NH man fights for life with 3 mosquito viruses, including EEE
Paul Burton – September 3, 2024
KENSINGTON, N.H. – A New Hampshire man is fighting for his life because of a mosquito bite. Fifty-four-year-old Joe Casey of Kensington has tested positive for three mosquito-borne viruses, including eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile Virus.
“He’s my brother. It’s very difficult, especially because it’s from a mosquito,” his sister-in-law Angela Barker told WBZ-TV, fighting back tears. “He was positive for EEE, for West Nile, and St. Louis Encephalitis, but the CDC, the infectious disease doctors, they don’t know which one is making him this sick.”
Barker said Casey started to feel sick back in early August. He now has swelling in the brain and is barely able to communicate at Exeter Hospital.National & World NewsLatest U.S. and global stories
“My brother-in-law is not a small man, and to see someone that you love be as sick as he is and not be able to talk, to move, to communicate for over three weeks is terrifying and gut-wrenching,” Barker said.
Joe Casey. / Credit: Family Photo
Casey and his wife Kim have four children. They believe he will have a long road to recovery ahead of him. His family has set up an online fundraising page and they’ve received an outpouring of support from the community.
“It could happen to anybody”
“Joe is going to have to go a long-term care and patient rehabilitation, that’s going to be 24-hour care, and really want to get the word out to help this incredible family,” Barker said. “He just got bit by a mosquito and it could happen to anybody.”
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services said Kensington has had at least one mosquito pool test positive for EEE. The town has sent out postcards notifying residents and the threat level has been raised to high.
Casey’s family wants people to be careful.
“Be safe, cover up, wear bug spray. It can happen to anybody, and that’s the scariest thing. Be careful and take proper precautions,” Barker said.
Scientists warn grocery shelves may soon be missing pantry-staple food because of poor crop conditions: ‘Emphasizing the importance of sustainable farming’
Susan Elizabeth Turek – August 22, 2024
Strawberries are synonymous with the start of longer days and warmer weather, served up on tables as part of popular summer desserts. But scientists are warning this popular staple may be harder to come by soon because of warming global temperatures.
What’s happening?
A study from the University of Waterloo predicts that strawberry yields could see a dramatic reduction of 40% if temperatures rise by just 3 degrees Fahrenheit. This potentially threatens an industry that brought in more than $3 billion to the United States economy in 2022, according to a media release from the university.
Farmers in California could be hit particularly hard by changes in the industry. The analysis notes that the Golden State grows more than 80% of the country’s fresh strawberries.
According to the release, the data model provided “the most accurate findings to date” after linking air temperature anomalies to strawberry yields.
Why is this important?
While it isn’t too late to lower average temperatures, the Earth has been warming at an accelerated rate since the preindustrial era. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 10 hottest years on record all occurred in the past decade.
It isn’t uncommon for extreme weather events to occur from time to time — and natural weather patterns such as El Niño and La Niña make them more likely to occur in certain regions. However, scientists overwhelmingly agree that supercharged weather events are one of the effects of warming temperatures primarily linked to the burning of dirty fuels such as coal, oil, and gas.
“This research shows how climate change can directly impact the foods we love, emphasizing the importance of sustainable farming practices to maintain a stable food supply for everyone,” Department of Systems Design Engineering postdoctoral fellow Dr. Poornima Unnikrishnan said in the University of Waterloo’s media release.
Other popular products that have become more scarce or expensive amid challenging weather conditions include chocolate, olive oil, and tomato-based items such as ketchup.
What can be done about reduced food yields?
The University of Waterloo researchers advocated for the continued adoption of sustainable farming practices to ensure there are no severe disruptions in the global food supply, and they believe their analysis can help.
“We hope the better understanding of the influence of rising temperatures on crop yield will help in the development of sustainable agriculture responses from the government and farmers,” Dr. Kumaraswamy Ponnambalam said in the media release. “There is an urgent need for farmers to adopt new strategies to cope with global warming.”
The Waterloo team also listed existing strategies that have been successful in varying climates, including drip irrigation (which more effectively delivers water to plants’ roots) and shading structures to protect crops from extreme heat.
Agrivoltaics is one such solution to the latter recommendation. Not only do the solar panels provide clean, low-cost energy to farmers, but they also aid crop productivity.
Scientists Drilled So Deep Into the Center of the Earth, They Knocked on the Mantle’s Door
Darren Orf – August 13, 2024
Scientists Go Deeper Into Mantle Than Ever BeforeBloomberg Creative – Getty Images
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To understand the mantle—the largest layer of Earth’s rocky body—scientists drill deep cores out of the Earth.
In May of 2023, scientists drilled the deepest core yet and recovered serpentinized peridotite that forms when saltwater interacts with mantle rock.
Although this is the deepest into the mantle scientists have ever drilled, the mission didn’t uncover pristine mantle that lies beyond the Mohorovičić discontinuity, or Moho, boundary.
If you want to understand the geology of our home planet, studying the mantle is a great place to start. Separating the planet’s rocky crust and the molten outer core, the mantle makes up 70 percent of the Earth’s mass and 84 percent of its volume. But despite its outsized influence on the planet’s geologic processes, scientists have never directly sampled rocks from this immensely important geologic layer.
