Fire

Category-4 Hurricane Laura hit Cameron, Louisiana on August 27, 2020 with winds up to 150 mph and storm surge in excess of 15 feet. The storm caused costly destruction along the coast and inland to the city of Lake Charles and was one of seven storms that caused more than $1 billion in damages.

U.S. Breaks Record for Billion-Dollar Climate Disasters in 2020

A total of 22 disasters caused $95 billion in total damage, reflecting climate change’s growing cost

Notre-Dame's Grand Organ, as seen before the April 2019 fire

Inside the Monumental Effort to Restore Notre-Dame's Grand Organ

Workers spent four months painstakingly dismantling the musical instrument, which is only set to sound again in 2024

Colorado's two largest fires in state history seen from space via Landsat 8. The Cameron Peak fire is on the upper right and the East Troublesome fire is on the lower left; the fires have burned more than 190,000 and 200,000 acres, respectively.

Colorado's Record-Breaking Blazes Illustrate the West's Lengthening Fire Season

Fire season is usually over by this time in October, but, in a trend experts expect climate change to exacerbate, that's not the case this year

California reached another devastating milestone this year: four million acres in total have been burned so far this fire season, more than doubling the state’s previous record from 2018’s Mendocini Complex Fire.

California’s First-Ever Gigafire Blazes Through the State, Scorching More Than One Million Acres

Scientists say that hotter and drier conditions resulting from climate change have fueled this record-breaking fire

More than 580 species of bird, 271 types of fish, 174 mammal species, 131 different reptiles and 57 amphibian species known to inhabit the Pantanal.

Wildlife Suffers as Brazil’s Pantanal Wetland Burns

Fires in the world’s largest tropical wetland have burned an area double that of California’s unprecedented 2020 blazes

View of shore at Crissy Field in San Francisco, Alcatraz in the distance.

Photographs Capture Eerie Skies That Cloaked the Bay Area in an Orange Glow

Smoke from more than 20 major fires burning in the surrounding region shrouded the city through the morning hours

Yakutia [pictured] is 83.4 percent forested, making it "one of the most fire-hazardous Russian regions.

'Zombie Fires' May Have Sparked Record High Carbon Emissions in the Arctic

Increasing temperatures due to climate change and wildfires may be propelling the region into a fiery new normal

Some redwoods were still on fire on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020 in Boulder Creek, CA.

Wildfire Burns California’s Oldest State Park—but Most Redwoods Should Recover Soon

However, the park lost its historic core infrastructure, including headquarters, amphitheater and campgrounds

In Vacaville, California, the Hennessey Fire ignited on Tuesday afternoon and "nearly doubled in size in a matter of minutes," according to Getty.

In California, More Acres Have Burned in the 2020 Fire Season Than in All of 2019

Over 500,000 acres have burned in California, sparked by dry lightning storms and an extreme heat wave

A visitor walks on the Badwater Basin salt flats on August 18, 2020 in Death Valley National Park, California.

Death Valley Hits a Blistering 130 Degrees, Potentially Setting New Record

If confirmed, this scorcher would be the hottest temperature recorded on Earth since at least 1931

Archaeologists discovered these fossilized fragments of grass deep inside South Africa's Border Cave.

200,000-Year-Old Bedding Found in South Africa May Be World's Oldest

New study suggests ancient humans slept on layers of grass and ash, which was used to ward off insects

In April 2019, a devastating fire destroyed Notre-Dame Cathedral's iconic spire.

In Paris, Virtual Reality Experience Shows Notre-Dame Before and After 2019 Fire

The 18-minute documentary features footage of usually inaccessible spots, including the attic and sacristy

The charred shoulder blade of a young adult who was cremated in northern Israel some 9,000 years ago. The bone contains the embedded point of a flint projectile.

Humans in the Near East Cremated Their Dead 9,000 Years Ago

Archaeologists found the charred bones of a young adult in the ancient Israeli village of Beisamoun

Vervet monkeys among fallen dead leaves and grass

Monkeys’ Attraction to Burned Grasslands May Offer Clues to Human Ancestors’ Mastery of Fire

A new study finds monkeys enter charred savannahs to avoid predators, lending support to a controversial theory about what drew hominins to blazes

A thick cloud of smoke floats up from the Notre-Dame Cathedral as it burns, on April 15, 2019.

Lead From Notre-Dame Fire Discovered in Parisian Beehives

The findings indicate that honey can provide important evidence of environmental pollution, scientists say

A fire at Nantes Cathedral destroyed stained-glass windows and a 17th-century organ.

Arsonist Confesses to Starting Nantes Cathedral Fire

The July 18 blaze, which inflicted less damage than the devastating April 2019 inferno at Notre-Dame, destroyed the French church's organ, stained glass

A forest fire in central Yakutia (Sakha Republic).

The Far-Reaching Consequences of Siberia's Climate-Change-Driven Wildfires

Smoke from the blazes is now reaching the West Coast of the United States

Poles like these at a Boston fire station are no longer used universally, but they remain emblematic of the profession.

How an Ingenious Fireman Brought a Pole Into the Firehouse

More than a century ago, David Kenyon of Chicago discovered the fastest way to the ground floor

The Federal University of Minas Gerais’ Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden houses 260,000 artifacts ranging from fossils to folk art.

Second Brazilian Museum Fire in Two Years Sparks Calls for Reform

Authorities are assessing the damage caused by a June 15 blaze at the Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden in Belo Horizonte

In Australia, pyrocumulonimbus clouds sent somewhere between 300,000 and 900,000 metric tons of smoke into the stratosphere.

Australia’s Fires Sent Smoke 19 Miles High

The unprecedented plumes of were carried aloft by smoke-filled thunderclouds and exhibited unusual wind patterns

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