Domtar announced it will indefinitely idle its Grenada, Mississippi paper mill. In related news: International Paper sells its specialty pulp business; Lowes acquires Foundation Building Materials; Steelworker’s Brian Butler takes issue with Dallas Smith on Vancouver Island strike; and odor mitigation is underway at Domtar’s Kingsport mill. Meanwhile: lumber prices are tumbling; the largest freestanding mass-timber structure in the world nears completion; and the Paper and Packaging industry is ending its marketing check-off program.
In Wildfire news: Canada’s Fire Chiefs call for a national fire-coordinating entity; BC insurers say rising risk is driving up premiums; BC coastal fires enter new era due to drought; BC forestry workers bear fire’s health and economic burden; and the high cost of Quebec’s record breaking 2023 fire season. South of the 49th: US Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz says US forests need less wildfire and more logging; Oregon ranchers are forced to delay wildfire projects; and internationally—Brazil suspends key rainforest protection measure. Meanwhile: the Canadian Wood Pellet Association highlight Asia’s energy transition; researchers probe black spruce growth; and the Canadian Institute of Forestry consolidates Free to Grow measures.
Finally, a new study shows how saving tigers also slashes carbon emissions.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
BC Wood recently announced that Premier David Eby will open the 22nd Annual Global Buyers Mission (GBM) on Friday, September 5th. This shows the significance of the GBM to British Columbia’s forestry and value-added wood industry. Kicking off the tradeshow, the Premier will join delegates on the tradeshow floor. Premier Eby’s presence highlights the critical role of British Columbia’s wood and forestry sector in driving innovation, sustainability, and economic growth. With recent U.S. decisions increasing countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber to over 35%, there’s an unprecedented level of uncertainty about how the market will be impacted. A newly announced panel presentation will analyse the escalating tariffs threatening to disrupt supply chains, inflate costs, and reshape the forestry industry. Forest Minister Parmar will introduce the panel and participants Mo Amir, Nick Arkle, Liz Kovach and Kurt Niquidet on September 4th.
The Liberal government has released a proposal for its new housing entity, laying out suggested loan offerings and other details ahead of the planned fall launch. …The Liberals said the new entity would develop and manage affordable housing projects and partner with builders for the construction phase, providing $10 billion in low-cost financing and capital to affordable home builders. …The BCH would also provide $25 billion in debt financing and $1 billion in equity financing to prefabricated home builders, with the Liberals saying the housing type can reduce construction times by up to 50 per cent and lower costs by up to 20 per cent. The entity would issue bulk orders of units from manufacturers to create sustained demand.
With recent U.S. decisions increasing countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber to over 35%, there’s an unprecedented level of uncertainty about how the market will be impacted. These escalating tariffs threaten to disrupt supply chains, inflate costs, and reshape the forestry industry. At BC Wood, we’re dedicated to helping you navigate these challenges. Which is why we will be hosting a Tariffs Panel at the Global Buyers Mission (September 4, 2025). Introduced by Minister Ravi Parmar, the panel will bring together top leaders to analyze the challenges, opportunities, and strategies amid escalating trade tensions. Moderated by Mo Amir, GM of SPF Precut Lumber, the panel will include: Nick Arkle, CEO, Gorman Brothers Lumber; Liz Kovach, President, Supply-Build Canada; and Kurt Niquidet, President, BC Lumber Trade Council.
…calls are growing for Canada to change how it prepares for, reacts and responds to the natural disasters. Experts say Ottawa needs to rethink how it deals with wildfires… Ken McMullen, the president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, which represents municipal firefighters, has been calling for the creation of a national fire administration. …When asked by CBC News if the federal government will create a new entity or program to improve wildfire response, federal Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski said it is one idea under consideration. …While suppression is critical, Yolanda Clatworthy, the interim director of the Mitigating Wildfire Initiative, argues that it does not address the root cause of the wildfire crisis. …She said mitigation and prevention work can include choosing where homes are built, how communities are protected, how forests are managed, as well as supporting Indigenous fire stewardship and moving away from fossil fuel expansion.