And that’s understandable, especially when you consider that the crust is roughly 9 to 12 miles thick on average. Luckily, that average contains outliers—areas of the world where the crust is actually incredibly thin and faulting exposes the mantle through cracks. One such area is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, specifically near an underwater mountain called the Atlantis Massif.
On the south side of this massif is an area known as the Lost City—a hydrothermal field whose vent fluids are highly alkaline and rich in hydrogen, methane, and other carbon compounds. This makes the area a particularly compelling candidate for explaining how early life evolved on Earth. Additionally, it contains mantle rock that interacts with seawater in a process known as “serpentinization,” which alters the rock’s structure and gives it a green, marble-like appearance.
It was here, 800 meters south of this field, in May of 2023 that members of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)—aboard the JOIDES Resolution, a 470-foot-long research vessel rented by the U.S. National Science Foundation—extracted a 1,268-meter core containing abyssal peridotites, which are the primary rocks that make up the Earth’s upper mantle. The results of the study were published last week in the journal Science.
Although this makes this particular drill core the deepest sample of the mantle yet, going that deep into the rock wasn’t the goal of this record-breaking expedition.
“We had only planned to drill for 200 meters, because that was the deepest people had ever managed to drill in mantle rock,” Johan Lissenberg, a petrologist at Cardiff University and co-author of the study, told Nature. He said that the drilling was so easy that they progressed three times faster than usual. The team eventually drilled a staggering 1,268 meters, and only stopped due to the mission’s limited operations window.
Andrew McCaig—study co-author and University of Leeds scientist—said in an article from The Conversation that, according to a preliminary analysis of the rock, the core’s composition contains a variety of peridotite called harzburgite that forms via partial melting of mantle rock. It also contained rocks known as gabbros, which are coarse-grained igneous rocks. Both of these rocks then chemically reacted with seawater, changing their composition.
While this core represents an incredibly opportunity to learn more about the Earth’s mantle, as well as give an in-depth look at the geologic substrate upon which the Lost City rests, the mission didn’t quite complete the “grand challenge” of crossing the Mohorovičić discontinuity. Otherwise known as the Moho, the Mohorovičić discontinuity is recognized as the true boundary between the crust and pristine mantle.
Future missions could continue exploring this site near the Atlantis Massif, but sadly, those missions won’t include JOIDES Resolution—the NSF declined to fund more core drilling past 2024. Just as scientists are finally knocking on the door to the Earth’s most ubiquitous geologic layer, the future of these kinds of drilling missions is now uncertain.
Spain, France, Germany: Heatwaves sweep across Europe with devastating consequences
Angela Symons – August 1, 2024
Spain, France, Germany: Heatwaves sweep across Europe with devastating consequences
There’s no end in sight for Europe’s searingly hot summer, as heatwave warnings have been issued from Spain to Germany.
In Paris, too, Olympians have been forced to compete in searing heat – extremes that would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change, according to climatologist group World Weather Attribution (WWA).
Droughts and wildfires have broken out across the Mediterranean as a result of the hot weather, which looks set to continue throughout August and beyond in some parts.
Extreme heat currently claims more than 175,000 lives annually in Europe, with numbers set to soar, according to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today.
Spain: Temperatures could surpass 43C
Yellow, orange and extreme red heatwave warnings have been issued by Spain’s Meteorological Agency (AEMET) as temperatures threaten to reach 43C in the southeast.
Sweltering highs are forecast across the country’s east coast, south and centre for the majority of August, reaching peak intensity on Thursday – with one in nine of AEMET’s weather stations reaching 40C or higher.
Baza in Grenada and northwest Murcia will be the hardest hit.
The temperature in Barcelona broke records on Tuesday, racing 40C – the hottest day the Catalan capital has seen in at least 110 years, when records began.
According to AEMET, temperatures are likely to be higher than normal until October across much of Spain.
Italy: Rome under maximum heat warning
Helicopters and fire engines tackled a large fire in north-west Rome on Wednesday as a heatwave gripped the Italian capital.
The city has been placed under a maximum heat warning, with temperatures in the high 30s expected on Thursday and Friday.
Florence, Bologna, Milan and Turin are among the other cities also under a red weather warning.
While the blaze on Monte Mario is now under control, Rome and the surrounding areas remain on high alert for wildfires.
The south of the country is facing persistent drought, with farmers in Sicily forced to slaughter or sell off livestock due to severe water shortages.
Germany: Heat warning issued as temperatures creep over 35C
It’s not only southern Europe facing the heat: German Weather Service DWD has issued a warning as parts of the country face 35C-plus temperatures.
Wednesday was expected to be the hottest day of the year – particularly southwest Germany, which will today be hit with thunderstorms and heavy rain as the warm air moves north.
Campaign groups have warned that the country is ill prepared for heatwaves, with Frankfurt’s Senckenberg Society for Nature Research urging the development of early warning systems as the threat of wildfires ramps up.
Environmental non-profit Deutsche Umwelthilfe, meanwhile, released a ‘heat check’ revealing that less than half of the 190 German cities analysed are adequately protecting their citizens against hot weather.
