The wildfire crisis engulfing the West presents a secondary threat that has received less attention: Entire neighborhoods could wash away in debris flows and floods that often follow. What happened in Ruidoso, NM, is a cautionary tale. @abestreep.bsky.social

Town Leaders Chided Residents for Warning of Flash Floods. Then, the River Took Two Children.

After wildfires scarred the Sacramento Mountains above Ruidoso, New Mexico, the community was under heightened threat of catastrophic flooding. Officials were aware but continued to promote the town t...

propublica.org

The latest edition of Wildfire Magazine, from the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF), is now available. Check it out here - buff.ly/w5kLx2h #Wildfire #IAWF #Operations #Research #FireScience

Kudos to the @reuters.com team that reported this. "Heat storms" is a great term for what we're experiencing. And I'll never forget the anecdote about the nosebleed 😱https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/climate-heatstorms-science/

Giant ‘heat storms’ are scorching Earth. The story of the biggest one.

Supersized heat waves used to be rare. No longer. Reuters reveals the rise of ‘heat storms.’ They now swarm the globe, upending life and the climate everywhere.

reuters.com

Humans experienced abrupt environmental changes at White Sands (New Mexico, USA) during the Last Glacial Maximum www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Humans experienced abrupt environmental changes at White Sands during the Last Glacial Maximum

Expanded excavations at White Sands National Park have unearthed 20 stratigraphic horizons containing in situ human footprints, megafaunal trackways, and linear features created by travois. Advances i...

science.org

Gift link: “Both the Palisades and Altadena fires ignited in dense metropolitan communities that back up to fire-prone wilderness areas and foothills, a development pattern that has become increasingly common in California as affordable housing has become scarcer.” www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...

Powerful Wildfires Require a New Approach, California Report Finds (Gift Article)

A report on the fires that devastated the Los Angeles area in early 2025 recommended that local governments take a broader approach to preparedness and emergency response.

nytimes.com

France’s 2026 wildfire season is staggering... By 26/08: 👉 Over 960 km² burned — vs 140/year average 👉 Over 1.5 million tonnes of carbon released 👉 The highest wildfire carbon emissions since records began in 2003, nearly 4x the 2003–25 average www.lemonde.fr/en/environme...

France's summer 2026 wildfires caused unprecedented carbon emissions

The EU's Copernicus Earth observation service has reported more than 1.5 million metric tons of carbon were released in the fires, a figure not seen since measurements began in 2003. The findings come...

lemonde.fr

Global warming is set to cross 1.5°C, pushing climate risks and impacts to increasingly dangerous heights, a new UNEP report warns.   Predicted impacts include extreme weather and threats to human health and economies.

Recent high-severity wildfires in a dry-conifer landscape are unprecedented over five centuries and foretell future forest loss www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Recent high-severity wildfires in a dry-conifer landscape are unprecedented over five centuries and foretell future forest loss | PNAS

Dry forests of the western United States evolved with frequent, spatially extensive, low-severity fires, followed by a century of fire exclusion. R...

pnas.org

1/5 New paper in PNAS led by Andreas Wion! 🔥🌍🧪 For centuries, dry-conifer forests in the western U.S. burned frequently, but mostly at low severity, meaning most trees were not killed by fire. Read on for details ...

We need to counter climate change “doom” messages. Here’s how.

Sander van der Linden@profsanderlinden.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Climate doom may discourage climate action, but here's a way to counter it, our new research in @theconversation.com with the brill @racheloboyle.bsky.social @tylershores.bsky.social! theconversation.com/climate-doom...

NEW THIS MORNING: Firefighters say the number of structure damaged or destroyed in the Spokane area fires has risen to more than 900.

Number of structures burned in Spokane area fires rises to more than 900

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Firefighters updated the number of homes and other buildings that have been damaged or destroyed by three major wildfires burning in Spokane County.

kxly.com

The state has surpassed it's acreage record just two months into wildfire season.

More than 2 million acres burned as Oregon sets new wildfire record

The state has surpassed it's acreage record just two months into wildfire season.

oregonlive.com

Wildfires, drought and heatwaves make it abundantly clear: climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time. Denying it is both dangerous and ridiculous https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/climate-crisis-daily-telegraph-wild-fires-b3025464.html

Climate change sceptics have lost the plot as Europe burns

Reading The Telegraph, it’s hard to work out whether their climate columns are a work of satire, writes Alan Rusbridger.

independent.co.uk

This video was shot by a good friend of mine. She’s standing in her front yard. #Spokane #SpokaneFire The VA in Spokane is being evacuated.