Both Canada and Australia have experienced megafires in the past few years, the size and severity of which have been unprecedented. It has been suggested that Canada needs to “fight fire with fire” in order to solve the problem, and follow Australia’s lead in tackling this national environmental issue. Wrong. Rather, it is critically important that Canada does not repeat the mistakes that Australia has made. The widespread application of prescribed burning or hazard-reduction burning has been proposed as a way to protect people and property in Canada. Prescribed burning to reduce fire hazards has been employed throughout large parts of Australia. Yet robust scientific evidence showing that it is effective is remarkably limited. In some places, prescribed burning can reduce fire severity and restrict fire spread for a few years, but afterwards the regrowing vegetation becomes more flammable – an increased fire-risk effect that can last for many decades. That is: short-term gain, but long-term pain.
Early last September, firefighters were in the final stages of containing a 33,000-hectare wildfire complex in Alberta’s Jasper National Park. Elsewhere, park workers were already replanting the first batch of trees in the recently scorched earth. The Douglas firs were chosen because they resist fire better than other conifers, according to Marcia DeWandel, vegetation restoration specialist for Parks Canada. However, replanting so soon after a fire is much more exception than rule. Replanting is typically expensive, time consuming, labour intensive — and doesn’t always work. …In most cases, it can take years for replanting to begin after a fire. …”It’s actually really important not to speed and just go right after a fire,” says Jess Kaknevicius, CEO of Forests Canada, one of the organizations supporting Ogoki’s replanting. …In some replanted areas, ensuring survival is easier said than done, especially when dealing with other effects of climate change. 
A powerful documentary that addresses BC’s escalating wildfire crisis and the urgent need for solutions will be shown tonight in Williams Lake. “BC Is Burning” was written and produced by retired forester Murray Wilson who has over 4 decades of experience in wildfire suppression and forest management. “In August 2024 I started filming mainly around the Interior of BC.” Wilson said, ” I didn’t do any filming in the Williams Lake area but Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. had some excellent videos and they very graciously gave me some of their footage from around the Williams Lake area as well as Percy Guichon who is also in the documentary.” …So far the documentary has been shown in Kelowna, Vernon, Merritt, Kamloops, and Williams Lake tonight (August 19) then it will be in Nakusp and on to Castlegar. A 20 minute Q & A with Wilson and Josh Prestie, Regional Executive Director for the Ministry of Forests will follow the Williams Lake show.
Cowichan Lake had just 16.5 per cent water storage capacity as of Aug. 13 as the recent hot spell, which saw temperatures in the region go above 30C, began to die down. Brian Houle, environment manager at the Domtar Crofton mill, which owns and operates the weir at Lake Cowichan, said the regulators of the watershed decided to reduce water flows from the lake over the weir to 4.5 cubic metres per second beginning on Aug. 13. He said the flow reduction will be done in two stages, dropping to 5.0 cms on Aug. 13 and then to 4.5 cms on Aug. 14 and that flow will hold until the rainfall returns this fall. …Houle said that, as water flows are reduced to the river, Domtar will have qualified professionals in the river helping to salvage fish stranded in pools, as well as measuring water quality.
BARRIE, ON – As Canada faces rampant wildfires, non-profit charity Forests Canada and forestry consulting firm Cariboo Carbon Solutions are partnering to help private landowners and First Nations communities restore their forests. They supported the planting of 100,000 trees in North Shuswap and Criss Creek, British Columbia in response to the 2023 Bush Creek East wildfire and will plant 2.2 million in other areas of the province over the next five years. “Canada is facing a devastating wildfire crisis,” Elizabeth Jarrett, Chief Operating Officer, Forests Canada, says. “This new partnership will enable us to support restoration efforts.” In regions across British Columbia, Cariboo Carbon Solutions is providing private landowners and First Nations communities that have been devastated by wildfires with professional reforestation services for their properties. After the successful planting of 100,000 trees in North Shuswap and Criss Creek this spring, the organization is looking to support other communities in BC.
…It’s a rare sight today to see a spar tree in a timber harvesting area, but you can see them at any loggers’ sports shows. This year locals will have a chance to see climbers in action on Sunday, Sept. 14 at the Transfer Beach Amphitheatre. Just a couple of weeks ago the state of the two spar poles at the amphitheatre was in question. …Dave MacLeod from Husky Forest Service, a professional tree climber as well as a loggers’ sports tree climber, said instead of destroying the trees, they could be taken out to find out where the rot ends. His suggestion was accepted and the trees were taken out by RKM Cranes on July 30 and laid down to be examined. MacLeod did tests at various lengths of the trees and it was determined that the rot was up 10 feet from the bottom, so 11 feet was cut off.