They say more unsealed surfaces and green spaces are needed in cities like Frankfurt and Stuttgart to make them liveable.
Temperatures in Paris reached 35C this week as the city continues to host the Olympic Games.
WWA has warned the high temperatures could impact athletes’ performance and lead to an increase in heat related illness.
Southeastern France is also facing extreme weather, with temperatures of up to 40C expected until at least 4 August. Orange heatwave warnings have been issued by weather service Météo-France in Corsica, Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes and the Occitanie region.
“Extreme heat events like July 2024 in the Mediterranean are no longer rare events,” says WWA. “Similar heatwaves affecting Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Morocco are now expected to occur on average about once every 10 years in today’s climate.”
Cancer rates in millennials, Gen X-ers have risen starkly in recent years, study finds. Experts have 1 prime suspect.
Natalie Rahhal, Health and WellnessWriter – July 31, 2024
Rates of 17 cancers have been rising among each generation since the baby boomers, with more young people being diagnosed below age 50 than in the past, new research suggests. (Getty Images)
Experts are sounding the alarm as rates of 17 types of cancer in millennials and Gen X-ers have risen dramatically in recent years, a new study shows. For certain cancers, people born in 1990 face two-to-three times the risks that those born in 1955 did, according to the research published in the journal Lancet Public Health. The findings echo the recent worrying rise in young people developing colorectal cancer, but add more forms of the disease to the list of concerns.
It’s too soon to say what is driving the increase in what experts call “early onset” cancers, but they warn that it’s not just due to better screening; people are dying of these diseases at rates and ages not seen in their parents’ generations.
Here’s what to know about the generational risk of cancer and what you can do to reduce yours.
What did the new study find?
Researchers with the American Cancer Society (ACS) assessed rates of 34 different cancers among those born between 1920 and 1990, based on how many were diagnosed with or died of the disease from 2000 to 2019.
On average, the rates of 17 types of cancer, including pancreatic, breast and gastric cancer, have risen with each new generation since 1920, the study found. Previous ACS research had shown that rates of 11 cancers, including pancreatic, colorectal, kidney, uterine and testicular cancer, had been increasing among young adults. The new study added eight more types of cancer to that list:
Gastric cardia cancer (a cancer of the stomach lining)
Cancer of the small intestine
Estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer
Ovarian cancer
Liver and bile duct cancer
Non-HPV-associated oral and pharynx cancer (only in women)
Anal cancer (only in men)
Kaposi sarcoma (a cancer of the blood vessel lining and lymph nodes, only in men)
Rates doubled or even tripled for some of these cancers, including kidney, pancreatic and small intestine cancers, in people of either gender. For women, liver cancer incidence has increased two- to threefold since the 1920s. Even cancers that seemed to be in decline for baby boomers and other older generations — including some breast cancers and testicular cancer — are now a greater risk again to millennials and Gen X-ers, the study found.
More young people are dying of some of these cancers as well; mortality from colorectal, gallbladder, testicular and uterine cancers has increased over the generations, as has the fatality rate of liver cancer, but only for women. “That really stood out because the concurrent increase in mortality [and diagnoses] suggests that what we see is not just an artifact due to potentially more frequent screening and diagnosis,” lead study author and senior principal scientist of surveillance and health equity science with ACS, Hyuna Sung, tells Yahoo Life. “Instead, it indicates a genuine increase in risk, with the increases in incidence sufficient to outpace improvements” in diagnostics and treatment.
Why is this happening?
While the new study doesn’t answer why this is happening, Sung and other experts have a prime suspect in their sights: obesity. Ten out of 17 of the cancers that are becoming more common over the generations have been linked to obesity, the study authors noted.
Research to suss out exactly how obesity might contribute to or cause cancer is ongoing, but there are some leading theories, Timothy Rebbeck, professor of cancer prevention at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, tells Yahoo Life. “When someone is obese, a lot of things change in the body, including chronic inflammation that leads to years and years worth of damage to cells and tissues in the body, which can lead to cancer,” he explains.
According to the MD Anderson Cancer Center, it may not be a person’s body mass index (BMI) directly; rather changes to insulin sensitivity and an increase in certain hormones might fuel out-of-control cell growth and, in turn, lead to cancer.
Coinciding rises in obesity and cancer rates, especially among young adults, suggest that the problem may begin in childhood or perhaps even before people are born, says Rebbeck. “That process of damage to your cells is starting earlier and earlier, so if there’s a 20-year lag from this obesity exposure and it starts at age 10, it’s in your 30s or 40s when cancer risk arises,” he hypothesizes. The timelines also suggest there may be other early life environmental exposures, including factors like antibiotic use or diet that may alter your gut bacteria, which may influence a person’s cancer risk.
What you can do to reduce your risks
While the findings are alarming, experts say not to worry too much. Here’s why: “Cancers diagnosed before age 50 are still relatively rare,” Rebbeck says. Only about 350 out of every 100,000 cases of cancer diagnosed each year are found in people between ages 45 and 49, according to the National Cancer Institute. “It’s not something that people need to start panicking about … but we want people to be informed and start doing things that might have an impact,” says Rebbeck.
