Wildfires, forest fires around world in 2020
Here are the forest fires and wildfires around the world during 2020 compiled by Anadolu Agency:
JANUARY
Jan. 1:
- Australian bushfires continue in the new year with 20 dead thus far, including three volunteer firefighters. Around 6 million hectares (14.8 million acres) are left burned at the beginning of 2020.
Jan. 2:
- A state of emergency is declared for the Australian state of Victoria because of the bushfires in the south.
Jan. 17:
- Hundreds of thousands of native fish are estimated to have died in northern New South Wales, Australia as rains washed ash and sludge from bushfires into the Macleay River.
Jan. 31:
- Authorities declare a state of emergency in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) as massive bushfires rage south of Canberra.
FEBRUARY
Feb. 17:
- A forest fire kills three forest officials who were caught in the blaze while trying to prevent fire in the Thrissur district of Kerala, India.
Feb. 24:
- Strong winds, blinding sandstorms and wildfires throughout the Canary Islands leave thousands of tourists stranded at the popular holiday destination, according to local media and officials.
MARCH
March 9:
- At least 5,000 koalas (12% of the population) die in Australia's New South Wales state during the 2019-2020 wildfires, according to a study released by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
March 23:
- An estimated thousands of people in Australia die due to air pollution caused by recent bushfires in the country, according to a study by the Medical Journal of Australia.
March 25:
- Two people, including a three-year-old child, are killed in a forest fire in Idukki, a district in the Indian state of Kerala.
March 31:
- At least 19 people -- 18 firefighters and a local forest farmer -- die while battling a bushfire in Sichuan province in southwest China.
APRIL
April 4:
- A wildfire breaks out in the Chernobyl exclusion zone in Ukraine, with authorities saying two days later that it had been extinguished and radiation levels were normal.
April 10:
- Forest fire rages on in South Jersey, US, where over 1,000 acres of land are burned, according to local media.
April 13:
- Forest blaze in Chernobyl exclusion zone in northern Ukraine reaches the city of Pripyat, an official says.
April 21:
- Several wildfires break out across Scotland lasting a few days due to dry weather.
April 22:
- Thousands of hectares of Biebrza National Park, Poland’s biggest national park, burned from wildfire.
April 24:
- Five species of birds in Australia -- one critically endangered -- have been negatively affected by unprecedented bushfires that raged across the country last summer, according to BirdLife International.
MAY
May 7:
- Wildfires in the Florida Panhandle in the US force the evacuation of thousands from their homes.
May 17:
- A forest fire breaks out in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) coastal city of Girne as heat waves continue to grip the island.
JUNE
June 18:
- Thousands of people in Arizona are evacuated due to large wildfires.
June 30:
- Forest fire breaks out at the skirts of Spil Mountain in Turkey’s Aegean province of Manisa.
JULY
July 1:
- Number of fires in the Amazon rainforest rises 20% in June to a 13-year monthly high and a total of 2,248 fires detected -- up from 1,880 in June 2019, according to official data from Brazil.
July 6:
- A forest fire breaks out in the Gelibolu district of the northwestern Canakkale province, Turkey, where «thousands of trees have become ash,» according to authorities.
July 7:
- Four die in eastern Ukraine amid a forest blaze that injured nine others and destroyed 110 homes.
July 9:
- Hundreds of children are evacuated from a summer camp in south-central Greece after a forest fire breaks out.
July 15:
- Local authorities in northern China announce that a total of 21 conflagrations across the forests of the Greater Khingan Range were extinguished.
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