Breaking News: Wildfires in Spokane County, Washington forced thousands of people to evacuate as wind gusts powered rapidly spreading flames.

Wildfires in Spokane, Wash., Force Thousands to Evacuate

The Old Trails fire had grown to about 2,500 acres by Saturday afternoon, propelled by strong wind gusts and high temperatures.

nyti.ms

Hickenlooper calls for federal investigation into Knowles Fire firefighter deaths www.kkco11news.com/2026/07/31/h...

Hickenlooper calls for federal investigation into Knowles Fire firefighter deaths

Senator urges Department of Interior to examine deaths of four firefighters and role of recent Wildland Fire Service changes

kkco11news.com

Ukraine has joined the EU's wildfire response for the first time, sending firefighters to help battle devastating blazes in France. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the deployment as a symbol of European solidarity.

Ukraine sends firefighters to battle EU wildfires in historic first

Spain, Italy, France and Greece are all battling large wildfires this summer.

tvpworld.com

Why Is Europe Burning? www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

Why Is Europe Burning?

“This is a structural issue in society,” a Spanish firefighter said, about worsening wildfires across Europe. “We’ve turned our backs on the mountains, on nature—and cities have never been so affected...

newyorker.com

Heat domes now, fires to follow. For historical background to Europe's fire scene, Undying Fire is published! 40% the length of Vestal Fire; half of it abridged and updated from VF, and half new and reconceptualized. Univ. of Washington Press even offers a 40% discount (code WAUT).

Human-induced climate change made the extreme fire weather that fuelled the recent destructive wildfires at least twice as likely in France and at least 20 times more likely in Spain, according to our new study.

spectrumnews1.com/ca/californi...

New lung cancer screening program expands for LAFD firefighters

Over 250 LA firefighters have already been screened

spectrumnews1.com

Wildland firefighters experience a range of stressors, which can lead to short and long-term health effects. The impacts of these health concerns are receiving increased attention from government agencies, researchers, health professionals, and the wildland firefighter community. buff.ly/SX2Es8Y

'Officials warn that wildfires could still be burning in November'. The financial damage from these fires will also be enormous, more than in previous years. www.climatechangepost.com/news/economi... www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Europe live: Officials warn that wildfires could still be burning in November

Firefighters in France and Spain face another day battling wildfires, as another heatwave set to hit this week

theguardian.com

Nearly a week into devastating wildfires in France, officials said that firefighters had encountered a pyrocumulonimbus — a “fire cloud,” or a thundercloud created by intense heat. The phenomenon can spark new blazes and is “unprecedented in France,” officials said. Here's what to know.

Heat From France’s Wildfires Creates a ‘Fire Cloud,’ or Pyrocumulonimbus

A pyrocumulonimbus — a thundercloud created by intense heat — is a phenomenon that can spark new blazes and is “unprecedented in France,” officials said.

nyti.ms

When wildfires, floods or heatwaves strike, the question isn’t “Did climate change cause this?” It’s “How much worse did climate change make it?” theconversation.com/how-do-scien...

New climate models are good and show that, the planet continues warming at the current pace, a snow drought as severe and widespread as last winter’s could occur every third year by 2050, and nine out of 10 years by the end of the century in the western U.S. insideclimatenews.org/news/2207202...

Global Warming Unmakes Winter in the US West - Inside Climate News

A new climate attribution study shows that heating from greenhouse gases could drive extreme snow droughts in the region every third year by 2050.

insideclimatenews.org

Wise words from the North. I would add that an insistence on a history of infrequent, stand-replacing fires is as colonial in Southern California as it is in the boreal forest. It’s insisting the land was empty when, in fact, people lived and burned throughout a varied, abundant cultural landscape.

Fire Stewardship: Upholding Indigenous Sovereignty - International Association of Wildland Fire

In recent years there has been a steep rise in Arctic fire activity, including the unprecedented 2023 Arctic wildfire season that captured worldwide attention. Due to a warmer climate and extended spr...

iawfonline.org

WILDFIRE SMOKE INSIDE CALIFORNIA’S CLASSROOMS A CASE STUDY AND POLICY ROADMAP FOR SCHOOLS TO BETTER PROTECT CHILDREN FROM WILDFIRE SMOKE Jessica Yu et al., Stanford CEPP White Paper, 2026. drive.google.com/file/d/1yupC...

Read "Piñon pine and juniper seedling regeneration persists at burned edges but remains limited two decades after large wildfires" by Jamie Woolet and Camille Stevens-Rumann in the #FireEcology Journal #SNFECO https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42408-026-00535-y