That just means making straightforward changes to live the healthiest lifestyle you can and reduce your cancer risks, experts say, by doing your best to maintain a healthy body weight, exercising regularly, eating a balanced diet low in ultra-processed foods and red meat and high in plants and fish like salmon, drinking minimally and not smoking. “None of these things are easy, but they are the things we can recommend,” Rebbeck says.
It’s also important to know your family history and see a health care provider if you notice any changes that could be early warning signs of cancer. For young people, there are “unique symptoms” of some cancers, such as colorectal cancers, including “fatigue, rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, altered bowel habits, or unexplained weight loss, which are really considered red flags for early onset cancer,” says Sung.
New research suggests major change in China’s air pollution may have kick-started bizarre effects: ‘It will give us surprises’
Leo Collis – July 30, 2024
In the global battle against harmful air pollution, China is both a leader in production and reduction.
According to the 2023 Global Carbon Budget, shared by Our World in Data, the country was responsible for annual carbon dioxide pollution of over nine billion tons from coal in 2022. The next highest polluter, India, was responsible for two billion.
However, government controls on dirty fuel industries have resulted in a 70% reduction in aerosol emissions over the last 10 years, as Yale Environment 360 detailed.
It’s a slightly confusing state of affairs. What’s more confusing, though, is how that aerosol reduction has impacted ocean warming.
What’s happening?
According to analysis published by PNAS and shared by Yale Environment 360, improvements made in reducing air pollution by China have led to warming effects in the Pacific Ocean.
The decline in smog particles has offered less shading protection from the sun’s rays, which has increased the rate of ocean warming and set off a chain reaction of atmospheric events.
As Yale Environment 360 detailed, aerosols can deter around a third of the warming that’s caused by greenhouse gases — which are different from aerosols as they trap heat rather than shade it.
Why is ocean warming concerning?
Since 2013, the Pacific Ocean has been witnessing a warming event known as “The Blob,” which periodically increases water temperatures between California and Alaska by as much as seven degrees Fahrenheit.
This has led to toxic algal blooms, reductions of fish stocks, sea lion displacement, and the forcing of whales into shipping lanes in the hunt for food, among other issues, according to Yale Environment 360.
The analysis suggests that the aerosol reduction in China is at least partly responsible for “The Blob.” Despite these negative effects, cutting the production of aerosol is still an important factor in curbing overall air pollution.
“Aerosol reductions will perturb the climate system in ways we have not experienced before,” atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University Yangyang Xu, who was not involved in the study, told Yale Environment 360. “It will give us surprises.”
What can be done about rising ocean temperatures?
As Fred Pearce of Yale Environment 360 noted: “To be clear, nobody — but nobody — suggests that we should stop the cleanup of aerosols. The death toll would just be too great.”
The World Health Organization says that outdoor air pollution was responsible for 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide in 2019, and aerosols are a key contributor to that statistic.
With that in mind, Michael Diamond from Florida State University, an expert on aerosols and climate, has suggested that reducing methane immediately would mitigate against the warming created in the absence of aerosols.
According to NASA, around 60% of the world’s methane pollution is caused by human activities. Agriculture, landfills, and burning dirty energy are among the leading producers of this harmful gas, which is 28 times more potent in terms of planet-warming potential than carbon dioxide.
So, cutting our consumption of meat and dairy, keeping as many items from heading to landfills as possible, and ramping up the production of electricity from renewable sources are essential to keep methane levels down. If we can do that, we can offset the unusual heating effects that cleaning up aerosols is having on our oceans without compromising human health.
Want to earn extra money through a side hustle? Here’s why 1 in 3 Americans do it.
Betty Lin-Fisher, USA TODAY – July 27, 2024
The gig economy is still big in the U.S. and growing.
More than a third (36%) of U.S. adults are working a side hustle – earning money in addition to their main source of income – according to a new Bankrate survey. They are earning more than they did last year, with the average side hustler making $891 a month, up from $810 last year.
Though the number of respondents who said they had a side hustle was down slightly from last year’s 39%, it is way up from 2019 when Bankrate first started surveying respondents about their extra gigs, Ted Rossman, Bankrate senior industry analyst, told USA TODAY. By comparison, in 2019, 19% of respondents said they had a side hustle.
“More people are side hustling because of inflation and because of high interest rates,” Rossman said. “Technology has made it easier as well. A lot of people are doing work from home and things online and via various mobile apps.”
Updated numbers are not widely available, but in 2018, Marketdata estimated the gig and side hustle market at $2.58 trillion. That year, analysts thought 36% of the U.S. workforce of 160 million already had an extra gig job. That number was forecasted to grow by more than 50% by 2027 to 83 million Americans working a side hustle.
And then Covid happened.
More than a third of Americans, or 36%, are working a side hustle, such as dog walking, according to a new Bankrate survey.
The number of people who picked up a side hustle spiked during the pandemic, said Bryce Colburn, lead editor covering small businesses for USA TODAY/Blueprint, a personal finance content partner to USA TODAY.
Colburn, whose journalists have written several stories about side hustles, said that while he can’t say the side hustle industry grew directly because of COVID-19, the spike in the number of people who had side hustles during and after the pandemic is pretty clear.
