The Wildfires thread

[bing101]

https://apnews.com/article/canada-wildfire-smoke-832caae1e622b10766521598fccc6e63


https://apnews.com/article/wildfire-scottsdale-arizona-evacuations-homes-threatened-54a5ec058045a11fd5e075ce5a4a5f2b

https://apnews.com/article/canadian-wildfires-chicago-smoke-air-quality-aqi-e120fa48b44e6c8560b13712ba76ee1d

https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-air-quality-smoke-canadian-wildfires-unhealthy-63a62cb01db013e73055fdcef853c7e3


Here are more wildfire updates from Canada and Arizona.

[triplemultiplex]

Been getting smoked out bad last couple days in the upper Midwest.  Seems hazy just looking across the street.

[JayhawkCO]

First of any size in Colorado this year sparked up this weekend south of Parachute. https://www.denverpost.com/2023/06/27/spring-creek-colorado-fire-burning-white-river-national-forest/

Not sure if that article can be previewed by non-subscribers or not as I am one.

[ET21]

Been terrible across Chicagoland, the city was ranked the worst AQI multiple times in the last 48-72 hrs. We're hopefully gonna get some rain/wind that should disperse the smoke today/tonight.

[Dough4872]

Getting more Canadian wildfire smoke here in Pennsylvania, hazy skies and air quality alert but nowhere near as bad as earlier this month.

[Rothman]

Getting more Canadian wildfire smoke here in Pennsylvania, hazy skies and air quality alert but nowhere near as bad as earlier this month.

Yep.  AQI got up to 175 here, whereas it got close to 500 with the last round.

[bing101]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/forest-fire-spains-la-palma-island-forces-evacuations-2023-07-15/


https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/21/wildfires-rage-in-europe-what-where-and-why

Parts of Europe faces wildfires. One of the largest ones so far is reported in Spain.

[bing101]

https://www.sfgate.com/california-wildfires/article/largest-wildfire-california-8000-acres-18207032.php

Here are some of the wildfires in California as of July 2023.

[bing101]

https://abc7.com/angeles-national-forest-brush-fire-agua-firefighters/13547460/

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/live-brush-fire-breaks-out-in-sylmar/

A Wildfire is reported in the Sylmar area. Also Greece has a wildfire.

https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/greece-wildfires-force-maryland-tourists-to-scramble-and-evacuate-a-lot-of-sadness/


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/25/mediterranean-is-hotspot-for-climate-change-says-greek-pm

[bing101]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/after-quake-syrias-northern-coast-ravaged-by-wildfires-2023-07-30/


Syria hit with wildfires.

[Bruce]

Sourdough Fire has closed SR 20 through North Cascades National Park (and beyond). I went up there Friday and got quite the view from a trail:

[bing101]

https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-wildfire-maui-dora-winds-ec23c16abfbeb6ba689f1a98263720db
Update Hawaii is reporting a wildfire in Maui so far 6 people are reported killed in this fire.
https://abc7.com/hawaii-wildfires-strong-winds-maui/13622866/

[Max Rockatansky]

Laihaina was basically destroyed.  That was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii circa 1802-1845.

[Rothman]

Laihaina was basically destroyed.  That was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii circa 1802-1845.

Oof.  Wonder if their banyan tree survived.

[NWI_Irish96]

https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-wildfire-maui-dora-winds-ec23c16abfbeb6ba689f1a98263720db
Update Hawaii is reporting a wildfire in Maui so far 6 people are reported killed in this fire.
https://abc7.com/hawaii-wildfires-strong-winds-maui/13622866/

Laihaina was basically destroyed.  That was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii circa 1802-1845.

Sounds like a hurricane to the south and a huge high pressure system to the north at the perfect distance apart created a massive wind tunnel right over Hawaii.

[Max Rockatansky]

Laihaina was basically destroyed.  That was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii circa 1802-1845.

Oof.  Wonder if their banyan tree survived.

Didn't look optimistic, there is heavy smoke just inland from Laihaina Harbor visible in the first 10 seconds of the second video in this article:

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/08/09/coast-guard-joins-brush-fire-response-lahaina-where-crews-continue-battle-wind-whipped-flames/

[gonealookin]

That Maui scene is awful.  On the mainland, we can send equipment and personnel to assist from hundreds of miles away and have them on scene in 8, 12, 16, whatever hours.  In Hawaii, they can put crews on airplanes and move them between islands, but as to equipment, Maui has what it has to work with and anything else is going to arrive too late to make a difference.

[jakeroot]

Laihaina was basically destroyed.  That was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii circa 1802-1845.

Oof.  Wonder if their banyan tree survived.

It is still standing; whether it survives I do not know (see 1:24 in the video below)...

https://twitter.com/justin_hart/status/1689388982449352707



More footage. I can see how the death toll is 36 as of writing; seems like almost nothing has been left standing. Just unthinkable devastation...

https://twitter.com/WxNB_/status/1689384898958917633

[bing101]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/maui-hawaii-fires/death-toll-rises-to-36-on-maui-102157834?id=102142125

36 people reported dead in Maui so far due to wildfires.

[DriverDave]

It must have hit a heavily populated residential area, the death toll was 6 yesterday.

[Rothman]

It must have hit a heavily populated residential area, the death toll was 6 yesterday.

After hitting and destroying Lahaina, I'm sure it was just a lag due to needing time to confirm the deaths (i.e., did people get out and run off to somewhere safe while being unable to check in with others, or did they actually die?).

[triplemultiplex]

It's even worse than it looked yesterday.  The whole town is basically gone.  Just wow.
And just like Paradise, there are very limited evacuation routes, so I shudder thinking about the folks who got cut off from their only direction of escape.

[Max Rockatansky]

Maui County Route 340 lapping around the north side of Maui is largely one lane cliff roadway.  Undoubtedly that pushed most of the evacuation south on Hawaii Route 30 towards Kihei. 

[bing101]

I never thought of this one parts of Maui have conditions that resemble stuff that sounds like the Santa Ana Winds hitting the area.

[Max Rockatansky]

The winds around parts of Maui can be horrendous normally.  You have two volcanic peaks in close proximity which wreak havoc on the weather patterns.  This phenomenon with the fires was fueled more so by a hurricane passing close by.