the El Nino weather pattern,
which he said was causing warmer-than-normal sea surface
temperatures that reduced storm conditions and thus overall
precipitation.
The drought has also affected other Caribbean countries.
Little rain has fallen in western Puerto Rico since November.
In nearly a month, some 250 acres (100 hectares) of forest have
been consumed in three spots in the State Forest of Maricao, in
west central Puerto Rico, said fire department chief German Ocasio.
Some small farmhouses have been burned, but no injuries or deaths
have been reported.
Although the fires have been contained, they will probably not
be completely extinguished until expected April rains.
For the past month, many bushfires have broken out in St.
Elizabeth parish, a farming region in southern Jamaica. Several
farms have been burned, but no injuries or deaths have been
reported.
(pp-mn-dk)
---
Associated Press Writer Howard Campbell contributed to this
report from Jamaica.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Authorities in Guadalajara declared a smog
alert Tuesday, closing schools after forest fires raging nearby
blanketed much of Mexico's second-largest city with a pall of thick
gray smog.
Hundreds of fire fighters and volunteers were battling more than
a dozen separate blazes in forests outside the city, 280 miles (450
kilometers) west of the nation's capital.
But the worst smoke came from two large fires, one sparked by a
campfire, Monday afternoon in the Bosque de la Primavera reserve.
The blazes destroyed hundreds of acres of woodlands, raising the
level of suspended particles in the air to unhealthy levels,
authorities said.
The education secretary for Jalisco state, which includes
Guadalajara, ordered all municipal schools closed and the city's
main universities also shut their doors to protect students,
faculty members and staff from unhealthy air.
Officials from the state health secretary issued a
recommendation that residents stay in doors and said they had taken
extra precautions to treat asthma patients who could be especially
affected.
Mexico has seen more fires so far in 2005 than in any of the
preceding four years, and still must suffer through five to six
more weeks of dry, hot weather before seasonal rains set in, said
Environment Secretary Alberto Cardenas.
Forest fires were also burning in Puebla and Oaxaca states and
in the southern state of Chiapas, where blazes devoured hundreds of
federally protected acres in the Lacandon jungle.
Cardenas said abundant rains in recent years had fed the growth
of forests, increasing the potential for fires.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

ZAPOPAN, Mexico (AP) - Efforts to control dwindling wildfires in
western Mexico claimed a life on Saturday as a helicopter crashed
outside Guadalajara, killing the pilot, authorities reported.
No other people were on board the privately owned helicopter
when it plunging into a river near Zapopan, about 290 miles (470
kilometers) west of Mexico City, said Julio Quinones, a spokesman
for the Zapopan police department.
The helicopter had been helping federal authorities monitor the
smoldering aftermath of several forest fires in the Bosque de la
Primavera reserve.
The fires had sent a pall of smoke over Guadalajara, Mexico's
second-largest city, where a health alert was issued and schools
were closed as a result of poor air quality. Schools reopened on
Thursday.
Skies were calm on Saturday, and the cause of the crash was not
immediately known, police said.
Mexico has seen more fires so far in 2005 than in any of the
preceding four years and still must suffer through several weeks of
dry, hot weather before seasonal rains arrive.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Forest fires raging in a rural corner of
Mexico's most-populous state Wednesday killed four adults and two
children who had volunteered to help combat the flames, federal
authorities said.
Environment Secretary Alberto Cardenas issued an urgent call for
soldiers to join 100 federal, state and local officials, as well as
dozens of volunteers and firefighters outside the city of
Tejupilco, in Mexico state, which borders Mexico City.
Authorities were also using a helicopter to battle the blaze,
which was burning about 80 miles (125 kilometers) southwest of the
nation's capital, according to a statement released by Cardenas'
office.
The fire began Tuesday morning and has continued to grow,
causing evacuations and seriously injuring one person in addition
to the volunteers whose lives it claimed, the statement said.
Those killed were residents who joined firefighters after the
blaze threatened the area, the statement said. Killed around 1 p.m.
were David Jaramillo, Francisco Benitez, Fernando Albiter, Esteban
Jaramillo, Pedro Barrueta and Carlos Barrueta Sanchez, though the
circumstances surrounding their deaths were not clear.
The name of the volunteer who was gravely injured could not be
confirmed, the statement said.
Forest fires have menaced much of Mexico recently, especially in
areas where rains have been slow to come during the early weeks of
the country's wet season.
Last week, a thick gray pall of smoke generated by more than a
dozen forest fires burning outside Guadalajara, Mexico's
second-largest city, forced officials to call a smog emergency and
close schools. Fires have also claimed thousands of acres of
woodlands in the central state of Puebla as well as Chiapas,
Mexico's southernmost state.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

FEATURE-Park at world's southern tip recovers from Chile fire
By Katie Burford
TORRES DEL PAINE, Chile (Reuters) - It took a month
and 800 firefighters to put out an immense wildfire earlier
this year in remote southern Chile's Torres del Paine national
park, world renowned for its awe-inspiring granite spires and
glaciers.
Now, near the southern tip of the world where the growing
season is compressed into a few months, authorities have begun
the long process of helping nature heal from the park's worst
fire in decades, started when a Czech tourist's camp burner
blew over.
Tourism officials, meanwhile, are assuring nervous tour
operators from France to Japan that Chile's most famous park is
still a rugged backpackers' paradise. Tourism pumps an
estimated $75 million a year into Chile's extreme south.
"Something that man caused, man can also fix," said Marco
Cordero, regional director for Conaf, Chile's forest service.
Immediate concerns are that erosion could alter the park's
brilliant turquoise lakes, invasive plant species could gain a
foothold or endangered wildlife could be forced outside the
park's protective boundaries to forage for food.
As a token of goodwill, the Czech government contributed
about $185,500 toward the recovery, which is expected to cost
$7 million.
Preserving this pristine hinterland in the heart of
Patagonia, a loosely defined region that encompasses
southernmost Chile and Argentina, is about more than
aesthetics.
"Tourism for the Magellan region is one of the main sources
of revenue," said Miguel Angel, regional director for Chile's
Sernatur tourism department.
Torres del Paine is Chilean Patagonia's headline
attraction, but the Straits of Magellan, Tierra del Fuego, Cape
Horn and Antarctica are other popular destinations.
Most that journey to this far-flung, glacier-encrusted
region expect to encounter its legendary wind. It forces trees
to grow sideways and has merited a mention by every prominent
chronicler to pass through in the last 500 years.
The wind frustrated the efforts of firefighters gathered
from all over Chile and Argentina to put down the fast-moving
blaze, which seemed to send fingers out in all directions.
Authorities point out that only a fraction of the park
burned -- 45 square miles of 935 square miles
total -- and this was more than a mile
from the park's signature spires, which jut from plains in
a cluster like a prairie Atlantis.
Still the damage is startling. Travelers on the park's
easternmost road drop over a hill to find themselves suddenly
surrounded by a barren moonscape. In sections, charred ground
stretches for as far as the eye can see.
The fire, which began Feb. 17, hit at the peak of the
park's four-month tourist season, which starts in December, the
middle of the southern-hemisphere summer.
Tourism officials say they have not seen a unusual dip in
visitors, which number about 100,000 a year from 80 different
countries. As a precaution, they put the word out at travel
fairs around the globe that Torres del Paine is still very much
worth the trip.

ABOUNDS WITH WILDLIFE
Native people believed the peaks, which soar as high as
10,000 feet, were warriors turned to stone by an evil
spirit. Starting in the early 1900s the surrounding land,
cursed by many a settler as worthless, was used for ranching,
until 1959 when it was declared a national park. Tourism
started to hit its stride in the '90s.
Outside Patagonia's protected areas large sheep farms still
operate and overgrazing of the pampa is a major concern of
environmental groups. The wildfire that devastated Torres del
Paine also burned 15 square miles of adjacent
private ranchland.
The park abounds with wildlife -- ostrich-like nandu,
Andean condors, llama-like guanaco, Austral parakeets,
flamingos, puma and the endangered huemul, a member of the deer
family. The only known fatalities of the fire were a handful of
guanaco.
The first stage of the 12-year fire recovery plan involves
filling in trenches, dug as a barriers to contain the fire;
building dikes to prevent erosion; and collecting seeds to use
for reseeding next season. The government is compensating
ranchers whose land is being grazed by displaced wildlife.

SYMBOLIC PARK
Although Czech tourist Jiri Smitak has said he deeply
regrets the fire, many Chileans were incensed that he only
received a $200 fine. Lawmakers called for tougher penalties
and the State Defense Council filed a suit against Smitak
seeking damages.
National pride in the park runs deep but since it is not
connected to the rest of Chile by road, the park is expensive
to reach and only about a third of Torres del Paine visitors
are Chilean. Most come from the United States or European
countries. Visitors fly in to an airport about a four-hour
drive south of the park.
Cordero said various organizations from around the globe
have offered to help with funds or expertise.
"For the whole world, Torres del Paine park is something of
an emblem," he said.
REUTERS

Reut08:00 05-17-05

[NJFFSA16]

CHISASIBI, Que. (CP) - Residents of this northern Cree community
were told they could return home Sunday night after firefighters
brought a nearby forest fire under control.
"The fire is practically extinguished," said Helene Philippe,
a spokeswoman for the federal department of Indian and Northern
Affairs. "There are only two little hot spots remaining on which
local firefighters are working. It is not a threat to the
community."
The fire started at about 11 a.m. Saturday. It took about 130
firefighters and two water bombers to bring the fire under control,
civil protection officials said.
The fire had come to within a kilometre of the town of 3,500
earlier on Sunday, prompting authorities to order 600 residents to
leave as a precaution.
Eighty people were flown to Val D'or,about 630 kilometres south
of the community and 150 were taken to Radisson, 120 kilometres
east of the town, said Claude Gagne, Radisson's emergency services
co-ordinator. The remaining 370 went to other aboriginal
communities, he said.
The fire caused no injuries or material damage. Rather,
evacuations were made as a precaution.
"The people who were evacuated from Chisasibi are people who
can't be (exposed) to smoke. We're talking about people with
pulmonary problems or health problems," he said.
Those people are now returning home after Chief Abraham Rupert
lifted the local state of emergency, Philippe said.
"It's good news. It seems everything is back in order," she
said.
Civil protection officials say fires are common in the James Bay
area and spread easily due to dry spots, caribou moss and conifer
leaves.
The cause of the fire was being investigated.
(CP-Montreal Gazette)


(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Officials evacuate six campgrounds in southern France as forest
fire spreads
TOULON, France (AP) - Authorities evacuated six campgrounds in
southern France as a precaution Tuesday as firefighters battled a
large forest fire that officials said appeared to have been the
work of arsonists.
The blaze destroyed 1,300 hectares (3,200 acres) as of late
afternoon Tuesday, regional officials said. No injuries were
reported, and officials said no homes or businesses were
immediately threatened.
About 300 firefighters were using conventional equipment and
water-dropping helicopters in an attempt to contain the fire near
Puget-sur-Argens, authorities said.
Officials braced for possible power outages as the fire
approached a high-voltage line supplying electricity to much of the
region.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Firefighters control forest blaze near Athens
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A forest fire on the outskirts of the
Greek capital was brought under control Monday after a two-hour
operation involving 100 firefighters.
The blaze started around midday (0900GMT) in the Dardiza area of
Mount Parnitha, northern Athens, and burnt more than three hectares
(7 acres) of forest and scrub. Four water-dropping aircraft and two
helicopters took part in the effort.
No injuries were reported. State-controlled NET Television said
that around 30 houses were briefly threatened. The fire's cause was
not immediately known.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

APTV 07-18-05 1037EDT

[NJFFSA16]

Drought sweeps all of Portugal, bites economy
LISBON, July 20 (Reuters) - Portugal, gripped by its worst
drought in at least 60 years, sent hundreds of firefighters to
battle blazes across the country on Wednesday and warned of
economic fallout to the parched agricultural sector.
Secretary of state for the environment, Humberto Rosa, said
severe and extreme drought extended to the whole country,
costing the agricultural sector the equivalent of nearly 1.5
percent of gross domestic product.
With 26,000 people were reportedly receiving water from
trucks as of July 15, Rosa also outlined plans to teach the rest
of the country water conservation.
"Every Portuguese person will receive a post-card at home,
advising them of the risks of drought and the necessity to
conserve (water)," Rosa said in an interview with newspaper
Jornal de Negocios.
The drought is Portugal's worst since at least 1945, when 86
percent of the territory was in severe or extreme drought.
Spain is also suffering its worst drought since records
began in the 1940s, and in western France, water levels are at
their lowest since the major drought of 1976.
Parched conditions now stretch from north Africa to the
French capital, and 11 firefighters died in Spain on Sunday
fighting a forest fire, possibly caused by a barbeque.

