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FIRE STORM
Wildfires rage in western US amid deadly heatwave
by Staff Writers
Los Angeles (AFP) June 21, 2016


Five nations deploy aircraft to battle deadly Cyprus fires
Nicosia (AFP) June 21, 2016 - Five foreign governments deployed aircraft to Cyprus on Tuesday to help battle the island's worst forest fires in years, which have claimed the lives of two firefighters and blighted swathes of countryside.

France and Italy were the latest countries to send planes to assist more than 300 firefighters attempting to put out the blazes which have ran amok as the island swelters under temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Two British, four Greek and six Israeli aircraft were already helping to tackle the second massive wild fire to hit the Mediterranean holiday island in less than a week.

The European Union said member-state Cyprus had requested several firefighting planes and 80 tonnes of retardant material to battle the blaze that broke out Sunday in the Evrychou area.

"We have responded quickly and in full solidarity to the call for assistance," EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, said in a statement.

"I commend the tremendous efforts of the first responders and would like to express our deepest condolences to the families of the firefighters who gave their lives to save their country," he added.

Two firefighters died in hospital on Monday from injuries suffered when the truck they were in plunged 40 metres (130 feet) down a cliff in the Solea valley, in the northern foothills of the Troodos mountains, police said.

Another man was injured in the accident near Evrychou, where the fire has destroyed at least 15 square kilometres (six square miles) of scenic countryside and forced the evacuation of parts of the village.

The blaze began on Sunday just a day after firefighters managed to extinguish another huge fire at Argaka on the island's northwest coast.

Police said they had arrested two people suspected of starting the earlier fire.

They said a 12-year-old boy was suspected of starting the Evrychou blaze while playing with a lighter.

President Nicos Anastasiades cancelled a scheduled meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci on Tuesday so that he could visit firefighters at the scene.

The two men meet twice a week as part of UN-backed efforts to end the island's four-decade-old division.

Anastasiades already visited Evrychou on Monday, when he spoke of the "irreparable damage" done by the two fires which were a "tragedy for rural communities".

Agriculture Minister Nicos Kouyialis said a total of 15 aircraft were involved in the firefighting effort on Tuesday.

Three French aircraft were expected to arrive later in the day, the embassy said.

Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said an Italian aircraft would also join them.

Hundreds of firefighters battled raging wildfires in the western United States on Tuesday amid a record-setting heatwave that has claimed at least four lives and triggered evacuations.

More than 600 firefighters and water-dropping helicopters worked to contain two major brush fires that erupted east of Los Angeles on Monday, scorching more than 5,400 acres (2,185 hectares) and forcing about 850 families to flee their homes.

There were fears that the two fires in the Angeles National Forest and foothills above Duarte and Azusa -- about two miles (3.2 kilometers) apart -- could merge creating an huge inferno.

One of the fires was sparked by a fatal car crash.

"I came running over just to look and it was 15 to 20 feet in the air," Charlie Downing, a resident in Duarte, told reporters as he recounted rushing out of his home on Monday after he smelled smoke.

"By the time I came back and told my grandma and my kids to get in the car, it was right by the car."

- More evacuations, more heat -

The fire eventually shifted away from residential areas late Monday but officials said they remain on alert as the flames could quickly change direction depending on the wind.

They added that both fires, which are threatening wilderness in the area, had yet to be contained early Tuesday and more evacuations could be ordered.

Elsewhere, officials reported that a fire that has raged for nearly a week in mountains west of Santa Barbara, California, was 62 percent contained after scorching some 8,000 acres.

The heatwave, which has resulted in triple-digit temperatures of up to 122 degrees Farenheit (50 degrees Celsius), has resulted in 21 large fires in nine states, including Colorado, Montana and New Mexico.

In Arizona, at least four people, including a German hiker and a 28-year-old biker, succumbed to the heat on Sunday.

The National Interagency Fire Center said Tuesday that several new large fires had been reported in California and Colorado and the intense heat was set to continue across much of the Southwest.

The National Weather Service said it expected temperatures to remain high in many regions on Tuesday, including in areas around Los Angeles where red flag warnings of extreme heat were issued.

Authorities urged people in those regions to remain indoors, to drink a lot of water and avoid strenuous outdoor activity.

The five-year drought in California and the scorching weather have created burning conditions more typical of August, the US Forest Service said, warning that the worst was maybe yet to come.

Wildfires across the United States scorched a record 10 million acres in 2015, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The largest fires were all in Alaska but two fires in California -- the Valley and Butte fires -- rank among the 10 most destructive in the state's history.


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Previous Report
FIRE STORM
Fires rage across western United States
Los Angeles (AFP) June 16, 2016
Firefighters struggled Thursday to contain infernos across the western United States as experts warned that drought-striken California should prepare for an unusually intense wildfire season. Forest fires are a fact of life in much of California but have become far worse because of bone-dry conditions, with the Golden State gripped in its fifth year of drought. A fire in the Los Padres N ... read more


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