The human side of forestry is often overlooked but always present. Seeing the forest for the trees in this case means connecting the dots between the many ways that people interact with, benefit from and shape natural spaces, and the consequences these activities are having on everything from environmental sustainability to community wellbeing. In this issue, we delve into the social sciences of forestry, highlighting how the academic work, career paths and actions taken by our UBC Forestry community are shaping the future for the sake of humans and the planet.
…as climate change fuels more frequent and intense wildfires, governments can reduce the damage and protect lives with proactive, targeted actions. That means strengthening policies that guide where and how we build, investing in land and fuel-management strategies, supporting Indigenous leadership and stewardship, expanding emergency-response capacity and accelerating emissions reduction. The solutions are within reach, but they require governments to lead with urgency, coordination and commitment. …Here are five key actions governments can take to reduce wildfire risk — noting that no single strategy can solve the problem by itself: Stop encouraging building in harm’s way; Make new development fire-resilient; Manage forests and reduce wildfire fuel; Strengthen firefighting capacity; and Cut carbon pollution to avoid runaway risk. Governments at all levels face a clear choice: continue with business as usual and see fire seasons grow worse or take bold action to reduce risk, protect people and ensure public resources are spent wisely.
CNC’s Applied Research team received a $170,775 Applied Research Tools and Instruments (ARTI) grant through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for the creation of a state-of-the-art remote sensing lab. …The grant allows for the acquisition of terrestrial LiDAR scanners, allowing researchers to capture, analyze and better understand individual tree characteristics, forest structure, and wildfire hazards, among other forest attributes. CNC research fellow Dr. Pablo Crespell will lead research activities related to remote sensing lab purchases and operation, including drones, LiDAR sensors and scanners, multispectral sensors, software applications, and computer hardware. Grant funds will also be used to support the costs of relevant training for CNC research staff, such as drone pilot training and new analysis approaches.
Ottawa is offering $45.7 million for projects in B.C. and across Canada that advance knowledge about wildfires. The projects will be focused on protecting Canadians from the growing threat of wildfires, strengthening wildfire risk assessments, and improving mitigation and adaptive forestry practices. …The Vancouver-based Métis Wildfire Community Research Initiative is among the funding recipients. “Our approach is different because we are building strong relationships with local people.” said Joe Desjarlais, Director of Research for the B.C. Metis Foundation. “We’re training them to do wildfire research, to recover their own knowledge for their own benefit, to give them a voice.” …Natural Resources Canada said annual national costs for fighting wildland fire total over $1 billion. It says fire-suppression costs could double by 2040.
The number of trees planted in British Columbia is set to decline for a third year in a row, falling a combined 135 million seedlings short of a B.C. government’s election promise to increase planting amid a string of devastating wildfire seasons. In B.C., the logging industry is legally required to reforest after harvesting. But as harvest levels have dropped, so too has tree planting. The province planted 281 million tree seedlings in 2024. But by the end of the 2025 season, that number is expected to drop to 238 million, according to the Ministry of Forests. By the end of 2026, projections from the Canadian Tree Nursery Association (CTNA) suggest the number could fall even further to 226 million — far short of the 300 million trees promised by the NDP government in the last election.
SMITHERS – The Forest Practices Board has released the results of its investigation into a complaint about logging in the Lemieux and Gardner Creek watersheds, 30 kilometres southeast of Smithers. A resident alleged that over-harvesting had dried up creeks and wells, and that logging proceeded without proper public consultation. Board investigators examined recent harvesting, road construction and maintenance by three licence holders: BC Timber Sales (BCTS), Kyah Development Corporation (KDC) and the holder of woodlot licence W0104. Investigators assessed whether licensees met legal requirements for water management and public review. All three licensees complied with requirements for public review. BCTS and KDC exceeded requirements by voluntarily sharing operational-planning information with stakeholders. BCTS and KDC also met all water- management requirements.
One of Revelstoke’s most popular mountains for Nordic skiing and cycling has reappeared on the map for B.C.’s lumber licensee, raising questions of how recreationists’ favourite routes could be impacted. Within the last year, BC Timber Sales (BCTS) issued a Forestry Operations Map outlining plans for Mount MacPherson, home to the Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club (RNSC) and various Revelstoke Cycling Association trails. Currently, several dozen hectares in the Wetask-Mt. MacPherson area are licensed for cut blocks, while several hectares more are mapped for retention areas and roads. …Operations are indicated to run until 2027, and all six cut block licenses have a planned development date of last Jan. 15. In a statement the Ministry of Forests said one of its recent licences was auctioned last spring and will be harvested this fall or winter. Another licence currently sits in the development stage, slated for auction next summer.