[NJFFSA16]

LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Firefighters battling a major two-day
blaze in a forest in central Portugal were unable to call on air
support Thursday due to thick black smoke, officials said.
Around 300 firefighters were being helped by army troops using
bulldozers to cut firebreaks in parched woodland near Seia, about
250 kilometers (150 miles) north of Lisbon.
Officials said high winds and the region's hilly terrain
hindered efforts to halt the fire's advance.
The Civil Protection Service said five forest fires were out of
control early Thursday and more than half the country was on
maximum alert as inland temperatures were forecast to exceed 40
degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for a second consecutive day.
The Civil Protection Service said it had deployed more than
1,700 firefighters nationwide.
Portugal is enduring its worst drought on record.
Emergency services found the charred body of an elderly man near
his forest home Wednesday. He apparently was caught by flames as he
tried to flee.
Some remote houses burned down and several remote villages were
evacuated as a precaution.
Numerous vineyards, orchards and eucalyptus plantations were
blackened by the fires, authorities said.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

ATHENS, July 28 (Reuters) - A forest fire near Athens'
seaside suburbs burnt down homes and factories and threatened
more damage as strong winds drove it towards heavily inhabited
coastal areas on Thursday.
Officials said authorities in eastern Athens evacuated
houses, summer camps and orphanages as the blaze approached.
Arsonists are believed to have started the fire, which swept
through a thick pine forest near the eastern suburb of Rafina
and gathered speed, fanned by strong northern winds. A second
fire started nearby hours later.
"It certainly seems to be arson," a fire brigade spokesman
told Reuters.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose private
residence is near the site of the fire, met fire officials and
inspected operations in the area.
Hundreds of residents armed with waterhoses and buckets
tried desperately to save their homes as 15-metre (45-feet)
flames raced toward them.
"This is arson. They are destroying everything I built my
whole life," a resident of Rafina told reporters in tears. "I
now see my house burning down.
Deputy fire brigade chief Andreas Kois said hundreds of
firefighters rushed to the scene but strong winds hindered them.
"Everything is working against us. The wind is very strong
and the fire is spreading too fast for us to fight it," Kois
told reporters.
He could not say whether the fire hurt anyone or how many
homes it damaged.
More than 250 firefighters and soldiers, 50 fire trucks,
eight airplanes and six helicopters have fought the blaze since
Thursday morning.
More troops from around the country were called in to help.
The wealthy area, about 30 km (18.6 miles) east of the city
centre, is scattered with small, lush suburbs and thousands of
holiday homes on or close to the sea.
Athens International airport, which lies some 10 km away,
shut its western runway and redirected all flights to its
eastern runway to help air firefighting operations.
(additional reporting by Tatiana Frangou)

[budthespud]

American, Tom Robinson, of Global
Emergency Response, was personally
present and did fly on missions
in Greece on the IL-76 waterbomber
where all other nations' aircraft
(5) were wind-grounded.

The aircraft was called a miracle
and the aircraft that saved Greece
in the local media.

[NJFFSA16]

Firefighters put out blaze near seaside resort west of Athens
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Firefighters put out a blaze Sunday in a
pine forest near a seaside resort west of Athens, authorities said.
Eight water-dropping planes, six helicopters and 60 fire trucks
were used to battle the fire, which broke out at Ayioi Theodori, 64
kilometers (40 miles) west of the capital.
Fire department officials said three neighborhoods on the
outskirts of the popular resort were evacuated, but no houses were
damaged and no injuries were reported.
It was not immediately clear how much of the forest had been
affected.
Last week, fires ravaged forests across Greece as temperatures
hovered at 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Greece's Civil
Protection Authority had issued weekend fire warnings for most of
southern Greece, including areas around Athens.
On Thursday, a fire burnt 60 homes and large swathes of pine
forest in the eastern Athens suburb of Rafina.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia struggled Thursday to
contain fires in central Sumatra that have shrouded large parts of
neighboring Malaysia in thick white haze.
Forest fires and blazes set by local farmers were burning out of
control in four provinces, said Firman, a Meteorological and
Geophysics Agency official, identifying more than 150 hotspots.
The sky was dark in parts of central Sumatra, but strong winds
have for the last three days carried much of the smoke across the
Malacca Straits and into Malaysia, he said.
"We are very sorry about this," said Firman, who goes by only
one name, adding that government workers have been focusing most of
their attention on hardest hit Riau province.
The other blazes were in the provinces of North Sumatra, Jambi
and Kalimantan.
Forests have been razed in several districts of Kalimantan, said
Zainul Arifin, a local forestry affairs official. He said many of
the fires were lit by farmers to clear land.
Forest fires often break out in the region during dry spells
because of illegal land-clearing fires or carelessly discarded
cigarettes.
Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia and Indonesia
experienced theirs worst air quality levels in 1997, when brush
fires in Indonesia destroyed some 10 million hectares (25 million
acres) of vegetation, cloaking much of Southeast Asia with haze.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Strong winds and sweltering temperatures
fueled some 20 wildfires across drought-stricken Portugal on
Thursday as the number of firefighters on duty nearly doubled
compared to the previous day, authorities said.
The day began with 10 major blazes and the number doubled by
mid-afternoon as temperatures soared above 40 C (104 F). Nearly
1,600 firefighters tackled the blazes, patrolled high-risk areas or
cleaned up scorched areas, the Civil Protection Service said.
They were supported by 457 vehicles and nearly two dozen planes
and helicopters dropping water. On Wednesday, about 900
firefighters were on duty.
Flames engulfed about a dozen rural houses, including several
holiday homes, officials said.
Most fires were in heavily wooded areas of northern Portugal. A
smoky haze from the fires covered Porto, the country's
second-largest city, television images showed.
Temperatures in some regions were forecast to reach 45 C (113
F), the weather service said.
The Fire Prevention Agency placed most of Portugal on maximum
alert as the country endures its worst drought on record. The heat
wave is expected to continue through Saturday.
Fires have charred more than 68,000 hectares (168,000 acres) of
parched woodland this year, more than half of it last month,
according to the General-Directorate for Forests.
In neighboring Spain on Thursday firefighters battled to
extinguish a forest blaze a few kilometers (miles) from the
northern city of Pamplona.
The regional government of Navarra said three helicopters and
five planes were brought in to tackle the fire on the Monte San
Cristobal, north of the city.
Seven elderly residents were evacuated as a precaution from the
small village of Garrues, but authorities said it was no longer at
risk by early evening. There was no word on the cause of the fire.
Spain is experiencing its driest summer since record-keeping
began in the 1940s and has seen a spate of forest fires.
Last month, a blaze apparently sparked by a barbecue fire killed
11 firefighters and destroyed more than 11,000 hectares (27,000
acres) of woodland in a nature reserve east of Madrid.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[budthespud]

New fires ravage France's Var region

PARIS, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Fires scorched bone-dry parts of France, with flames moving across the Var region Friday.


Fire fighters were stymied in their efforts to battle the flames by a World War II-era powder magazine.

The latest fire, which broke out Thursday afternoon, appeared to be under control by the evening. But high winds Friday morning fanned it back, and the fire burned some 500 acres.

Complicating the battle is the grounding of Canadair planes used to fight the fire. The aircraft's used was halted after a Monday Canadair crash that killed two pilots.

Officials have evacuated some 1,700 people from a camp site in the Var region out of precaution.

Fires have also ravaged areas of the Bouches-du-Rhones and Auron, in southern France.

France and other parts of western Europe have been hit by unusually hot and dry conditions this summer.

[budthespud]

Forest fires continue to rage in Russia's Far East region

www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-07 17:45:43


MOSCOW, Aug. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- About 116,000 hectares of forest have already been destroyed as 33 forest fires are raging in Russia's Far East region, said the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Amurskaya obl. and Khabarovsk, where 15 fires are within 10 km to people's living areas, have been the worst hit by the fires.

In addition, the blazes have also charred 77,000 hectares of non-forest land in the region. Up till now, the area of woodland ravaged by fires in the Far East region is five times larger than that in the corresponding period of last year.

More than 300 firefighters as well as 14 planes and helicoptershave so far been mobilized to tackle the fires, said officials of Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Wildfires break out in Russian's Far East region each year but fires of this year are particularly damaging to the eco-system. Experts pointed out that the primitive taiga having been destroyedthis year would need at least 500 years to recover completely. Enditem

[budthespud]

9:01 am: Two dead in Spanish forest fire as country suffers hottest weather this year



By ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 7, 2005

MADRID, Spain - Two firefighters died as at least 10 forest fires swept across tinder dry landscapes amid soaring summer temperatures across Spain, officials said Sunday.

The pilot of a small firefighting plane died when his aircraft crashed into trees Saturday as he attempted to spray water on the flames and a land-based fireman was later crushed by falling rocks as he worked to help control a blaze, police said.

Many of the fires may have been started intentionally, leading Agriculture Minister, Elena Espinosa, to call for "greater responsibility," without elaborating.

"Many of our forests now face a difficult road to recovery," Espinosa told reporters.

Spain is in the grip of its worst drought in over 60 years with many rivers, lakes and reservoirs at less than 20 percent of their capacity.

Temperatures reached 42 Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit), the hottest this year, in several southern regions on Saturday and were likely to stay there for at least one more day the national weather center said.

Some fear Spain see a repeat of the high summer temperatures seen in 2003, when 19,000 people died across Europe.

[NJFFSA16]

Two dead in Spanish forest fire as country suffers hottest weather
this year
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Two firefighters died as at least 10 forest
fires swept across tinder dry landscapes amid soaring summer
temperatures across Spain, officials said Sunday.
The pilot of a small firefighting plane died when his aircraft
crashed into trees Saturday as he attempted to spray water on the
flames and a land-based fireman was later crushed by falling rocks
as he worked to help control a blaze, police said.
Many of the fires may have been started intentionally, leading
Agriculture Minister, Elena Espinosa, to call for "greater
responsibility," without elaborating.
"Many of our forests now face a difficult road to recovery,"
Espinosa told reporters.
Spain is in the grip of its worst drought in over 60 years with
many rivers, lakes and reservoirs at less than 20 percent of their
capacity.
Temperatures reached 42 Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit), the hottest
this year, in several southern regions on Saturday and were likely
to stay there for at least one more day the national weather center
said.
Some fear Spain see a repeat of the high summer temperatures
seen in 2003, when 19,000 people died across Europe.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

HYERES, France (AP) - Hundreds of firefighters battled blazes in
two areas of southern France on Sunday that forced the evacuation
of campsites and temporarily cut electricity in 50,000 homes, fire
officials said.
Strong winds fueled the fires, which burned through forested
areas close to the towns of Hyeres, in the Var region of southern
France, and Manosque, further to the north in the foothills of the
Alps.
Authorities in the Var were forced to cut high-tension lines
that affected homes in Hyeres and two nearby towns, as some 300
firefighters battled blazes that had burned through 50 hectares
(125 acres) of forest, fire officials said.
Three campsites of vacationers were evacuated near the town of
Manosque in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region, regional official
Mohamed Saadallah told LCI television.
The blazes came as French firefighters brought into use a new
type of water-dropping plane - the Dash-8 - after suspending use of
Canadair planes following the death of two firefighters in Corsica
last week.
Concern about seasonal summer fires in southern France has been
heightened this year because of a severe drought affecting much of
southern Europe. Wildfires have burned more than 68,000 hectares
(168,000 acres) of woodland this year in Portugal.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[budthespud]

Two people die as 'deliberate' forest fires ravage Spain



8 August 2005

MADRID – Two people have died in the struggle to put out forest fires which are ravaging parts of Spain.

Francisco Javier Tirado Rodriguez, 29, died on Saturday helping to fight a blaze started that day in Casavieja in Ávila. Rodriguez, who is well-known in his home town for his work protecting the environment, was hit by rocks which became loose during the fire.

On Monday, officials said the fire had destroyed an estimated 800 hectares of forest and was believed to have been started deliberately.

On Sunday, in Galicia, in Orense, Antonio Diaz, 50, died as he piloted a plane spraying water over an area engulfed in flames.

On Monday, more than 27 fires were stillburning throughout the country, many started during the weekend which experts had warned would be especially hot and dry.

Fire fighters in the province Castilla y Leon were tackling 11 fires which had destroyed some 4,100 hectares, with the most serious being highlighted as that at Avila and a second in La Cabrera in Leon, which had destroyed 3,100 hectares.

The farming and fishing minister Elena Espinosa, who visited the family of Rodriguez to give her condolences, called for people to behave responsibly. She pointed out that the vast majority of the forest fires this summer have been started deliberately and stressed "the majority of the burnt woods will be difficult to restore".

For her part, the environment minister Cristina Narbora admitted that the government needed to do more to tackle forest fires.

"The government isn't satisfied with how it has acted," she said. "However, it isn't resigned; it's committed."

There were "many faults to be addressed," she added. However, the minister said the conservatives were wrong to accuse the socialist government of "letting people die" and "little short of involuntary homicide".

"There hasn't been a single year in history when there has been so little rain," she said, adding that those circumstances made exceptional measures necessary. The minister said she would consider vetting local festivals which used fireworks and bonfires, in addition to the ban the government has already introduced on smoking and lighting bonfires in certain zones.

Narbora said she still felt bitterness, anxiety and powerlessness when she thought of the 11 volunteer firefighters who lost their lives in the Guadalajara fire last month.

She pointed out that during the conservative PP government's eight years in power, more than a million hectares were destroyed in forest fires and 32 people died.