“Remote work has definitely been a huge factor in the growing of side hustles,” Colburn said. “We now have technology to do remote work, which then means that now if you’re home, you also can work on other things.”
Who is doing side hustles?
All ages are taking on side hustles, but more millennials and Gen Zers seem to have side hustles, Colburn said.
Colburn’s observation matches results from Bankrate’s study: Gen Zers (ages 18-27) had the highest number of people with a side hustle (48%) compared with millennials (ages 28-43) with 44%. Among Gen Xers (ages 44-59), 33% had an extra job, while 23% of baby boomers (ages 60-78) said they had a side gig.
Parents of children under 18 are more likely to have a side hustle (45%) than adults without children (36%) or those with adult children (28%), according to the survey.
Some workers may even be doing their side hustle during their remote full-time job, Colbun said.
Here’s some more highlights from Bankrate’s study:
More people started side hustles after 2022: More than half or 52% of side hustlers started less than two years ago.
Side hustlers spend their money differently: 37% use some of their money from gigs on discretionary spending; 36% use the extra cash for day-to-day expenses; 31% put some money into savings; and 20% use the income to pay down debt.
Side hustling isn’t temporary: 32% of respondents think they’ll always need an extra job to pay the bills.
How much are people making from side hustles?
Nearly two-thirds of side hustlers, or 63% in the Bankrate survey, said they are making more than $100 a month, and more than 1 in 4 respondents, or 28%, are making more than $500 a month.
Younger generations and men are more likely to have a side hustle, and make more. Millennial side hustlers report making an average $1,129 a month, and Gen Zers make $958. Gen Xers make $751 and baby boomers make $561 a month.
The gender pay gap is also alive in the gig economy: Only a slightly higher percentage of men (38%) have side hustles compared with women (33%), but men make an average of $1,034 a month, while women average $735 a month.
A food delivery worker looks at his mobile phone while carrying items to be delivered at a mall in Beijing on July 10, 2024.
Why are people taking side hustle jobs?
High inflation and rising housing costs, in addition to regular monthly bills and the desire to travel and save money, are causing more people to look to side hustles, Rossman said. “Americans are still finding that one job isn’t enough. The cost of living has risen sharply in recent years,” he said.
But Rossman said he also takes with a grain of salt the study statistic saying 32% of people with a side hustle felt they’d always need it to make ends meet.
“Most of these people are relatively new to it, and yet they’re saying they think they need to do it forever,” he said, since more than half have had a side hustle for two years or less. “Maybe things won’t be as bad as people fear.”
Still, “it’s very much a spending story,” he said. “Last year, it was all about day-to-day expense … “This year, it’s more fun spending and ‘I’m going to side hustle to take a nice vacation or splurge on some electronics’ or something like that.”
Colburn said his reporters were surprised to find that while many side hustlers said they were doing the extra job because they needed the money, “50% of people say that they’re doing it for fun and not for money.”
What are some of the best side or most popular gigs?
Side jobs that involve e-commerce, such as eBay or Etsy or using social media to funnel people to an e-commerce platform are popular, Colburn said.
Meanwhile, some of the easiest side hustles, according to Blueprint, are house sitting, dog walking, freelance work and grocery delivery. Blueprint also suggested some side jobs to avoid, such as online survey taker, ride-share driver and mystery shopper, saying they may not pay enough for the time invested.
A lot of people don’t realize that they have to pay taxes on anything more than $400 earned from a second job or that a successful side gig could push you into a higher tax bracket, he said.
Rossman said he believes the number of people doing side hustles will continue to grow, especially as the workforce continues to change and people either choose to job-hop or can’t maintain job stability.
Some people may also turn their side hustle into a passion project or even their next full-time job, he said.
Rossman gave a final bit of advice: if you are going to do a side hustle, walk before you run.
“I think a side hustle is a great way to drum up some extra money, maybe pay off credit card debt,” he said. “But be wary of things that require a big upfront investment. Sometimes they can be an outright scam … other times it’s maybe a multilevel marketing thing where you have to stock up on a bunch of inventory.
“Explore it first, take it for a test drive … prove out the concept before you dive headlong into it.”
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY.
Firefighters get some help from cooler temperatures after California’s largest wildfire explodes
Nic Coury and Olga R. Rodriguez – July 27, 2024
Flames leap above fire vehicles as the Park Fire jumps Highway 36 near Paynes Creek in Tehama County, Calif., Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)ASSOCIATED PRESSGrant Douglas pauses to drink water while evacuating as the Park Fire jumps Highway 36 near Paynes Creek in Tehama County, Calif., Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)ASSOCIATED PRESSGrant Douglas pauses to drink water while evacuating as the Park Fire jumps Highway 36 near Paynes Creek in Tehama County, Calif., on Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)ASSOCIATED PRESSDamage is seen after a wildfire in Jasper, Alberta, Friday July 26, 2024. (Amber Bracken/The Canadian Press via AP)A vehicle drives past the spreading River Fire Thursday, July 25, 2024, near Myrtle, Idaho, before U.S. Highway 12 was closed. Lightning strikes have sparked fast-moving wildfires in Idaho, prompting the evacuation of multiple communities. (August Frank/Lewiston Tribune via AP)Flames consume a vehicle as the Park Fire jburns in Tehama County, Calif., on Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)Flames burn as the Park Fire jumps Highway 36 near Paynes Creek in Tehama County, Calif., on Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)Flames consume structures as the Park Fire burns in Tehama County, Calif., on Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)A resident turns around while trying to evacuate as the Park Fire jumps Highway 36 near Paynes Creek in Tehama County, Calif., on Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)Flames leap above fire vehicles as the Park Fire jumps Highway 36 near Paynes Creek in Tehama County, Calif., Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
FOREST RANCH, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of firefighters battling a wildfire in northern California received some help from the weather Saturday, just hours after the blaze exploded in size, scorching an area greater than the size of Los Angeles. The blaze was one of several tearing through the western United States and Canada, fueled by wind and heat.
