Aerial firefighting, also known as waterbombing, is the use of aircraft and other aerial resources to combat wildfires. The types of aircraft used include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Smokejumpers and rappellers are also classified as aerial firefighters, delivered to the fire by parachute from a variety of fixed-wing aircraft, or rappelling from helicopters. Chemicals used to fight fires may include water, water enhancers such as foams and gels, and specially formulated fire retardants such as Phos-Chek.
The 2007 Greek forest fires were a series of massive forest fires that broke out in several areas across Greece throughout the summer of 2007. The most destructive and lethal infernos broke out on 23 August, expanded rapidly and raged out of control until 27 August, until they were finally put out in early September. The fires mainly affected western and southern Peloponnese as well as southern Euboea. The death toll in August alone stood at 67 people. In total 85 people lost their lives because of the fires, including several fire fighters.
The 2009 Mediterranean wildfires were a series of wildfires that broke out across France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Turkey in July 2009. Strong winds spread the fire during a hot, dry period of weather killing at least eight people, six of whom were in Spain. Some of the wildfires were caused by lightning, along with arson and military training.
The Mount Carmel Forest Fire was a deadly forest fire that started on Mount Carmel in northern Israel, just south of Haifa. The fire began at about 11:00 local time on 2 December 2010, and spread quickly, consuming much of the Mediterranean forest covering the region. With a death toll of 44, it was the deadliest civil disaster in Israeli history until the 2021 Meron stampede. Those killed included 36 Israel Prison Service members, most of them new recruits, as well as three senior police officers, among them the chief of Haifa's police, and three firefighters, among them a 16-year-old volunteer. More than 17,000 people were evacuated, including several villages in the vicinity of the fire, and there was considerable property and environmental damage.
The 2015 Cape wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned across the Western Cape from February to April 2015. Major fires burned across the Cape Peninsula starting on 1 March in Muizenberg and burning until 9 March, when firefighters extinguished it. The fire resulted in 1 death, 56 injuries, over 6,900 hectares of burnt land, and 13 damaged properties, of which 3 were destroyed. The cause of the fire was later determined to be arson. There were also major fires near Wellington and Porteville starting in February, which claimed the lives of 3 firefighters and a fire in Stellenbosch that caused the evacuation of the University of Stellenbosch and burned over 2,900 hectares of land.
The Lake Fire was a wildfire that burned in the San Bernardino National Forest. The fire started on June 17, 2015, and burned over 31,359 acres before it was fully contained on July 21, 2015.
In November 2016, a wave of wildfires and urban fires occurred in Israel from Beersheva in the south to Nahariya in the north. Some of the fires occurred naturally; others were arson attacks. On November 28, after eight days of fire fighting, the firefighting services announced that the emergency condition was over. Firefighters fought 1,773 fires, at least 39 were reported as major fires that required at least ten crews or more. The largest fire occurred in Haifa, where 527 apartments were destroyed among 77 buildings, leaving 1,600 people homeless. Some 75,000 residents, about a quarter of the city's population, were evacuated from eleven neighborhoods. Other major fires occurred in Zikhron Ya'akov and in the Jerusalem area, as well as smaller fires throughout Israel and the West Bank. Israel's Nature and Parks Authority reported that more than 20,000 dunams of forests, brush land, and open space were burnt, the largest amount since the Mount Carmel forest fire (2010).
The 2017 wildfire season involved wildfires on multiple continents. On Greenland, which is mostly covered by ice and permafrost, multiple fires occurred in melted peat bogs, described as "unusual, and possibly unprecedented". Popular media asked whether the wildfires were related to global warming. Research published by NASA states "climate change has increased fire risk in many regions", but caused "greater severity in the colder latitudes" where boreal and temperate forests exist, and scholars have described "a warm weather fluctuation that has become more frequent in recent decades" related to wildfires, without naming any particular event as being directly caused by global warming.