[NJFFSA16]

Spanish firefighters continue battle against wildfire in south
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Firefighters battled a three-day-old
wildfire Wednesday in a national park in southern Spain, helped by
water-dropping aircraft and firebreaks.
Authorities estimate that the fire in the Sierra de Cazorla area
of Jaen province - along with two others in the same region that
have been brought under control - has burned some 4,000 hectares
(9,900 acres) of woodland.
Thirty-eight firefighting aircraft were working to smother the
fire, the state-run news agency Efe reported.
Firebreaks set up Tuesday on three sides of the blaze were
helping halt the flames. Some 1,000 people have been evacuated from
the area as a precaution.
The fire, believed to have been sparked by lightning, started
late Sunday.
Spain is experiencing its driest summer since record-keeping
began in the 1940s, and has seen more than 50,000 hectares (123,550
acres) of woodland ruined by about 5,000 forest fires so far this
year.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

By ANGELA DOLAND
Associated Press Writer
PARIS (AP) - They're the daredevils of Europe's skies: pilots
who swoop through blinding smoke, soaring flames and bone-jarring
turbulence to drop water onto summer wildfires that rip through
parched forests.
On Thursday, the pilots of France's fleet of Canadair
water-dumping planes will return to the skies after a 10-day
grounding at the height of fire season - restoring firefighters
with one of their most powerful weapons.
The planes were grounded Aug. 1 when two Canadair CL 415 pilots
plunged to their deaths on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.
Though the cause of the crash is still not clear, safety experts
have checked all 10 remaining planes in the fleet and pronounced
them fit to fly, the Interior Ministry said in a statement
Wednesday.
The temporary loss of the Canadairs put extra pressure on
firefighters on the ground. The Canadair fleet is the main airborne
firefighting force in France. Without them, firefighters were left
with just water-carrying helicopters and other planes that are best
suited to combatting small fires.
This weekend, French authorities brought in more than 1,000
firefighters and 250 vehicles from around the country to help
combat Mediterranean fires, said civil defense spokesman Lt. Col.
Eric Soupra.
Without the Canadairs to douse the flames, "fires are more
virulent, and you need to take all possible security measures,"
Soupra said in a telephone interview.
In southern Europe, forests are too small and too populated to
employ the North American technique of letting fires burn out
naturally. Despite the massive efforts, fires burn throughout the
summer here, sometimes spreading to homes, disrupting transport
links and forcing the evacuations of people from houses and camp
sites under threat.
The European Union's head office said Wednesday that this year
was on track for an increase in fires across Europe - comparable to
the disastrous 2003 season. Then, 40 people were killed and 740,000
hectares (1.8 million acres) - an area almost equivalent to Corsica
- of forests burned.
For firefighters, this summer has already been deadly.
In Spain, which is suffering through the driest summer since
record-keeping began in the 1940s, a blaze apparently sparked by a
barbecue fire killed 11 firefighters last month.
Also in Spain, the pilot of a small Polish-made Dromader M-18
water-carrying plane crashed into trees Saturday as he attempted to
douse a fire near the Portuguese border. His death, and the death
of the two French pilots, has drawn attention to the daring flyers
who risk their lives.
France's Canadair pilots are the creme de la creme of aviation:
Most are former fighter pilots, stunt flyers or members of the
French aircraft carrier fleet.
Ludovic Piasentin, one of the men killed in Corsica, was a
former fighter pilot who had racked up more than 10,000 flight
hours. His co-pilot, Jean-Louis de Benedict, was a longtime Air
Force flight engineer who got his pilot's wings in 1995.
Canadairs - squat, round-nosed planes that look something like a
flying boat - fill their 6,137-liter (1,595-gallon) tanks by
landing on lakes, oceans and rivers and scooping up water. Pilots
make trips back and forth between the water source and the fires,
dropping into heavy turbulence zones to douse the flames.
"It's extremely violent, it takes place at low altitude, there
is heavy turbulence and wind, the planes are put into complex
situations," said Dominique Pipat, a filmmaker who spent three
months preparing a documentary about the Canadair pilots.
"It's serious piloting - they're not flying from point A to
point B in a Boeing. ... They love the adrenaline. They're very
humble about what they do."
Piasentin and de Benedict were buried Friday. They were awarded
posthumous Legion of Honor awards. Interior Minister Nicolas
Sarkozy praised them as "the very definition of courage."

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Malaysia seeks crisis talks over choking haze
By Mark Bendeich
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Malaysia sought crisis
talks with its biggest neighbour on Thursday as Indonesian
forest fires smothered peninsular Malaysia in a choking haze,
threatening public health and raising fears for its economy.
Much of peninsular Malaysia, including the capital, has
been shrouded in thick smog for a week, presenting the country
with its worst pollution crisis since 1997, when smoke mainly
from Indonesian forest fires blocked out skies across Southeast
Asia.
Malaysia sent its environment and commodities ministers on
Thursday to the Sumatran city of Medan where, according to
Malaysian media, they were due to meet Indonesia's forestry
minister and officials from its environment ministry.
"I am going there to go on site and see what is happening,"
Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Peter Chin told
Reuters by phone on Thursday as he prepared to fly to Sumatra.
Fires on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, which is a short
ferry-ride away from peninsular Malaysia's west coast, flare up
around this time every year as farmers, plantation owners and
miners burn forests to clear land during the dry season.
Malaysia has offered to help Indonesia fight the fires, but
Chin declined to say what it could realistically do to help
solve the problem or what he hoped to achieve from the Medan
talks.
Malaysian companies own large tracts of oil-palm plantation
in Sumatra. Asked if some of these might also be to blame for
the fires, he added: "We will see what happens (during the
visit)." In Indonesia, Malaysian-owned operations are often
said to be behind the burning or to be turning a blind eye to
it.
TOURISTS SEEK REFUGE
Haze from Indonesia has become an almost annual problm in
Malaysia where it is often made worse by its own dry-season
fires, but this time the smog has reached dangerous levels,
according to health authorities.
Asthma attacks have soared and tourists are holing up in
their hotels or seeking refuge in air-conditioned shopping
malls at one of the busiest times for the country's tourism
industry.
Schools in worst-affected areas are closed for the rest of
the week and a major port operator on the west coast suspended
operations on Wednesday evening. An airport on the outskirts of
Kuala Lumpur was closed on Wednesday for five hours.
A ship was reported to have run aground this week, and
vessels plying the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's
busiest sea lanes, are warned to take care because of poor
visibility.
The government has said it will declare an emergency if the
pollution index hits 500, a level considered hazardous. Kuala
Lumpur registered 181 on Wednesday, with Putrajaya, the
administrative capital, at 224, and Port Klang at 410.
Malaysia is starting to publish daily pollution
measurements, reversing a 1997 decision to keep the figures
secret out of fears this would scare off tourism, a major
industry generating 29.65 billion ringgit ($7.92 billion) in
income last year.
The haze has hurt the local stock market, dragging down
shares in the airport, airlines and tourism industries.
($1 3.746 Malaysian Ringgit)
(Additional reporting by Jerry Norton in Jakarta)

[NJFFSA16]

By CONSTANT BRAND
Associated Press Writer
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Drought and human negligence are to
blame for the recent rise in forest fires across Europe, the
European Union's head office said Wednesday, warning the situation
in southern Europe remained precarious.
Officials and experts said recent years have seen an increase in
forest fires in the Mediterranean region, especially in EU
countries Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and France.
It said while 2004 saw a dip in fires, this year was on track
for a dramatic increase across Europe, comparable to the disastrous
2003 forest fire season, which saw 740,000 hectares (1,828,540
acres) of forests burned to the ground and claimed the lives of 40
people.
"The situation in Portugal, Spain and also the south of France
is pretty critical," said Paulo Barbosa, from the EU's Institute
for Environment and Security. He said preliminary figures compiled
from EU member states up to the end of July, showed that 20 people
had died in some 70,000 forest fires.
He said "only 10 to 15 percent (of fires) are started by
natural causes," pointing to this summer's deadly blaze in Spain.
Eleven firefighters trying to extinguish a forest fire sparked
by a smoldering barbecue were killed last month in central Spain.
That fire destroyed more than 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) of
pine forest and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from
their villages in drought-stricken Spain.
Spanish firefighters on Wednesday were battling a three-day-old
wildfire in a national park in southern Spain, helped by
water-dropping aircraft and firebreaks.
Authorities estimate that the fire in the Sierra de Cazorla area
of Jaen province - along with two others in the same region that
have been brought under control - has burned some 4,000 hectares
(9,900 acres) of woodland there. Some 1,000 people have been
evacuated from the area as a precaution.
In Portugal, where authorities reported no wildfires for the
first time in 11 days as light rain and cooler temperatures settled
over large parts of the country.
Firefighters brought a three-day blaze in the Serra da Estrela
National Park under control after nightfall Tuesday, the Civil
Protection Service said. The fire was one of the worst in the
history of the park, which was established in central Portugal
almost 30 years ago.
A heat wave during Portugal's worst drought on record brought a
spate of summer forest blazes, which have killed two people,
injured dozens and forced the temporary evacuation of hundreds from
outlying villages.
Environmental groups blame the fires on weak environmental
education among rural communities and inadequate forest management
policies.
Police suspect many of the fires were set deliberately.
Detectives have arrested more than 80 people this year on suspicion
of starting wildfires.
Barbosa said EU risk assessments, which are given on a daily
basis to national forestry and civil protection services, showed
that during a normal season the highest risk-countries in the
Mediterranean area suffer some 60,000 fires per year, on average -
between May and October. "More than 400,000 hectares (988,400
acres) of forest burn in average every year," Barbosa said.
Preliminary figures for this season assembled by the EU's
so-called European Forest Fire Information System, EFFIS, show that
2005 will be a very bad year.
Barbosa said by early July, some 76,000 hectares (187,796 acres)
of forests were already damaged in Portugal, over 37,000 hectares
(91,427 acres) in Spain, 14,000 hectares (34,594 acres) in Italy
and 4,930 hectares (12,182 acres) in France.
In its annual forest fire report for 2004, the EU said some
129,600 hectares (320,242 acres) of forest land was burned in
Portugal, 127,900 hectares (316,041 acres) in Spain, 55,000
hectares (135,905 acres) in Italy, 10,500 hectares (25,946 acres)
in France, and 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) in Greece.
The EU's forest fire risk center assembles information from
satellite images, and also takes into account drought conditions
and weather forecasts.
France and other countries in the region have already imposed
strict restrictions on the use of water, and have also moved to
tighten rules on the use of camp fires, barbecues and engines in
risk areas.
---
On the Net: http://inforest.jrc.it/effis/

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[budthespud]

Malaysia Chokes on Indonesia Forest Fires
Mail this story to a friend | Printer friendly version

MALAYSIA: August 11, 2005


KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia choked on its worst pollution crisis in eight years on Wednesday, as forest fires from neighbouring Indonesia smothered the capital in thick smoke, forcing schools, an airport and a port operator to shut down.


Asthma attacks soared and tourists huddled in air-conditioned shopping malls at one of the busiest times for the country's tourism industry, prompting the government to consider emergency measures and to offer its neighbour help in fighting the fires.

"The situation is not getting better, it is getting worse," Environment Minister Adenan Satem told a news conference.

Adenan said after a cabinet meeting that discussed ways to clear the haze that he and the commodities minister would travel to the Indonesian capital Jakarta as soon as possible to offer Malaysia's help in response to a plea Indonesia made to ASEAN nations.

The government would declare an emergency if the pollution index hit 500, a level considered hazardous, he said. Kuala Lumpur registered 181 on Wednesday, with Putrajaya, the administrative capital, at 224, and Port Klang at 410.

Malaysia is starting to publish daily pollution measurements, reversing a 1997 decision to keep the figures secret.

The API numbers have been kept secret in the past for fear of hurting the tourism industry. Former premier Mahathir Mohamad, whose administration kept the data secret, wore a face mask against the smog at a public function on Wednesday.

In the capital, wisps of smog swirled around the gleaming Petronas Towers, occasionally hiding the iconic structures from people in the streets below, many of whom wore masks or held up handkerchiefs to block out the worst of the acrid smoke.

"This is the worst thing in Malaysia," said a tourist from the United Arab Emirates accompanied by his wife and three daughters, who gave his name only as Ahmad. "We're concerned for our health...It's very bad."


SHIP RUNS AGROUND

Kuala Lumpur, swarming with big-spending Middle East tourists at this time of year, warned against traffic hazards after a ship ran aground at nearby Port Klang and prepared to declare an emergency in the worst-hit regions.

An airport close to the capital shut down for five hours and a major port operator on the west coast, Northport, suspended operations from 0900 GMT. Schools in two badly hit towns near Kuala Lumpur were ordered to close for the rest of the week.

The haze also crept into the stock market where shares in the country's main airports operator, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd , and in national carrier Malaysian Airline System Bhd fell 4.2 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

Air purifiers were "selling like hot cakes", said Azmi, a doctor. A long queue of people waited to buy air ionisers and purifiers in a swanky shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, he said.

Domestic media said the haze triggered a surge in respiratory diseases, almost doubling cases of asthma in some areas, and boosting breathing problems 60 percent elsewhere.

"If the API exceeds 400 we want schools to close," Health Minister Chua Soi Lek told reporters. "We want people to cut down on outdoor activities. They must wear masks when outdoors."

The US embassy ordered all employees working out-doors to wear masks. Motorists needed to switch on their headlights to be seen by other road users in the middle of the day.

The haze has cut visibility in parts of the Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest waterways, to about 1 km (0.6 miles), meteorological officials said.

(Additional reporting by Jalil Hamid and Mark Bendeich)

[budthespud]

Appeal from Malaysia goes out for Il-76 waterbombers
http://www.vadscorner.com/internet67.html

In 1997, during The HAZE last time, when MAFFs responded,
two things happened:

(a) the Russians offered to come out with IL-76s for the
price of fuel alone - and were rejected; and

(b) the National Guard, who responded with C-130s stated
in a brief following the mission that planes with better dump
capacity (IL-76s) should have been used.