Cooler temperatures and an increase in humidity on Saturday could help slow the Park Fire, the largest blaze so far this year in California. The blaze’s intensity and dramatic spread led fire officials to make unwelcome comparisons to the monstrous Camp Fire. That fire burned out of control in nearby Paradise in 2018, killing 85 people and torching 11,000 homes.
And Paradise again was near the danger zone. The entire town was under an evacuation warning Saturday, one of several communities in Butte County. Evacuation orders were also issued in Plumas, Tehama and Shasta counties. An evacuation warning calls for people to prepare to evacuate and await instructions. An evacuation order means to leave immediately.
Temperatures are expected to be cooler than average through the middle of next week, but “that doesn’t mean that fires that are existing will go away,” said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
The blaze has scorched 540 square miles (1,409 square kilometers) as of Saturday with no containment. Los Angeles covers roughly 503 square miles (1,320 square kilometers). The blaze was moving north and east after igniting Wednesday, when authorities said a man pushed a burning car into a gully in Chico and then calmly blended in with others fleeing the scene.
Ronnie Dean Stout, 42, of Chico, was arrested early Thursday in connection with the blaze and held without bail pending a Monday arraignment, officials said. There was no reply to an email to the district attorney asking whether the suspect had legal representation or someone who could comment on his behalf.
Cal Fire incident commander Billy See said at a briefing on Saturday that the blaze had been advancing 8 square miles (21 square kilometers) per hour since its inception. But there was cautious optimism as weather conditions slowed the fire’s advance in some areas, and firefighters were able to plan and deploy additional personnel. Nearly 2,500 firefighters were battling the blaze, aided by 16 helicopters and numerous air tankers.
“Today we’ve got almost three times the personnel we had yesterday morning,” he said. “We still don’t have enough.”
He advised his crews to be aggressive, stay safe and take advantage of what likely are the best conditions they will experience in coming days.
Communities elsewhere in the U.S. West and Canada also were under siege Saturday from fast-moving flames.
More than 110 active fires covering 2,800 square miles (7,250 square kilometers) were burning in the U.S. on Friday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Some were caused by the weather, with climate change increasing the frequency of lightning strikes as the region endures record heat and bone-dry conditions.
In Chico, California, Carli Parker is one of hundreds who fled their homes as the Park Fire pushed close. Parker decided to leave her Forest Ranch residence with her family when the fire began burning across the street. She has previously been forced out of two homes by fire, and she said she had little hope that her residence would remain unscathed.
“I think I felt like I was in danger because the police had come to our house because we had signed up for early evacuation warnings, and they were running to their vehicle after telling us that we need to self-evacuate and they wouldn’t come back,” said Parker, a mother of five.
Amanda Brown, who lives in the same community where Stout was arrested, said she was stunned that someone would set a fire in a region where the memories of the devastation in Paradise are still fresh.
“That anyone could deliberately put our community through that again is incredibly cruel. I don’t understand it,” said the 61-year-old Brown, who’s about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the fire but had not been ordered to evacuate.
Elsewhere, fire crews were making progress on another complex of fires burning in the Plumas National Forest near the California-Nevada line, said Forest Service spokesperson Adrienne Freeman. Traffic was backed up for miles near the border on a portion of the main highway linking Los Angeles and Las Vegas, as crews continued Saturday to battle a fire that started a day before when a truck carrying lithium-ion batteries crashed and turned onto its side.
The most damage so far has been to the Canadian Rockies’ Jasper National Park, where a fast-moving wildfire forced 25,000 people to flee and devastated the park’s namesake town, a World Heritage site. Authorities there said cool and wet weather was helping crews battle the wildfires. This comes after Parks Canada said 358 of the 1113 structures in the town of Jasper had been destroyed.
In eastern Washington state, crews late Friday stopped the forward progress of a fire near the community of Tyler that had destroyed three homes and five outbuildings, the Washington Department of Natural Resources said Saturday. The South Columbia Basin fire burned timber and grasses, and crews continued work on containment lines along the fire perimeter.
Two fires in eastern Oregon, including the Durkee and Cow Valley blazes, had burned about 660 square miles (1,709 square kilometers). Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek late Friday expressed condolences to the family of a pilot of a single-engine air tanker that had gone down in forested terrain while fighting a separate fire near the town of Seneca and the Malheur National Forest.