A series of wildfires in Greece, during the 2018 European heat wave, began in the coastal areas of Attica in July 2018. 104 people were confirmed dead from the Mati fires. The fires were, at that time, the second-deadliest wildfire event in the 21st century, after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Australia that killed 173.
In the summer of 2018, a large number of wildfires occurred throughout much of Sweden. According to the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, they are the most serious in the country in modern history. The summer was unusually warm and dry, significantly raising the risk of fire. Firefighters from multiple countries were involved in fighting the fires. Many people were evacuated from their homes, but there were no fatalities.
During August 2019, a number of forest fires broke out in the Canary Islands of Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Lanzarote. The fires on the island of Gran Canaria were the most severe, resulting in the loss of large areas of the island's forests and leading to the evacuation of thousands of residents from a number of towns and villages. The intense heat brought by a heat wave and the presence of strong winds, combined with the island's mountainous terrain, made extinguishing activities exceptionally difficult.
The 2020 Chernobyl Exclusion Zone wildfires were a series of wildfires that began burning inside Ukraine's Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in April 2020. The fires were largely extinguished within two weeks. At least one suspect was arrested for alleged arson.
Since the 1940's the number of wildfires in Turkey per year had increased from around 1000 to around 3500. In 2007, the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report said that "Warmer, drier conditions will lead to more frequent and prolonged droughts, as well as to a longer fire season and increased fire risk, particularly in the Mediterranean region."
The 2021 Table Mountain fire is a major fire that started on 18 April 2021 in and around Table Mountain National Park and the neighbourhoods of Newlands, Rosebank, Mowbray and Rondebosch in Cape Town, South Africa. The damage to sites in the Table Mountain area included the Rhodes Memorial, where a restaurant burned down; the upper campus of the University of Cape Town (UCT), where the Special Collections library was gutted; and Mostert's Mill, a historic windmill that burned down. In addition, five firefighters were hospitalised.
The 2021 Greece wildfires were multiple wildfires in Greece in August 2021, which killed 3 people, injured at least 20 others and burned dozens of homes, after a historic heatwave for the country, with the highest temperatures reaching 47.1 °C (116.8 °F). Authorities evacuated several villages and towns. According to BBC News, Greece experienced the worst heatwave since 1987. These fires were the worst fires in Greece since the 2007 Greek forest fires which burnt more than double the area of the 2021 fires.
The 2021 Israel wildfires were multiple wildfires that happened in the vicinity of Jerusalem.
In June through August 2022, parts of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa were affected by wildfires. The bulk of the fires affected Mediterranean Countries, with the main areas affected being Algeria, France, Greece, Portugal and Spain.
The Fairview Fire is a deadly and destructive wildfire that burned during the 2022 California wildfire season southwest of Valle Vista and east of Hemet in Riverside County, California in the United States. The fire ignited on September 5, 2022, during a severe heatwave that had plagued much of the southwest throughout early September and, due to the extreme weather conditions, grew to a deadly and destructive conflagration in the chaparral-filled foothills within just several hours of igniting.
In a three-month period from August to October 2023, wildfires in Louisiana have burned more than 60,000 acres (94 sq mi), and forced evacuations across several towns in the state, including Merryville and Singer. First burning on August 22, at least 441 wildfires are active across 17 parishes, and the fires have burned at least 21 buildings, prompting the Federal Emergency Management Agency to approve an assistance grant in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana. At least 100 Louisiana National Guard troops were deployed on standby as several wildfires were contained. The most significant fire, the Tiger Island fire in Beauregard Parish, is the largest wildfire recorded in the state, burning over 50,000 acres.
On the afternoon of 11 August 2024, a wildfire fire hit the northeastern Attica region of Greece. The fire broke out in the area of Varnavas, northeast of Athens, at 3:02 PM, according to Fire Colonel Vassileios Vathrakogiannis, the Fire Service spokesman and quickly spread due to strong winds. The flames caused the evacuation of many settlements and caused severe damage to homes and forest lands. The fire continues to burn, affecting significant parts of northeastern Attica and threatening the northern districts of Athens.