[NJFFSA16]

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia and Malaysia agreed Thursday
to release rain-inducing chemicals into clouds in a desperate
attempt to extinguish forest fires that have shrouded the two
nations in a choking haze, an official said.
Indonesia's forestry minister held an emergency meeting with
Malaysia's environment minister in the city of Medan to discuss
hundreds of fires that have been burning out of control on
Indonesia's Sumatra island for the last week.
Winds have blown most of the thick white smoke across the narrow
Strait of Malacca to Malaysia, which imposed a "haze emergency"
Thursday in its biggest harbor and a tourist spot where air
pollution exceeded hazardous levels.
The haze has blanketed Kuala Lumpur and surrounding towns in a
pall of noxious fumes, smelling of ash and coal, in the country's
worst environmental crisis since 1997, sparking serious health
concerns.
The ministers agreed to try to douse flames by seeding clouds
with chemicals in a bid to induce rain, said Koes Saparjadi, a
senior official at Indonesia's Forestry Department. "But we still
have not decided where or when the rain-making project will be
implemented," he said.
While cloud-seeding has its advocates, many scientists insist
there is no solid evidence to show that it works.
Many of the 300 fires in the Indonesian provinces of North
Sumatra, Central Kalimantan and Riau have been set by farmers,
plantation owners and miners trying to clear land, said Khairul
Zaenal, a local forestry officer.
Damage in Indonesian cities and towns was limited, he said,
although haze covering large swathes of countryside has reached a
dangerous level.
Indonesia was struggling to battle the fires, and a clearly
frustrated Malaysia offered to help. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi called Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on
Wednesday, saying he was prepared to dispatch firefighters to the
area if need be.
Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, is 1,400
kilometers (900 miles) northwest of Jakarta.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[budthespud]

The question remains: Why, during The HAZE last time,
did the international community reject the IL-76
waterbombers and go with airplanes whose notoriously
poor canopy penetration capability virtually assured mission
failure....the admitting of which failure went on the
National Guard record following the attempt.

Was this all just for show?

[NJFFSA16]

By JOANA MATEUS
Associated Press Writer
LISBON, Portugal (AP)- Firefighting aircraft from Italy and
Germany were due to arrive in Portugal later Monday after the
Lisbon government said it could no longer control raging forest
fires and appealed for help.
On Sunday two Canadair water tank planes from France and one
from Spain arrived in Portugal on Sunday afternoon to help fight
more than 60 wildfires gripping the country from north to south,
firefighters said. A third of these were burning in the northern
districts of Viseu and Viana do Castelo.
On Monday, a Canadair from Italy plus three helicopters from
Germany with 25 anti-fire specialists aboard were expected to
arrive in the fire stricken country to add to the international
task force.
On Saturday Portugal asked the European Union for help in
fighting massive wildfires as the Interior ministry admitted it
could no longer cope with dozens of blazes burning through forests
and farmland without external help.
Portugal's worst drought in years has helped the flames spread.
So far, 11 firefighters and four civilians have been killed in this
year's fires, while 50 houses have been destroyed.
The most serious fire was in the Pampilhosa da Serra region, in
the district of Coimbra, 196 kilometers (122 miles) north of
Lisbon. Although the fire had seemingly been extinguished last
Wednesday after burning for five days, the flames flared up again
on Friday, forcing several villages to be evacuated.
So far, 30,000 hectares (74,130 acres) of the region's 39,000
hectares (96,369 acres) have been destroyed, and 200 firefighters,
74 fire trucks and three firefighting planes and helicopters were
battling the flames in the area. Fires were also ablaze in the
districts of Aveiro, Braga, Braganca, Coimbra, Leiria, Porto,
Santarem, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real and Viseu.
On Sunday President Jorge Sampaio asked all employers to release
any employees who also work as firefighters so that they could help
fight the blazes. "I appeal to all employers to release your
firefighter employees to help fight this terrible tragedy," he
said after attending a briefing at the Lisbon firefighters
headquarters. "We have a vast corps of volunteers and we need them
all on the field," Sampaio said.
The President thanked the international community for the help
that has been arriving in the country and also asked the Portuguese
to unite in the face of a "demanding and difficult moment".
Also on Sunday, Prime Minister Jose Socrates visited Pampilhosa
da Serra and praised the firefighters.
"This weekend has been extraordinary and the firefighters'
effort has been extraordinary as well," Socrates said. "We need
all the help we can get and France's help is already a great
thing."
The Prime Minister added a lot needed to be done to understand
the causes of fires in Portugal. "Right now all we can do is fight
the fires but we've got a lot of work to do afterwards because
there are structural causes for fires in Portugal," he said. "The
country cannot surrender to the notion that we have to go through
this every year."
In the Abrantes district, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north
of Lisbon, several other fires forced villages to be evacuated and
burned three houses, firefighters said.
Altogether, some 3,401 firefighters, helped by 956 fire trucks,
34 national aeroplanes and helicopters, and three foreign
aeroplanes were fighting blazes in Portugal on Sunday. More than
200 police officers also arrived in the fire-stricken areas in the
country's northern and central regions to help evacuate villages,
block or reopen roads and ensure access for fire trucks and
ambulances.
The Armed Forces were also contributing with 600 men to
monitoring operations in areas where fires had been put out.
High temperatures together with strong winds, which rekindled
several fires on Saturday, were also forecast for the coming days.
Temperatures were expected to reach highs of 36 degrees Celsius (96
degrees Fahrenheit) in some districts, like Santarem, 78 kilometers
(49 miles) north of Lisbon. The districts of Viana do Castelo,
Braga, Porto, Braganca, Viseu, Aveiro, Coimbra, Leiria and Evora
were at the highest possible risk for fires on Monday, weather
services said.
Portugal's summer wildfires have so far burned through 140,000
hectares (345,940 acres), already more than the total area burned
last year, officials said.
Last year's fires burned 129,652 hectares (320,370 acres) and in
2003 - the worst for wildfires in the last two decades - the blazes
burned 425,000 hectares (1 million acres).

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Officials in the northwestern Spanish
province of Galicia on Sunday blamed arsonists for the outbreak of
more than 180 forest fires that have raged in the region over the
past two days.
"Experts have informed us that over 95 percent of the fires
active over this weekend have been started deliberately," Teresa
Varela, press spokeswoman for the province's regional government,
told The Associated Press.
Varela said that 184 fires broke out on Saturday alone and that
once extinguished, some fires flared up again in points very close
to the original outbreaks. More than 20 fires were still burning
Sunday.
Almost all of the fires have been concentrated in two regions -
Pentevedra and Ourense - whereas neighboring Lugo, which has
extensive forests, is totally free of fire, said Varela.
Conditions were so bad in some regions that counselor Alfredo
Suarez Canal warned that "unscrupulous pyromaniacs" had made main
roads dangerous for traffic due to the risk of fire and heavy
smoke.
One firefighter in the town of Xinzo de Limia was jailed
Saturday pending trial on suspicion of deliberately starting a
fire, Varela said.
Galicia has lost 10,076 hectares (24,897 acres) of forest to
fire so far this month in 1,692 fires, according to figures
released by the department of environment of the province.
The Civil Guard's Nature Protection Service (SEPRONA) has
detained 277 people this year on suspicion of deliberately starting
fires in Spain, more than the total for the whole of last year,
according to figures released by the service.
A total of 95,000 hectares (234,745 acres) of forest have burned
in Spain this year, killing 15 people and forcing 3,300 people to
be evacuated from 850 homes.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Nearly all of the Indonesian brush
fires that blanketed neighboring Malaysia with acrid, choking smoke
have been put out, but underground fires are still burning in peat
soil, Indonesia said.
"All areas where the fire happened due to land clearing
activities ... can be said to have already been extinguished,"
private radio station El Shinta quoted Forestry Minister Malem
Sambat Kaban as saying Sunday. "The number of hotspots there can
be said to be zero - by ignoring five or six small ones."
However, a local official said a sanctuary for tigers is
threatened by underground fires still smoldering in peat lands in
the same area where many of the brush fires had burned on
Indonesia's Sumatra island.
About 1,200 firefighters were trying to extinguish the
underground blazes beneath about 20,000 hectares (49,420 acres) of
peat lands in Rokan Hilir district of Riau province on Sumatra,
said Chairul Zaenal of the local environmental controlling office
in Riau's capital, Pekanbaru.
Zaenal said the peat fires threaten a nearby 60,000-hectare
(148,260-acre) conservation zone for Sumatran tigers, as well as a
protected forest.
The Indonesian brush fires - mostly set as a cheap but illegal
way to clear land for plantations, mines and other operations -
have cloaked large parts of Malaysia, including the main city of
Kuala Lumpur, with a noxious haze, sometimes pushing the air
pollution level into the hazardous range.
The fires, often set during the area's annual mid-year dry
season, have become a sensitive political issue between Indonesia
and neighboring countries including Malaysia and Singapore, where
haze from the fires has occasionally been blamed for annoyance, air
traffic disruptions, health problems and damage to the crucial
tourism industry.
Officials in Indonesia - a vast archipelago struggling with
poverty and corruption - often say they cannot halt the burning due
to a lack of resources and personnel.
"Demands of lands for new estates increases every year in both
Riau and West Kalimantan provinces, but the commitment of our
businessmen for environment is still low," Kaban told El Shinta.
Indonesia has also claimed that Malaysian plantation owners were
behind some of the fires, a claim Malaysia has denied.
This year, Malaysia deployed 125 fire fighters to help fight the
Sumatra blazes. Singapore has routinely helped out by providing
Indonesia with satellite images of the affected areas.
Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to lower the fire risk by
starting cloud-seeding next week over Riau and North Sumatra
provinces, both on Sumatra island, and in West Kalimantan on Borneo
island.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

By JOANA MATEUS
Associated Press Writer
LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Wildfires fanned by high winds burned
out of control Monday, destroying more than 10 houses on the
outskirts of Portugal's third-largest city and forcing 50 people to
leave their homes amid the country's worst drought in years.
The government, no longer able to cope with the more than 25
fires burning through forest and farmland, called on the European
Union for help over the weekend.
France dispatched two firefighting planes Sunday, and the Dutch
air force was contributing with two Cougar helicopters, each
capable of carrying 660 gallons of water.
Spain also delivered a plane, and Italy was expected to send one
Tuesday. Three helicopters from Germany would also join in the
operations.
Most of the fires burned in the northern districts of Viseu and
Viana do Castelo. Coimbra, the country's third-largest city with
nearly 110,000 people, was surrounded by two fire fronts,
firefighters said.
Flames and smoke could be seen from different parts of the city,
located about 120 miles north of Lisbon, and the fire had already
spread to a number of boroughs, firefighters said.
More than 10 houses on Coimbra's outskirts were burned, and 50
people had fled their homes, firefighters said. Seven planes were
dumping water on the fires, but Mayor Carlos Encarnacao said it was
still moving quickly.
About 200 firefighters were battling another large fire in
Abrantes in the district of Santarem, about 50 miles north of
Lisbon. Traffic on one of the district's highways was disrupted by
a blaze.
Nearly 2,000 firefighters, supported by 795 fire trucks and 31
aircraft, were involved in the nationwide effort.
The army sent 600 men to monitor areas where fires had been
extinguished, and civil protection workers stood by in case
residents had to be evacuated.
Strong winds rekindled several fires during the weekend, and
more winds and high temperatures were forecast.
Temperatures were expected to reach 96 degrees in some districts
Monday. They were likely to begin dropping only on Wednesday, when
there was also a chance of mild rain, forecasters said.
The wildfires have burned through 346,000 acres, already more
than the total area hit last year, when 320,000 acres were
destroyed, officials said.
In 2003 - the worst year in the last two decades - the blazes
burned 1 million acres, causing losses of $1.4 billion. Portugal
received $59 million in compensation from the Solidarity Fund that
year.
In neighboring Spain, the country's environment ministry said
that 265,000 acres of forest had been destroyed in wildfires. More
than 20 fires continued to burn in the northwestern region of
Galicia, many of them believed to have been started intentionally,
authorities said.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

By JOANA MATEUS
Associated Press Writer
LISBON, Portugal (AP)- Lower temperatures and increased humidity
on Tuesday helped firefighters contain about 20 of the 30 fires
that have raged in Portugal, but the worst blaze continued to burn
on the outskirts of the city of Coimbra, destroying some houses.
Police, meanwhile, announced the arrests of four people on
suspicion of arson, including one man who used to be a firefighter.
The lighter used for setting the fires was also recovered. So far
this year 102 people have been arrested for setting fires, police
said.
More than 300 firefighters were battling the blaze on the edges
of Coimbra, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Lisbon, and
three firefighting helicopters from Germany were flying in on
Tuesday to help.
That fire has scorched woodland since Sunday night. It moved
into several suburbs of the city of more than 100,000 people on
Monday and destroyed 10 houses. About 60 people were forced to
evacuate, firefighters said.
Twelve fires continued to burn throughout the country Tuesday,
most of them in the northern districts of Viseu and Viana do
Castelo.
Altogether, 2,300 firefighters are fighting flames countrywide,
supported by 659 fire trucks and 14 water-dumping aircraft sent
from other European countries.
About 600 members of the armed forces were also deployed to
areas where fire has already been controlled to clear debris from
roads and keep watch for new blazes.
Weather services said many districts remained at "very high
risk."
Portugal has asked for help from the European Union. France sent
two Canadair firefighting planes on Sunday and Spain sent one. The
three helicopters from Germany and another Canadair from Italy were
due to start firefighting operations Tuesday. The Dutch air force
was contributing two Cougar firefighting helicopters.
Despite the overnight drop in temperatures, Tuesday was expected
to be hot and dry throughout the country with highs reaching 36
degrees Celsius (97 Fahrenheit) in some areas, weather services
said. Temperatures were expected to drop slightly on Wednesday.
Portugal's summer wildfires have so far burned through 140,000
hectares (345,940 acres), more than the total area burned last
year, officials said.
The EU Commission's spokeswoman Paula Laissy on Monday said
Portugal could seek disaster assistance from the European
Solidarity Fund, but Prime Minister Jose Socrates said the
situation did not yet require it.
Member states can ask for compensation when losses surpass 0.6
percent of the gross domestic product. In 2003, fires in Portugal
caused losses of euro1.2 billion, and the country received euro48.5
million in compensation from the Solidarity Fund.
Last year's fires burned 129,652 hectares (320,370 acres) and in
2003 - the worst for wildfires in the last two decades - the blazes
burned 425,000 hectares (1 million acres).