In Idaho, lightning strikes sparked fast-moving wildfires and the evacuation of multiple communities. The fires were burning on about 31 square miles (80 square kilometers) Friday afternoon. Juliaetta, about 27 miles (43 kilometers) southeast of the University of Idaho’s campus in Moscow, was evacuated Thursday just ahead of roaring fires, as were several other communities.
Rodriguez reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone, John Antczak, Rio Yamat, David Sharp, Holly Ramer, Sarah Brumfield, Claire Rush, Terry Chea, Scott Sonner, Martha Bellisle and Amy Hanson contributed to this report.
California’s largest wildfire of the year has burned an area larger than the size of the city of Los Angeles,destroyed dozens of buildings and forced thousands of residents to flee their homes as wildfires wreak havoc in the Western United States.Meanwhile, homes and businesses in a popular Canadian resort town were incinerated as a wildfire continued to roar through the area. Here’s the latest:
• California’s Park Fire now state’s 8th largest: As the Park Fire exploded across parts of Butte and Tehama counties, north of Sacramento, California, it scorched 134 buildings and threatened another 4,200. The fast moving blaze has burned more than 307,000 acres, or about 480 square miles, making it the eighth largest wildfire in recorded state history. More than 2,400 firefighters are working to slow the fire’s progress as it remains 0% contained, according to Cal Fire.
• California governor declares state of emergency: Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for both counties Friday. The state also secured a federal grant to ensure there are enough resources to fight the blaze. The fire is advancing at 4,000 to 5,000 acres per hour, Billy See, incident commander for Cal Fire, said Friday. With winds forecast to die down overnight and higher humidity moving into the area, See believes firefighters will have a better chance to slow the fire down.
• A man is accused of igniting Park Fire: A 42-year-old man, identified as Ronnie Dean Stout II, was arrested on suspicion of pushing a burning car 60 feet into a gully, “spreading flames that caused the Park Fire,” authorities said. The DA says the man was seen “calmly leaving the area by blending in with the other citizens who were in the area and fleeing the rapidly evolving fire.” Stout, who has not retained an attorney, will likely face an arson charge, the DA’s office told CNN.
• Pilot dies while fighting Oregon fire: A firefighting pilot was found dead in a single-engine air tanker on Friday after going missing the night before while working in the vicinity of the 219-square-mile Falls Fire burning in the Malheur National Forest, according to officials. The fire, which was 55% contained as of Saturday morning, is among a number of large wildfires burning across Oregon. The largest active wildfire in the state is the Durkee Fire, which has scorched about 451 square miles and was 27% contained as of Saturday morning.
• Fire wipes out many of a Canadian town’s buildings: A fast-moving wildfire sent thousands of visitors and residents fleeing the town of Jasper in Alberta, where flames devastated an estimated 30% of the town’s structures. Officials say the losses are significant, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has deployed federal support to help battle the blaze. Cool temperatures are expected to calm fire behavior, which will help the 154 firefighters in Jasper fight the blaze, Jasper National Park said on Facebook Friday night. High winds, however, could increase fire activity.
• 96 large wildfires burning nationwide: Triple-digit heat and dry conditions across the West this week have made conditions poor for firefighters actively fighting to contain the dozens of wildfires burning nationwide, including 37 in Oregon and 14 in California. “Elevated to critical fire weather conditions will persist through the weekend across the Western U.S. Isolated dry thunderstorms could lead to new fire starts over portions of the northern Rockies,” the National Weather Service said. Smoke from wildfires will also result in continued unhealthy air quality.
Sherry Alpers checks on her dogs at a center for Park Fire evacuees in Chico, California, on Friday. – Noah Berger/AP
Park Fire makes some California residents relive tragedy
The Park Fire, which began Wednesday in the Chico area, has forced about 4,000 people to evacuate in Butte County, where the state’s deadliest wildfire, the Camp Fire, killed more than 85 people and destroyed thousands of homes in 2018.
A heavy plume of smoke once again looms over the county as crews battle thick flames that are torching everything in their path. The Park Fire has left graveyards of burned cars and charred, hallowed out structures, video from the Chico area shows.
For Butte County residents, the advancing flames bring with them painful memories of the losses they endured from the Camp Fire six years ago.
One evacuee, Tim Ferguson, told CNN affiliate KOVR he had lost his father in the Camp Fire, and it’s painful thinking about having to experience more loss this time around.
“We’ve got our home, and we’ve been working on it a lot lately, fixing it up, and it’s just we’re at the verge of maybe losing all that,” Ferguson said.
Lauri Schwein, who lost her home in the Camp Fire, told CNN affiliate KCRA she’s on high alert. “I’m packing up, my dog, my cat,” she said. “All I can do is wait and watch.”
In the town of Paradise, the smoke is enough to bring back the horrors the Camp Fire unleashed when it incinerated much of the town.
“It was very impactful, every once in a while we smell smoke or see smoke like that, it does trigger us. It triggers the people here in Paradise. When you go through trauma, that’s what happens,” Ron Lassonde, the mayor of Paradise, told KCRA.