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

By JOANA MATEUS
Associated Press Writer
LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Wildfires flared again around Portugal's
third-largest city Wednesday, just hours after firefighters brought
them under control after fighting a dozen blazes this week.
More than 540 firefighters supported by 150 fire trucks and
seven air tankers were battling blazes in the Coimbra district
alone. They also were working in the central and northern districts
of Porto, Santarem, Vila Real, Viseu.
Four more people were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of arson -
raising to 122 the number of people detained this year on suspicion
of deliberately starting fires. Eighty people were arrested last
year for arson in Portugal.
Portugal has had little or no rain for 10 months, with at least
75 percent of the country suffering through an extreme drought, the
Water Institute said.
After days of fires, a cooling fog and higher humidity helped
firefighters bring the flames under control Wednesday before they
flared up again, officials said.
The fire has destroyed at least 10 houses in the suburbs of the
city of Coimbra, about 120 miles north of Lisbon. About 50
residents were evacuated from villages Tuesday night, officials
said.
Some residents were due to return to their homes, Coimbra's Gov.
Henrique Fernandes said, but many will find a blackened landscape.
More than 1,620 firefighters were involved in the effort, and
about 600 members of the armed forces were deployed to areas where
fires were under control.
Several countries, including Spain, Germany, France and the
Netherlands, sent pilots and equipment. Slovakia also said it was
prepared to send a helicopter.
In the Miranda do Corvo area of Coimbra, residents applauded as
German helicopters helping to fight the blaze flew overhead,
dousing flames with water, the Jornal de Noticias newspaper said.
"As soon as they got here, they rolled up their sleeves and set
up a communications room," Portuguese air force pilot Mario Marcao
told the newspaper.
Three French firefighters from a special natural disasters unit
in Nice, France, cut short vacations to help out.
Women walked long distances to bring drinking water, wine, juice
and food to firefighters working days on end. Other residents
helped by bringing crews buckets filled with water.
Wildfires have killed 15 people, 11 of them firefighters, this
year, burning through 445,000 acres, compared with 320,370 acres
last year.
Other parts of southern Europe also were ablaze. In Spain,
enduring its driest year since keeping rainfall records in the
1940s, dozens of fires were burning in the northwest Galicia region
and other areas.
Fires on the Mediterranean island of Corsica scorched 1,480
acres of brush in July. Separate fires in France's southern
Bouches-du-Rhone region destroyed more than 7,400 acres of brush
and pine forest in July. August fires devastated about 1,700 acres
of woodland in the Vars and Bouches-du-Rhone regions of
southeastern France.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Area size of New York City burnt in Spain fires
By Jason Webb
MADRID, Aug 16 (Reuters) - An area the size of New York City
was destroyed in forest fires that raged across northwestern
Spain this month, sparking accusations of political incompetence
and organised arson, an official said on Wednesday.
"A very large area has burnt, about 70,000 hectares," said
Emilio Perez, the Galicia region's head of government, adding
that many of the hundreds of fires were started on purpose.
The area burnt became a political issue when Spain's
conservative Popular Party opposition accused the local and
national governments, which are both Socialist, of incompetence
and disorganisation in fighting the fires.
The Popular Party said it worked out from a NASA Internet
page that 175,000 hectares had gone up in smoke.
After an army-backed emergency effort including 7,000 fire
fighters and planes dousing blazes with sea water, all but one
fire had been extinguished by Wednesday.
But the fires damaged Galicia's tourist economy during the
year's busiest month, with beach goers coated in ashes and
campers evacuated from tent sites or roped into fire fighting.
Police have arrested 30 people for arson and authorities
spoke of conspiracies by fire fighters seeking work and
villagers exacting revenge on neighbours.
One part-time fire fighter was caught in a wood carrying a
can of petrol and 14 cigarette lighters. A newspaper published a
photograph of tiny parachutes carrying firecrackers dropped onto
trees.
As suspicions spread, the strain told on some fire fighters.
"It's sad you put out fires and they call you a pyromaniac.
It's like blaming a doctor for murder," said one, Nacho Penela,
speaking to El Pais newspaper.
Summer fires are a recurring phenomenon in Spain, where an
average 140,000 hectares burned every year from 1990 to 2004.
People start almost all of them. But ecologists say the main
problem is poor forest management in a depopulating countryside.
Most Galician forests are small plots of pine and eucalyptus
whose owners rarely bother to clear flammable undergrowth, said
Felix Romero, of the World Wildlife Fund/Adena.
"Galicia has to restructure its forest sector. Today,
Galicia has a forest crisis," Romero said.

[NJFFSA16]

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Firefighters have extinguished all forest
fires in Spain's northwestern Galicia region after nearly two weeks
of blazes scorched tens of thousands of hectares (acres) of wood
and scrubland, officials said Wednesday.
A welcome light rain, meanwhile, fell on Galicia, a pristine
region which lies on the Atlantic coast. But officials and
ecologists expressed concern that heavier downfalls would cause
erosion in now treeless land and send ash-laden runoff into the
sea, damaging the region's lucrative fishing and seafood industry.
Officials are also grappling with the estimated 10,000 cattle
and horses that died or were injured in the fires, the worst in
years in Spain's normally misty, green northwest corner.
Preliminary estimates were that the fires burned 77,000 hectares
of land (190,000 acres) from Aug. 4-15, with a margin of error of 5
percent, said Alfredo Suarez Canal, the regional government's head
of rural issues.
That figure - slightly higher than one given earlier in the day
by the regional president - is less than half the amount given by
the conservative opposition Popular Party based on what it said
were satellite images.
The party has accused the regional government, run by the
Socialist Party of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, of
incompetence in dealing with the forest fires and called for a
parliamentary probe.
Crews put out the last blaze, near the town of Savinao in
eastern Galicia, shortly before 9:30 a.m. (0730 GMT), two hours
after it started, a rural environment department official said.
Some 1,750 fires broke out in Galicia in the first two weeks of
August, a figure authorities said was well above average. Four
people have died.
Cooler temperatures accompanied by light rains across the region
helped the 8,000 firefighters, soldiers and volunteers crews
extinguish the fires in recent days.
Officials blame arsonists in most cases and 30 people have been
arrested on suspicion of arson. Regional prosecutor Alvaro Garcia
Ortiz said Monday that many factors cause people to start forest
fires deliberately, including wanting to see land rezoned for new
homes, turning forest into grazing land or sheer malice.
Emilio Perez Tourino, president of the Galicia regional
government, told Spanish National Radio on Wednesday that the fires
had caused heavy environmental damage.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Firefighters were battling a wildfire
in northern Sweden on Wednesday that officials called the largest
in the country's modern history, but no communities were
threatened, authorities said.
The fire broke out last week outside the drought-stricken town
of Boden, 900 kilometers (560 miles) north of Stockholm, and has
since grown to an area of 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres), said Leif
Nordstrom, a spokesman for the local rescue services.
About 40 people from six nearby villages have been evacuated,
but no homes in the sparsely populated area were threatened,
Nordstrom said. More than 60 firefighters and seven helicopters had
been called in to battle the blaze, he said.
He said the fire should be under control within the next few
days, but that "it depends a lot on the weather and winds."

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Greek firefighters battle forest fires amid heat wave
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Firefighters battled blazes near Athens
and in southern Greece on Sunday and a heat wave prompted
authorities to issue fire and public health warnings.
Temperatures reached 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit) and
were expected to stay high Monday.
The Fire Service said it had controlled a blaze near Marathon,
40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Athens.
Two tanker aircraft dropping water were used to tackle a fire in
the southern Greek Arcadia region.
Municipal officials said dozens of air-conditioned sites, such
as gymnasiums and clinics, were open for citizens seeking relief
from the sweltering temperatures. In the capital, 26 such locations
were available.
The state electricity company, DEH, said it had bolstered the
national grid to cope with heavy use of air conditioners.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkish authorities battling forest fires
on Sunday evacuated hundreds of panicked tourists touring the
purported home of the Virgin Mary in the ancient ruins of Ephesus.
The tourists were visiting the tiny stone home that is believed
by some to be the home of Jesus' mother. Strong winds brought
flames closer, forcing authorities to evacuate them by buses,
authorities said. Some tourists left on foot, according to private
CNN-Turk and NTV televisions.
A local forestry official in the area said the flames were under
control and were posing no threat to the house, which tradition
holds to be the last earthly home of the Virgin Mary.
Each year, tens of thousands tourists visit the house and light
slim white candles placed in sand around the edge of the main room.
The ruins of Ephesus are located on the Aegean Sea, in western
Turkey.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Tourists evacuated as fire rages in northern Greece
AP Photo ATH101-104
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Hundreds of tourists and local residents
were evacuated late Monday as a forest fire swept through resorts
in northern Greece, destroying homes and cars.
No injuries were reported as the fire burned out of control on
several fronts on the three-fingered Halkidiki peninsula, at the
resorts of Polychrono and Hanioti, authorities said.
Local officials said there had been indications of arson.
Tourists and residents were led to beaches in the area after
homes, hotels and campsites were evacuated. Coast guard vessels
were preparing to transport some of those evacuated to areas
further away from the fire, authorities said.
"This is a very difficult fire because it's in an inhabited
area," Greek fire chief Andreas Kois told state-run NET
television. "The winds are strong and conditions are bad."
The fire broke out amid a heat wave across southeast Europe,
with temperatures in some areas surpassing 100 degrees. Three other
fires were reported in southern Greece and on the western island of
Zakynthos.

[NJFFSA16]

KRIOPIGI, Greece (AP) - A wildfire raging in northern Greece has
left dozens of people injured and forced several thousand others to
flee hotels, holiday homes and campsites, authorities said Tuesday.
The blaze was also linked to the death of a 41-year-old German
man. Coroner Matthaios Tsoukas said he drowned after suffering
heart problems while trying to board boats taking tourists who were
stranded on beaches on the Halkidiki peninsula.
At least 50 people - mostly Greeks - were hospitalized with
breathing problems, and several people were being treated for
burns.
Officials said they are investigating whether arson was the
cause of the blaze.
"The damage in Halkidiki was great and the circumstances very
difficult," Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said. "We
express our regret for the death of the German tourist."
Halkidiki governor Argyris Lafazanis said many tourists were
being bused back to their hotels Tuesday after the fire receded
from several resorts.
Up to 1,000 British tourists fled the fire that tore through the
resorts of Polychrono, Hanioti, Kriopigi and Pefkochori. Several
hundred Germans, some 100 people from Scandinavian countries and
about 100 Austrians also were involved in the evacuation.
Romanian authorities said about 1,000 of their nationals were in
Halkidiki but it was not clear how many were affected by the fire.
Giorgos Kalatzis, minister for the administrative regions of
Macedonia and Thrace, said conditions had improved Tuesday. "The
firefighters are doing a good job," Kalatzis said.
The blaze destroyed about 12,000 acres of forest, more than 50
homes and dozens of cars, and left charred carcasses of farm
animals strewn across blackened hillsides. Authorities declared a
state of emergency late Monday.
Ten water-bombing planes and helicopters assisted more than 300
firefighters and soldiers, amid temperatures reaching 104 degrees
Fahrenheit.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Tourists and residents began trickling
back to the Halkidiki peninsula on Wednesday, after several days of
fires blackened large parts of the seaside landscape and destroyed
holiday homes.
The three-day blaze tore through nearly 12,000 acres (5,000
hectares) of forest and farmland and led to the death of a German
tourist. Nearly 50 homes were destroyed by the blaze, which forced
the temporary evacuation of several thousand people, including many
tourists.
Residents returned Wednesday to inspect damage to their houses
on Halkidiki's Cassandra prong, still heavy with smoke.
Firefighters were still working to fully contain the fire.
Another forest fire was burning for a fourth day in the southern
Laconia region. That blaze has damaged more than a dozen homes and
destroyed 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) of forest and agricultural
land, including many olive groves.
More than 200 firefighters, four water-dropping airplanes and a
helicopter were deployed from Gytheio to Areopolis and points
farther south.
The situation was worsened by high winds, although these
diminished Wednesday.
A five-day heat wave that added to the tinderbox conditions also
began to subside. Temperatures had reached as high as 42 degrees
Celsius (107 Fahrenheit).
Other fires on the island of Zakynthos and in Arcadia in
southern Greece were contained.
Some residents criticized authorities for what they said was a
slow response to the blazes. One of the fires, in the rugged Mani
region in southern Greece, cut off water and power supplies to many
villages.
David Wiles, a spokesman for Britain's Federation of Tour
Operators, which had about 1,500 clients vacationing in Halkidiki,
said tourists who had been temporarily evacuated were returning to
hotels in that area and the situation there was returning to
normal.
Fire officials have not ruled out arson in the Halkidiki fire,
but on Wednesday said a fierce storm was the probable cause.
"There were very strong winds and lightening, but no rain.
These conditions can cause the fire to spread at great speed and
make it difficult to stop," Greek fire chief Andreas Kois said.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Some fires subsiding, others rekindling in parts of Greece
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A new forest fire raged early Thursday in
southern Greece as stretched firefighting units tamed two major
blazes that ravaged parts of the country.
The new fire, near the town of Megalopoli in the Peloponnese,
broke out late Wednesday and raged through fir forests on Mt
Mainalo, fanned by strong winds.
The Mainalo region - an environmentally fragile area - lies in
rugged terrain far from the sea and difficult for water-dropping
planes to reach.
Two smaller fires in the Peloponnese were not threatening
built-up areas, officials said.
A major blaze that ravaged the southern province of Laconia was
being brought under control Thursday, with six firefighting planes
struggling against stiff winds that threatened to rekindle the
blaze. Up to 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares) are believed to have
been burnt in an area between Gytheio and Areopoli, while state NET
television said hundreds of houses in several villages were
destroyed.
Five villages were evacuated, including local hotels, and the
whole area suffered extensive power cuts because of fire damage
sustained by the power network.
In northern Greece, a huge fire that caused the temporary
evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists was still raging
in the area of Nea Skioni. Fires that devastated other parts of
Halkidiki's Cassandra peninsula were mostly under control, although
some minor has been reported.
The Halkidiki fire caused the death of a German tourist and
blackened up to 12,000 acres (4,800 hectares).
Tourists were continuing to leave the area because of the fire,
some by specially scheduled charter flights, although many others
remained as the threat to humans subsided. Power was being restored
to the region early Thursday.
Stung by opposition Socialist criticism that its response to the
crisis was inadequate and poorly prepared, the government has
approved funds for quick payment of indemnities to those suffering
losses in fire-ravaged areas. A panel of government experts was due
to tour the charred Halkidiki region Thursday, and Interior
Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said burnt areas would be urgently
reforested and anti-flood measures stepped up.
Experts say it could take up to 50 years to undo the damage from
the Halkidiki blaze.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Indonesia says to seed clouds to douse forest fires
JAKARTA, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Indonesia will carry out cloud
seeding this week to help extinguish forest fires, but plans to
use cargo planes to drop water bombs on the flames have been
ditched because of a lack of equipment, officials said on
Monday.
Indonesia has been under pressure from neighbours
Singaporte and Malaysia to deal with recurring forest fores in
Sumatra and Borneo that spread a thick haze across the region,
deterring tourists and causing health problems.
"Our target is that the hotspots could disappear by the 2nd
(of September). If not all, at least the significant haze would
not be there any more," Information Minister Sofyan Djalil told
a news conference.
A continuing flare-up in the fires in coming days could be
embarrassing for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
who is due to attend a summit in Singapore on Sept. 4.
The island state near Sumatra frequently suffers from the
haze caused by Indonesian forest fires.
Research Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman told reporters cargo
planes would start dropping salt to induce rain via
cloud-seeding on Tuesday but a plan to bomb the hotspots with
water had been shelved.
"We have prepared 30 tonnes of salt. The areas which are
difficult to reach via land will be dealt with from the sky. We
will keep on doing until the clouds finish up," he said.
On the water-bombing option, Kadiman said: "we don't have
the equipment yet, so we'll use cloud seeding."
Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie said last week that water
bombs, each containing between 1,000 and 3,000 litres, would be
dropped to complement artificial rain.
On Monday, officials from regions where the smog originated
said Singapore and Malaysia should help solve the problem
because the countries benefited from Sumatra's thick
rainforests.
"Sumatra, which Singapore and Malaysia claim is exporting
haze to them, is also exporting oxygen to them. Singapore and
Malaysia should also bear the responsibility," said Zulkifli
Nurdin, governor of Sumatra's Jambi province.
While slash-and-burn land clearing is illegal in Indonesia,
prosecutions take time and few have stuck.
Sumatran authorities said more than 50 people were
suspected of illegal forest burning in recent years and two had
been jailed.
However, critics say, the short jail terms had failed to
act as a serious deterrent.
Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar told Reuters in an
interview on Thursday that the fires would disappear in two
years. His target is more optimistic than some other officials,
who see the seasonal fires going on for years.



REUTERS

[NJFFSA16]

VANCOUVER (CP) - The Tatoosh wildfire threatening Manning Park
remained uncontained Monday but grew to about 4,200 hectares with
an evacuation alert still in effect, a Forests Ministry spokeswoman
said.
The Tatoosh blaze, which began on the U.S. side of the border
last month, has prompted officials to maintain an evacuation alert
that was issued earlier for residents of Eastgate, Manning Park and
the Pasayten River valley.
The alert means residents in the area may remain in their homes
but should be prepared to leave on short notice.
All 37 structures within the Pasayten valley have protection in
place, including pumps, hoses and sprinklers.
Fire information office Donna McPherson said the fire had not
moved much since Sunday and crews would continue to build fire
control lines while aircraft dropped water on hot spots.
The Border Lake fire, burning entirely on the Canadian side of
the border, also grew little since Sunday and was estimated at
about 1,700 hectares, said information officer Dale Bojahra.
There is also an evacuation alert in effect for the Cathedral
Park Lodge. The Border Lake fire is about six kilometres from the
Tatoosh fire.
The massive Tripod fire, burning on the U.S. side of the border,
was estimated at about 66,000 hectares Monday but showed no
significant growth over the weekend.
It is burning about 30 kilometres southwest of Osoyoos.



(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Northern Sask. community not prepared for forest fires, minister
says
By Jennifer Graham
REGINA (CP) - A community in Saskatchewan's far north that was
threatened by forest fires hadn't done enough to prepare for such
danger, the province's environment minister said Tuesday.
John Nilson said the hamlet of Stony Rapids, near the Northwest
Territories boundary, had not finished work on measures that could
have protected it from a raging fire this summer.
"Some of the mitigation factors, like setting up firebreaks and
other things like that, they hadn't completed all that work," said
Nilson, who has been fending off criticism his department
mismanaged the crisis.
"They were working on them."
In June, nearly 800 residents from Stony Rapids and the nearby
communities of Fond-du-Lac and Black Lake were forced from their
homes.
Stony Rapids was blanketed by thick smoke, but spared from the
flames.
Nilson said Stoney Rapids, which has a population of about 360
people, hadn't done as many things to prepare as others communities
had done.
"Part of what happens is you develop a whole fire prevention
plan," he said, acknowledging that the community and province work
together on such a plan.
"Most of the time it is the responsibility of the local
community to do all the things they need to do. We will provide the
overall professional advice and the assistance if it's needed."
Saskatchewan Environment's policy is to let fires burn if they
are more than 20 kilometres away from a community.
Shifting winds sent the flames racing towards Stony Rapids and
forced the evacuation.
Saskatchewan Party environment critic Glen Hart, who visited the
community, disagreed and blasted Nilson's comments as ludicrous.
"It was only through the extraordinary efforts of the members
of the community that the community was saved," Hart said.
"I think it was prepared. They did have some fire breaks in
place," he said.
Community officials in Stony Rapids could not be reached for
comment.
Last week the hamlet demanded an inquiry into the fire.
Nilson defended the policy, but said a review will be undertaken
this fall, including allegations that the situation was
mismanaged.
The findings are to be made public before the end of January.


(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

China says forest fires kill 33 so far this year :(
BEIJING, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Forest fires have killed 33
people and destroyed 380,000 hectares (938,600 acres) of woods in
China in the first eight months of the year, state media said, as
the country battles prolonged drought in certain areas.
Although the death toll was a third lower than the average
for the same period over the last three years, more than double
the area of forests was damaged by fire, Xinhua news agency said
in a report.
The vast majority of the fires were caused by human activity,
Jia Zhibang, head of the State Forestry Administration, was
quoted as telling a conference in northern Shanxi province.
China's arid north, as well as the usually wetter northeast
and southwest, have been battling abnormally dry conditions this
year, affecting parts of even the normally lush tropical province
of Yunnan.

REUTERS

[NJFFSA16]

By Ahmad Pathoni
JAKARTA, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Indonesia on Wednesday urged
airports in areas shrouded by thick smoke from forest fires to
close if conditions made landings' hazardous, after a jet with
more than 100 on board skidded off a runway in Borneo.
The passenger jet operated by Mandala Airlines skidded off
the runway upon landing amid thick haze in Indonesia's East
Kalimantan province on Tuesday as fires spread choking haze to
neighbouring Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore.
"We recommend that authorities determine minimal visibility
standards in airports. If visibility is below the standards, an
airport should be closed temporarily," said Setyo Raharjo, the
chairman of the National Commission for Transport Safety.
The current regulations allowed a pilot to decide whether
it was safe enough to land, he told Reuters.
Raharjo said haze had contributed to the mishap involving
one of Mandala's Boeing 737-200 aircraft. No one was hurt after
the jetliner skidded 50 metres (164 ft) off the runway in
Tarakan.
An air traffic controller at Cilik Riwut airport in Central
Kalimantan said there had been some landing delays on
Wednesday.
"In the morning it is usually dark (with visibility) around
400 metres (yards). It usually lasts until 2 pm (0700 GMT) when
visibility rises to between 800 metres to 1 km," said Zamroni
who, like many Indonesians, is known by one name.
The haze, caused mostly by farmers and plantation owners
setting fires to clear land, has forced many flights to be
delayed or cancelled in Indonesia in recent days.
MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE SHROUDED THIS WEEK
South-southwesterly winds have blown smoke from fires in
central and south Sumatra to Singapore and Malaysia, obscuring
sunlight and reducing temperatures and visibility.
The haze appeared to worsen in Malaysia on Wednesday, with
pollution hitting unhealthy levels in more areas. The Borneo
state of Sarawak, blanketed by smog for weeks, was the worst
hit.
"Today is the worst so far," said one resident in the
Sarawak state capital Kuching. "Schools remain open but many
people are already wearing face masks."
At the daily 0300 GMT reading, the air-pollution index
(API) showed "unhealthy" levels in most areas in Sarawak.
Helicopter flights in the state have been stopped
indefinitely because of poor visibility, news agency Bernama
said. It also said the state government would distribute one
million masks.
Kuala Lumpur was also covered by haze with the API level
rising to just below the "unhealthy" mark.
Visibility at the capital's main airport fell to
3,000-4,000 metres from the usual 10,000 metres, an airport
official said.
Singapore's Pollutants Standards Index hit the highest
level this year on Monday at 73, but improved a day later and
by Wednesday it had fallen to 52. A reading of up to 50 is
considered healthy, 51-100 is moderate and 101-200 is
unhealthy.
Masud, an Indonesian forestry ministry spokesman, said most
fires were in plantations and criticised local governments for
not doing enough to stamp out land-clearing by burning.
"Local governments only make noise after fires have become
big and caused haze problems," he said.
He said water bombs had been dropped from aircraft and
hundreds of firefighters mobilised to extinguish the blazes.
Environment ministry spokesman Hermono Sigit said about 600
hotspots were identified this week in Sumatra and Borneo.
The worst smog in the region hit in 1997-98, when drought
caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon led to major
Indonesian fires. The smoke spread to Singapore, Malaysia and
south Thailand and cost $9 billion in damage to tourism,
transport and farming.
(Additional reporting by Sarah Webb in SINGAPORE, Jalil Hamid
in KUALA LUMPUR and Diyan Jari in JAKARTA)

[NJFFSA16]

CANBERRA, Oct 9 (Reuters) - As Australia braces for a
scorching summer wildfire season, firefighters are being forced
to spy on their own ranks amid suspicions one-in-five bushfires
are lit by firefighters.
Firebug suspects have been listed by police in New South
Wales state, where wildfires have already destroyed homes
during an unexpectedly hot early spring in which temperatures
are already touching 30 degres Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).
The size of the state's 70,000-strong, mostly-volunteer,
bushfire fighting service made checking the criminal records of
all personnel almost impossible, police said.
But state bushfire chief Phil Koperberg said commanders
were watching up to 30 suspects for certain telltale signs.
"You are not supposed to like going out firefighting,"
Koperberg told Australian newspapers.
In 2003 bushfires destroyed more than 600 houses in the
Australian capital Canberra, while "Ash Wednesday" fires in
1983 killed 75 people and left thousands homeless in the states
of Victoria and South Australia.