Paradise is under an evacuation warning, according to the town web site. “An EVACUATION WARNING means prepare to evacuate and await additional instructions, under a warning those who need additional time to evacuate should begin evacuating now,” officials cautioned.
The Park Fire is burning just three weeks after the Thomspon Fire in Butte County burned more than 3,700 acres, forced people from their homes, and destroyed more than two dozen structures, including houses.
Local officials cautioned it would take some time before people would be allowed back in their homes.
“We are no strangers to evacuations in Butte County,” said Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea at a news conference Friday. “We are constantly looking for the earliest opportunity to get people back in.”
The North Valley Animal Disaster Group has rescued 88 animals from the blaze as its members dealt with losses of their own. In 2018, the group managed to shelter over 4,000 animals during the Camp Fire.
“When you’ve been through a big fire and you’ve lost everything, sometimes the only thing you have left to give is to go help the animals,” Vice President Norm Rosene told CNN.
Triple-digit temperatures and high wind gusts have fueled the explosive growth of the Park Fire amid an active fire season in California. An estimated 626,600 acres have burned across the state so far in 2024, compared to 25,254 acres burned by this time last year, according to Cal Fire.
“It’s been nothing but challenging,” Cal Fire Captain Dan Collins told CNN. “If we see fires behave like this in July, they may behave even more radically come the fall when the fields are even drier.”
A helicopter buckets water onto smoldering fires outside of Jasper, Alberta, Canada, on Friday. Wildfires encroaching into the townsite of Jasper forced an evacuation of the national park. – Amber Bracken/The Canadian Press/AP
Lodge owner in Canadian tourist town sees business go up in flames
In Jasper, a popular tourist town in Alberta, 25,000 residents and visitors were forced to evacuate from a fast-moving blaze that has destroyed 30% of the town’s structures, officials said.
Two wildfires converged in the Jasper National Park area, becoming what authorities are referring to as the Jasper Wildfire Complex. It remains difficult to measure exactly how big the complex – which also includes a third nearby fire – is due to extreme fire behavior and thick smoke cover. Together, the fires have swallowed an estimated 89,000 acres, the Jasper National Park said.
An evacuation order remains in effect for Jasper and Jasper National Park, with the vast majority of evacuees being visitors, officials said. Along with about 4,100 residents – and thousands of seasonal workers – who live in the town, 2.48 million people visited Jasper National Park last year.
Out of a total of 1,113 structures in the town, 358 have been destroyed, according to a Facebook post from Jasper National Park.
The owner of Maligne Lodge in Jasper told CNN news partner CTV News that she was shocked when she saw a photo of the 98-room hotel up in flames. It had been in the family since 1961 after her father purchased the property, and she had been working there since she was a child.
“As soon as we’re given the go-ahead, we’ll be in there rebuilding our hotel,” Karyn Decore said.
Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland lost the home that his family had moved into around his second birthday, according to CTV News.
On a tour of the wreckage in Jasper, Ireland said that the loss of his home of 67 years “is shattering.”
“Now it’s memories of family and fire,” Ireland told CNN news partner CBC. “So many others are going to go through this same thing.”
But he said “when I stood back and looked, and saw what remains, I know that the community is still there.”
Wildfires are exploding across the West, especially in California, where the Park Fire has now grown to be the biggest in the state this year.
The largest of several wildfires in the state is the Park Fire, burning in Butte and Tehama counties, just north of Chico, which grew to over 348,370 acres on Saturday with 0% containment. At least 134 structures have been destroyed by the blaze, which has grown to be the 7th largest fire recorded in California history in only a few days.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a State of Emergency for Butte and Tehama counties due to the Park Fire, as well as Plumas County, due to the Gold Complex Fire, which combined have burned more than 424,000 acres.
“We are using every available tool to protect lives and property as our fire and emergency response teams work around the clock to combat these challenging fires. Stay safe and remain alert for instructions from local authorities as dangerous fire weather conditions continue,” Newsom said in his statement.
Ronnie Dean Stout II, 42, has been arrested on suspicion of arson for starting the Park Fire after he allegedly pushed a burning car into a gully in Bidwell Park, near Chico, according to Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey.
There are more than over 2,400 personnel, six helicopters and 153 fire engines assigned just to the Park Fire.
The Lake Fire, in Santa Barbara County, is the second-largest burning in the state at the moment at over 38,000 acres, though it is 90% contained after sparking July 5.
Meanwhile, farther north, the Durkee Fire in Oregon had grown to over 288,000 acres on Friday morning with 20% containment, according to the Oregon/Washington Bureau of Land Management. It was sparked on July 17 by a lightning strike and has grown to the largest fire in the country this year.
More than 500 people fighting the fire, as rain fell overnight in the area, providing some relief for firefighters.
The pilot of a single-engine fire tanker carrying retardant was found dead on Friday in Grant County in eastern Oregon after the aircraft was reported missing, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
Smoke spreads across several western states
PHOTO: Wildfires burning in the West are creating unhealthy smoke conditions across several states. (ABC News)
The smoke from fires in Northern California and Oregon is spreading across several states, including Idaho, Montana and North Dakota, which will all see regions under “very heavy” smoke conditions — the second-worst level.