[NJFFSA16]

SINGAPORE, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Visibility plunged to 50
metres in parts of Borneo island on Saturday and Singapore
recorded its highest pollution reading in nearly a decade as
fires in Indonesia sent acrid smoke across Southeast Asia.
Singapore issued its first haze-related health warning this
year. The daily air pollution index hit 128, the National
Environment Agency said on its Web site (www.nea.gov.sg). A
reading above 100 is rated unhealthy.
In Central Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo,
visibility in some places had plunged to 50 metres (165 ft)
governor Agustin Teras Narang told Elshinta radio.
Hundreds sought medical help for respiratory problems, with
more than 500 fires counted from satellite images. Malaysia
also reported unhealthy levels of smoke in many areas.
Purwasto, head of forest fire control of Indonesia's
environment ministry, said experts would go to Central
Kalimantan on Sunday to assess the situation.
"The worst situation is in Central Kalimantan now. Most
areas in the province contain peat", he told Reuters. Peat can
burn for years and produces thick smoke.
"We cannot estimate the extent of the fires now."
This year's worsening haze has rekindled memories of a
choking cloud of smoke that covered large areas of Southeast
Asia in 1997-98, sickening large numbers of people and costing
local economies billions of dollars.
The smoky haze occurs every year during the dry season on
the Indonesian island of Sumatra as well across large parts of
Indonesia's portion of Borneo, prompting protests from
neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.
WAITING ON A WIND CHANGE
"Frustration is an understatement," Malaysia's Environment
Minister Azmi Khalid was quoted on Saturday as saying by the
Star newspaper, as haze in Kuala Lumpur also hit unhealthy
levels.
Timber and oil palm plantation companies are accused of
lighting fires to clear land for planting. But the fires
sometimes get out of control and spread into forests or set
large areas of peat on fire.
Farmers, too, use slash-and-burn methods, a traditional
practice magnified by a growing population, demand for land and
vast areas of forest that have been cleared in recent decades.
Air pollution in Malaysia's worst-hit area of Sri Aman in
Sarawak improved to 131 from a very unhealthy level of 221 on
Friday.
Kuala Lumpur recorded a reading of 108 at 11 a.m. (0300
GMT) but the Meteorological Services Department said there
could be relief with a change in wind direction on Sunday.
Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister George Chan said hospitals
and clinics in the state were treating about 200 cases of
respiratory illness daily, up from the normal 40 to 50 cases.
Authorities have distributed more than 200,000 masks to the
public.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said on
Saturday Southeast Asian countries must take concerted action
to set up a sizeable fund to tackle the annual blazes.
"The haze will recur during the dry season. It cannot be
resolved by one government alone. For example, we cannot enter
Indonesia without their consent.
"They give a commitment but we believe that they lack the
resources or have limited capacity," he said, adding there had
been discussions on the joint fund but with no agreement.
ASH RAINS DOWN
In South Kalimantan, Indonesia's Antara news agency said
smouldering ash from uncontrolled forest fires rained down on
the town of Sampit for a second day on Friday, triggering
fires.
A spokeswoman for Singapore's National Environment Agency
said Saturday's air pollution reading at 4 p.m. (0800 GMT) was
the worst for a 24-hour period since 1997, when the index
reached 138.
"It appears that the wind direction for the next few days
will be headed this way," the spokeswoman told Reuters.
The agency said satellite pictures showed 506 hotspots and
thick smoke haze in Sumatra, mainly in Riau, Jambi and South
Sumatra.
(Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia in Jakarta and Syed
Azman in Kuala Lumpur)

[NJFFSA16]

By Ahmad Pathoni
PEKANBARU, Indonesia, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Indonesia appealed
for help on Friday to fight forest and brush fires that have
spread choking smoke over much of Southeast Asia as environment
ministers from five regional neighbours met for talks.
The ministers from Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand
and Brunei were due to hold talks later on Friday in Pekanbaru,
the capital of Riau province, an area of Sumatra island badly
affected by the raging fires.
Indonesia's neighbours have become increasingly frustrated
over Jakarta's inability to deal with the annual dry season
blazes, which in past weeks have caused serious air pollution
across the region, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore.
"We are asking for assistance in terms of equipment or
expertise. We will see what they can offer to us," Indonesian
Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban told reporters.
Kaban said Indonesia expected its neighbours to recognise
that the problem was not a simple one to fix.
"That's why we will take them for a field trip on Saturday
so that they can see for themselves the situation," he said.
The fires, often started deliberately by farmers or big
plantation businesses, have been burning for weeks in parts of
Indonesia, creating a choking haze that has made many ill, shut
airports and threatened wildlife in protected forests.
Kaban said more than 75 percent of the fires were not in
government-controlled forests but in plantations and farms
belonging to private companies and local people.
He said that Central Kalimantan on the Indonesian part of
Borneo island was the worst hit, with around 1 million hectares
(2.5 million acres) of peat land in one area affected. Peat
fires are particularly hard to put out and can burn for months.
"This is where most smoke came from," Kaban said.
MASK-WEARING PROTESTERS
Outside a hotel where senior officials were meeting to
flesh out details for the ministerial meeting, about 20
environmental activists in face masks held a protest over the
fires.
"Business people are receiving special treatment from the
government while the people here and in neighbouring countries
are suffering from the haze. This environmental disaster is an
embarrassment for Indonesia," Johnny Mundong, head of the
environmental group WALHI Riau, told Reuters.
Visibility in some areas of Indonesia was cut to 30 metres
(100 ft) last week, forcing cars to use headlights, although
there was only a slight haze over Pekanbaru on Friday.
Each dry season, fires are illegally lit to clear land for
agriculture, blanketing Southeast Asia in smog.
Kaban said efforts to induce rain by cloud seeding to
contain the fires had been hampered by a lack of clouds.
Under pressure from its neighbours, Indonesia said on
Thursday it would ratify a Southeast Asian agreement that calls
for regional cooperation to deal with the forest fires.
The Association of South East Asian Nations approved the
ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in 2002, but
Indonesia's parliament has yet to ratify it, angering countries
affected by the smoke, known as haze in the region.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has pledged to use all
resources available to put out the fires, including enlisting
soldiers and police and leasing two Russian cargo aircraft that
could each carry 40 tonnes of water to douse the flames.
He has also apologised to its neighbours for the haze.
Severe fires and smog during a drought in 1997-98 made many
people ill across a wide area of Southeast Asia, cost local
economies billions of dollars and badly hit the tourism and
airline sectors.



REUTERS

[NJFFSA16]

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) - Residents joined hundreds of firefighters
Monday to beat back a wildfire that threatened to consume the
medieval city of Dubrovnik, a popular tourist destination famed for
its churches, monasteries and palaces.
Residents helped firefighters by carrying hoses and buckets of
water to douse the flames that surrounded the historic southern
coastal city. With the smoke thick and overpowering, many used
handkerchiefs or shirts to cover their faces as they struggled to
keep the fire at bay.
The effort helped avert a disaster for Dubrovnik - known as the
"pearl of the Adriatic" - during the height of summer holiday
season. Most tourists were not affected by the fire because the
majority of hotels are situated along the coast.
Paramedics were seen attending to a number of firefighters at
the scene, but it was not immediately clear how many people were
treated.
Strong winds helped the flames spread swiftly through the woods
outside Dubrovnik on Sunday. The line of fire above the city was
about 13 miles long at one point.
Officials prepared shelters in an ancient fortress and sports
hall in the city in case the fire spread and required its
evacuation - scenes reminiscent of the 1991 Croatian war, when the
city was bombarded by Serb rebels.
Dubrovnik, founded in the seventh century, has been on UNESCO's
list of protected world cultural heritage sites since the 1960s.
The city is cherished for the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque
architecture. Its walled Old Town dates back to the 13th century.
Only one abandoned house in a Dubrovnik suburb burned down,
officials said.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A huge forest fire burned two dozen homes,
animals and cars in the northern outskirts of Athens before
firefighters extinquished most of it, officials said Friday.
The fire Thursday also forced the evacuation of medical clinics
and a summer camp. Gale force winds fanned on the flames on Mount
Penteli, hampering firefighters and preventing water-dropping
aircraft from reaching the scene for nearly two hours.
More than 300 firemen, assisted by the aircraft and volunteers
eventually extinguished the major fronts of the blaze and remained
on alert in case winds rekindled it, a fire brigade spokeswoman
said.
The fire quickly swept through tinder-dry pine forest, burning
at least 25 homes in the capital's affluent northern suburbs.
Officials have yet to establish the cause of the blaze, but
state NET television said experts were investigating residents'
reports of arson.
Many of the forest fires that strike Greece every summer are
attributed to arsonists seeking to develop prime land.
The full extent of the damage was still unclear Friday. The
three affected districts - Nea Penteli, Melissia and Kifissia -
were declared in a state of emergency.

[NJFFSA16]

ARTEMIDA, Greece (AP) - As the wall of flames swept through the
heavily forested mountain toward her home, the mother of four was
forced to make a life and death decision - should she flee?
Athanasia Paraskevopoulou gathered her three daughters, aged 15,
12 and 10, and her 5-year-old son and headed to the village square.
Her husband was elsewhere and as the fire approached she bundled
her children into a car.
Firefighters later found their charred remains not far from
Artemida, the village they fled Friday, the mother's arms wrapped
tightly around her children. Their home survived virtually
unscathed, but the family was among at least 63 victims claimed by
Greece's worst wildfire disaster in memory.
The 37-year-old teacher from Athens was enjoying the end of the
summer holiday in the family's vacation home in this wooded
mountain village near the sea when wildfires started breaking out
across the Peloponnese peninsula Thursday - fires that have since
swept over large swathes of the country and scorched world heritage
sites such as Ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games.
The approaching wildfires struck fear among the 100 or so
residents of the village of Artemida, nestled amid the olive groves
that were its main source of income.
"Everyone was in a panic. Within 10 minutes, the fire swept in
from the east and was all around us, both above and below the
village," said 37-year-old Lambrini Tzevelekou, a friend of
Paraskevopoulou's. "They gathered everyone together in the square,
Athanasia and her four children, along with two young foreign kids,
two grandmothers and four other children, and all left together
packed in cars."
"It was horrible," said Tzevelekou's 15-year-old son, Ioannis.
"The fire came over like a huge tide."
The convoy of cars sped out of the village and when the vehicles
reached a fork in the road, a decision was made to go down toward
Zaharo - a town about six miles away.
"There were two roads to choose from - there was no other
alternative out of town. If you went down (the road), you died. If
you went on the upper road, you lived," said village president
Giorgos Korifas.
According to residents and rescuers, the leading part of the
convoy apparently crashed into a fire truck speeding toward the
village. The truck overturned, blocking part of the road. With
little visibility because of the smoke, the remainder of the convoy
slammed into the wreckage and at least four cars burned. Those who
survived the pileup, including Paraskevopoulou and her children,
fled on foot.
Firefighters later found the charred remains of the mother and
children huddled on a hillside near the accident. Nine people died
on that road and they were among 23 victims from the region around
the village, the largest single group of dead from the wildfires.
Another couple, 70-year-old Panagiotis Lambropoulos and his
wife, were more fortunate.
"I saw the flames about 150 meters away. We got in the car,
drove about 10 meters, and then the flames suddenly grew huge," he
said. "We abandoned the car and crawled through the woods, about
400 meters, arm in arm so that if we died, we would die together."
The couple managed to reach the upper road, and safety.
If Paraskevopoulou had stayed at home, neighbors say the family
would have survived.
"Nothing would have happened to them. The few that stayed
didn't get injured," said Vassiliki Tzevelekou, another neighbor.
"The house has not suffered any damage, but it's better for the
house to have been burnt than people."
Lambrini Tzevelekou said her friend "was a very good woman.
What has happened was so unlucky."
The decision faced by Paraskevopoulou, to stay or go, was
similar to that made by thousands of people trapped unaided in
mountain villages. Although Greece has the largest fleet of
firefighting planes in Europe, its forces were stretched to the
breaking point Friday, the day Paraskevopoulou died, as 124 fires
raged around the country - many of them near Artemida.
"It is incredible that villagers should abandon their homes by
road in convoys without a fire truck to open the way for them,
allowing an accident to cause the tragic losses we saw, said Nikos
Bokaris, head of the Panhellenic Union of Forestry Experts. "I
believe these deaths were due to criminal errors and ignorance of
the danger and the circumstances of the blaze."

[NJFFSA16]

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Firefighters sent helicopters and buses to
evacuate more than two dozen villages threatened by towering walls
of flames that have left 63 people dead in Greece's worst wildfire
disaster in memory.
From the northern border with Albania to the southern island of
Crete, fires ravaged forests and farmland. Residents used garden
hoses, buckets, tin cans and branches in desperate - and sometimes
futile - attempts to save their homes and livelihoods.
In some villages, firefighters sent helicopters or vehicles to
evacuate the residents, only to find people insisting on staying to
fight the blaze.
A helicopter airlifted five people to safety Monday from the
village of Prasidaki in southern Greece, fire department spokesman
Yiannis Stamoulis said. Another was sent to the village of Frixa,
but the residents refused to leave, he said.
The destruction was so extensive that authorities said they had
no way of knowing how much has burned - or how many people had been
injured.
Fueled by strong, hot winds and parched grass and trees, the
fires have engulfed villages, forests and farmland, and scorched
woodland around Ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic
games. New blazes broke out faster than others could be brought
under control, leaving behind a devastated landscape of blackened
tree trunks, gutted houses and charred animal carcasses.
The destruction and deaths have infuriated Greeks - already
stunned by deadly forest fires in June and July - and appears
likely to dominate political debate before early general elections
scheduled for Sept. 16. Many blamed the government for failing to
respond quickly enough.
The government - which declared a state of emergency over the
weekend - said arson might have been the cause, and several people
have been arrested. A prosecutor on Monday ordered an investigation
into whether arson attacks could come under Greece's anti-terrorism
and organized crime laws.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said it could not
be coincidence that so many fires broke out simultaneously in so
many areas of the country.
In the past, unscrupulous land developers have been blamed for
setting fires in an attempt to circumvent laws that do not allow
construction on forest land. Greece has no land registry, so once a
region has been burned, there is no definitive proof of whether it
was initially forest, farm or field.
"It is rather late now, but the state should designate these
areas to be immediately reforested, map them and complete the
forest registry without further delay," said Yiannis Revythis,
chairman of the association of Athens real estate agents. "If an
area is officially designated as forest land, who will burn it as
it will still count as forest land?"
But it was in no way clear who - if anyone - was responsible for
the massive fires that have destroyed much of Greece over the past
four days.
"I think it is unlikely that land development was an incentive
behind the arson," said Nikos Bokaris, head of the Panhellenic
Union of Forestry Experts. "The afflicted areas are not prime
targets for construction. These are mountain areas where land is
not that valuable."
Across the country, scenes of devastation unfolded.
A woman killed on Friday, her charred body found with her arms
around her four children, might have been safe if she had stayed in
her home. It was the only house left untouched by the flames in the
village of Artemida in the western Peloponnese. The house's white
walls and red tile roof were unscathed, surrounded by blackened
earth.
Greece's few remaining patches of forest were being rapidly
incinerated, and the environmental consequences will be dire,
experts said.
The worst of the fires are concentrated in the mountains of the
Peloponnese in the south and on the island of Evia north of Athens.
Strong winds blew smoke and ash over the capital.
"This is an immense ecological disaster," said Theodota
Nantsou, WWF Greece Conservation Manager. "We had an explosive
mixture of very adverse weather conditions, tinder-dry forests - to
an extent not seen for many years - combined with the wild winds of
the past two weeks. It's a recipe to burn the whole country."
Borakis said authorities would have to move quickly in order to
avert further environmental problems.
"Authorities will have to take measures to forestall ground
erosion," he said. "Luckily, in the broader area there are no
large cities that will bear the brunt of floodwaters from the
mountains. There will be more floods, but the waters will be
carried through the natural system of watercourses and ravines to
the sea."
The government appealed for help from abroad, and 19 countries
were sending planes, helicopters and firefighters, including
France, which dispatched four water-tanker planes, and Russia,
which was sending three helicopters and an amphibian plane. The
U.S. was discussing with the Greek government what form of
assistance to send, U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
Desperate residents called into television stations for help
from a firefighting service already stretched to the limit.
---
Associated Press writers John F.L. Ross in Artemida and Nicholas
Paphitis in Athens contributed to this report.

[NJFFSA16]

Greece-Fires-Fact Sheet

Fires still rage in Greece, sparking anger

THE FIRES
-- Broke out Thursday.
-- Burned almost 500,000 acres in first 3 days.
-- Northern border with Albania to southern island of Crete.
-- Nationwide state of emergency declared Saturday.
-- 410 million dollars for immediate relief.
-- Tuesday: more wildfires broke out, others rekindled.

THE TOLL
-- At least 64 people dead.
-- Vast stretches of Greek countryside charred.
-- Villages and livestock destroyed.

THE EFFORT
-- Foreign firefighters and aircraft helping.
-- Firefighters from 21 countries.
-- Most foreign firefighters operating in the Peloponnese.

THE ANGER
-- Greeks furious after deadly forest fires in June and July.
-- Accuse conservative government of inadequate effort.
-- Many say response to latest crisis was disorganized.
-- Government suggested possibility of arson.
-- Fires dominating political debate ahead of September 16th
elections.
-- Athens newspaper: ballot will be "the elections of rage."

THE OUTLOOK
-- Fire department: "The picture we have gives us some
optimism."

[NJFFSA16]

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Foreign firefighters and aircraft joined
in battling wildfires Tuesday that have burned nearly a
half-million acres and killed 64 people in five days in what
Greece's president called a "national catastrophe."
The devastating blazes have infuriated Greeks - already stunned
by deadly forest fires in June and July - and appear likely to
dominate political debate before general elections scheduled for
Sept. 16. Many blamed the conservative government for failing to
respond quickly enough.
Firefighters themselves have also come under criticism as
disorganized and late to arrive. Some people also blamed a previous
government's decision in 1998 to transfer responsibility for
battling blazes from the forestry department to the national fire
department.
The country's worst fires in memory have burned olive groves,
forests, orchards and homes, and the government budgeted upward of
$410 million for immediate relief, although the bill was expected
to be much higher, the Finance Ministry said.
Southern Greece, where the flames reached the birthplace of the
Olympic Games in Ancient Olympia, was the worst area affected,
although one fire official said there were signs of optimism in the
fight.
New blazes broke out faster than others could be brought under
control, leaving behind a landscape of blackened tree trunks,
gutted houses and dead livestock.
The mayor of Zaharo, in the western Peloponnese, said the body
of a missing shepherd had been found Monday. Rescuers were still
searching for another shepherd missing from the nearby village of
Artemida, where 23 people, including a mother and her four
children, died on Aug. 24.
Some 56 new fires broke out Monday and Tuesday, the fire
department said. The latest outbreak came outside Athens in
Grammatiko, near ancient Marathon.
"It is a national tragedy," said President Karolos Papoulias.
"This is a national catastrophe."
Firefighting efforts were concentrating on one front burning in
the Seta area of Evia, and on the village of Matesi, near Zaharo in
the western Peloponnese. Most of the firefighters who have arrived
from 21 countries are operating in the Peloponnese, spokesman Nikos
Diamandis said.
A group of 55 Israeli firefighters were sent to one of the worst
fires in Krestena, near Ancient Olympia. Parts of the
2,800-year-old World Heritage site were burned over the weekend,
although the ancient ruins and the museum were unscathed.
By Tuesday, the site was open to visitors, and a few dozen
tourists walked around the charred area.
According to the European Commission's European Forest Fire
Information System, 454,447 acres of forests, groves and scrubland
were burned between Aug. 24-26.
It also said that for this year's fire season to date, 664,020
acres have burned. The previous worst year was 2000, when 358,231
acres were blackened around Greece.
Meanwhile, a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5
struck the fire-ravaged area in the south, panicking residents, but
there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
Diamandis said 18 planes and 18 helicopters - including four
from Switzerland - would be used in the southern firefighting
effort.
"The picture we have gives us some optimism" in the south,
Diamandis said. "We have a good picture and hope for some good
results."
From the northern border with Albania to the southern island of
Crete, fires ravaged forests and farms. Residents used garden
hoses, buckets, tin cans and branches in desperate attempts to save
their homes and livelihoods.
"We have been destroyed, we have nothing left," cried Katerina
Andonopoulou, a 76-year-old woman trudging from the edge of Ancient
Olympia to her destroyed house in the nearby village of Platano
laden with a bundle of leaves for the five surviving goats from her
flock of 20. "Who will help us now?"
In many villages, people refused to board helicopters sent to
take them to safety.
"We are asking people to be calm and to follow orders,"
Diamandis said. Greece's civil defense agency said the fire threat
remained high because of high winds and temperatures, especially in
the Athens region.
The government, which declared a state of emergency over the
weekend, said arson might have been the cause of the fires, and
several people have been arrested. A prosecutor on Monday ordered
an investigation into whether arson attacks could come under
Greece's anti-terrorism and organized crime laws.
In the past, unscrupulous land developers have been blamed for
setting fires to try to circumvent laws that do not allow
construction on forest land.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said Saturday it could not be
coincidence that so many fires broke out simultaneously in so many
areas, implying that arsonists were at work.
The main opposition Socialist Party leader George Papandreou
accused the government of fabricating conspiracy theories about the
fires and also said it was unable to protect lives and property.
"Unfortunately, the government of Mr. Karamanlis has
disappointed the Greek people. It has been woefully unable to deal
with the major issue of the fires all summer," Papandreou said.
Criticism also has arisen about a decision by a previous
government in 1998 to change jurisdiction in fighting wildfires.
"We used to have one service that fought the fires where they
broke out, and a second that focused on protecting homes," said
Nikos Bokaris, head of the Panhellenic Union of Forestry Experts.
"Now there is nobody in the forests, and the fire brigades take up
positions in village squares and streets."
---
Associated Press writers Nicholas Paphitis and Patrick Quinn in
Athens contributed to this report.

[NJFFSA16]

VICTORIA (CP) - Canada has five water bombers and three support
aircraft ready to fly to Greece to help beat down the devastating
wild fires that have killed scores and threatened ancient
historical sites.
"We received a request from the Greek embassy through our
foreign affairs office Monday," said Tom Johnston, operations
manager of the Interagency Forest Fire Centre in Winnipeg.
Initially a number of land-based aircraft were offered up by
provincial management agencies, but Greece is not set up for that
kind of fire-fighting.
A second call was put out for water-based bombers, which fill
their tanks by skimming across a lake or the sea.
"We've had responses from British Columbia, Alberta and
Manitoba indicating their skimmer operations could be made
available," Johnston said.
British Columbia has offered one of two giant Martin Mars
bombers, which are Second World War-vintage flying boats under
private ownership. As well, a "bird dog" spotter plane and an air
attack officer to lead the operations are available.
Alberta and Manitoba have each offered a pair of Canadair
CL-215s, plus spotters planes and air attack personnel.
"These packages have been put together and sent to foreign
affairs," Johnston said late Tuesday.
If the offer is accepted, it would mean long flights for the
planes and crews.
"They'd have to go through Newfoundland, probably jump off at
Gander, I'm assuming, to Greenland, Iceland, the British Isles and
then down into Greece through Europe," he said, estimating that it
would take at least three days of flight time, plus several days
preparation prior to departure and time to set up once they
arrive.
"Could be four, five or six days before they're ready to go to
work."
Johnston said Canadian teams regularly go to the United States,
and have been sent to South America and even the Galapagos Islands
in the past.
He was not aware of any previous requests from Europe.
And if the request had come at the height of the Canadian summer
season, it would likely not have been possible. But the end of the
forest fire season is approaching.
"It's a little more acceptable to allow our big assets to go on
an international front, but even so, we aren't at the end of our
season yet," he said, adding that southcentral B.C. is still hot
and dry, as is southwestern Alberta.
Johnston said he hoped to hear back on the package offer as
quickly as possible.
"Obviously time is of the essence."

[NJFFSA16]

Six firemen die in Croatian island blaze
ZAGREB, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Six Croatian firemen died and
seven others were injured while fighting a huge blaze on an
uninhabited island in the central Adriatic, police said on
Friday.
They said in a statement carried by state news agency Hina
that the fire started in a bay on the Kornat island, which is
part of the picturesque Kornati archipelago national park.
The archipelago is largely uninhabited but its scenic beauty
and crystal-clear sea draws hundreds of tourists and yachts
every summer.
The Jutarnji List daily said the firemen were trapped on a
high ground when strong sudden winds changed direction. The six
died on the spot and seven others were taken to hospital with
various degrees of burns.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who visited the injured firemen
in hospital in Zadar called for an investigation to determine if
the fire was deliberate. Police said that eight people have been
detained for questioning on suspicion of arson.
"At first I could not believe the news of this tragedy. This
is beyond words," Sanader said.
Forest fires killed 63 people in Greece and left thousands
homeless.

[NJFFSA16]

PYRGOS, Greece, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Greek villages on
Thursday started burying relatives killed by forest fires that
were still burning parts of the country for a sixth day as
thousands rushed to collect damage compensation from banks.
Police arrested 15 people suspected of fraudulently claiming
the immediate 3,000 euros ($4,000) payment the government was
handing out in the affected areas to try to show it was
providing fast relief for the fires that have killed 63 people.
Less than three weeks before a parliamentary election,
critics accused the conservative government of responding
chaotically to the fires and said its compensation system was
open to widespread fraud and offended people's dignity.
"This is far too easy and far too chaotic," said Gerasimos
Paraskevopoulos, mayor of the town of Pyrgos in the southern
Peloponnese, where hundreds crowded outside a bank. "The money
should be distributed by local councils who know their
citizens."
Some people admitted they had come from as far away as
Athens and Thessaloniki, about 600 km (370 miles) north.
"Hundreds of Gypsies have come here who don't live here,"
said Gerasimos Halilopoulos, a Roma from Pyrgos, told Reuters.
"It is making my life difficult because I need the money."
The system required filling out a simple form, to be checked
later, to claim the cash and Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis
said the simplified system was the right thing.
"The order is 'move fast', without any delay. We're removing
bureaucratic hurdles. Nothing should stand in the way of us
doing our duty," he told a news briefing.

ELECTIONS AHEAD
Karamanlis's handling of the crisis could be crucial for his
hopes for re-election on Sept. 16. In two days, 72.4 million
euros were handed to about 20,000 people, the government said.
A cartoon in the centre-right newspaper Kathimerini showed a
helicopter flying over scorched countryside dropping banknotes
from a water bucket while the pilot says: "Yes prime minister,
as agreed, we're dropping 100-euro bills so the land will turn
green again."
Vast swaths of countryside have been burned and more than
500 homes were razed in what have been Europe's most extensive
wildfires in a decade, according to the European Space Agency.
In the village of Anilio, hundreds gathered to bury a forest
warden killed trying to save a mother and her four children from
the flames, only five days after he began the job. The woman was
found dead, the bodies of her children in her arms.
On Thursday 24 fires raged on, mainly in the western
Peloponnese and the island of Evia, north of Athens, the fire
brigade said.
The government said the fires would cost Greece at least 1.2
billion euros ($1.6 billion) but would not derail efforts to cut
the budget. Athens said it planned to seek European Union
emergency aid.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said
Greece would not be left alone in its hour of need.
"This is also a European disaster," he said in a statement.
"At this sad time it is good to stress that solidarity is at the
heart of European vision."
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni thanked foreign ambassadors
in Athens for their countries' firefighting help and said Greece
would make sure Ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic
Games, which was licked by the flames, would be fully restored.
The government has said arsonists started the fires and most
Greeks believe rogue developers are burning forests to make way
for new construction.
"We are determined that not the smallest piece of land will
not be reforested. Nobody will build on burnt land," Bakoyanni
said.
(Additional reporting by Robin Pomeroy and Michele Kambas)