The historic wildfires that ripped through Quebec in 2023, destroying millions of hectares of forest and impacting thousands of people, is estimated to have cost over $8 billion. That’s according to a new provincially funded study published Wednesday by Nada Conseils — a climate action consultancy firm — highlighting the impacts and collective costs of the fires on citizens, governments, businesses and ecosystems. According to SOPFEU, the agency responsible for wildfire prevention and suppression in Quebec, the 2023 wildfire season was the worst in over 100 years with 713 fires — 99.9 per cent of which were caused by lightening — burning 4.3 million hectares of forest. …For governments, much of the costs incurred stemmed from firefighting operations, emergency services including evacuations and housing evacuees, and financial assistance programs. …The report notes that some of the most significant costs for citizens were linked to property damage, as well as financial impacts related to lost income and increased expenses.
The odds of high-severity wildfire were nearly one-and-a-half times higher on industrial private land than on publicly owned forests, a new study found. Forests managed by timber companies were more likely to exhibit the conditions that megafires love—dense stands of regularly spaced trees with continuous vegetation connecting the understory to the canopy. The research, led by the University of Utah, University of California, Berkeley, and the United States Forest Service, is the first to identify how extreme weather conditions and forest management practices jointly impact fire severity. Leveraging a unique lidar dataset, the authors created three-dimensional maps of public and private forests before five wildfires burned 1.1 million acres in the northern Sierra Nevada, California. …Although the study demonstrates that private industrial lands fare worse, both private and public agencies have much room for improvement to protect our nation’s forests.
Photographs of forests in the western U.S. from the mid-1800s show a starkly different reality compared to today, says Paul Hessburg, an ecologist at the University of Washington. …Today, many of these forests are overgrown and dominated by younger trees. Back then, they were typically more open — “park-like”. …Fire played an integral role — perhaps the integral role — in shaping these ecosystems. …Hessburg and others see the rejection of active management in part as a response to the “legacy” of commercial, industrial-scale logging of natural forests. Those rampant harvests often took the oldest and largest trees in the U.S., before a mix of science, policy and advocacy for species like the northern spotted owl caused a shift away from the practice in the 1990s. …“We created a climate that’s hostile to people and health and forests,” he says. What’s critical now is finding ways to adjust, for both ourselves and our forests. 
HELENA, Mont. — U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz and Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a historic Shared Stewardship Memorandum of Understanding, establishing a new framework between the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the State of Montana to advance forest restoration and reduce wildfire risk across the state. Montana’s Shared Stewardship Agreement expands collaborative efforts to accelerate active forest management, safeguard communities, and support sustainable timber production. “This agreement is exactly the kind of forward-leaning, state-driven leadership that President Trump and USDA have championed since day one,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. “By cutting burdensome, unnecessary red tape and empowering Montana to lead, we’re proving that through real partnership, conservation and economic growth can go hand-in-hand. This partnership is just another example of our shared commitment to protect lives, livelihoods, and our forest resources — while creating opportunities for hardworking Americans.”
…a University of Delaware professor has found that there is something of value to be learned from what’s left behind in the remnants of a wildfire. The charred debris left in the wake of wildfires … is known as wildfire char. UD’s Pei Chiu, professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, studies wildfire chars and the ways they just might prove useful in reducing methane, a powerful gas that traps heat in the atmosphere. Methane emissions come from many different sources, ranging from livestock manure to landfills and wastewater treatment plants. This work also informs his research on biochar — man-made chars created from leftover wood chips, rice husks, corn stover and other agricultural biomass — that can be used in soil amendments, stormwater treatment and other applications. Chiu shares five important facts about char — both natural (wildfire char) and manmade (biochar). 
One of the key agreements for Amazon rainforest protection – the soy moratorium – has been suspended by Brazilian authorities, potentially opening up an area the size of Portugal to destruction by farmers. Coming less than three months before Brazil hosts the Cop30 climate summit in Belém, the news has shocked conservation groups, who say it is now more important than ever that consumers, supermarkets and traders stand up against Brazilian agribusiness groups that are using their growing political power to reverse past environmental gains. Brazil is the world’s biggest soya bean exporter. The legume … posed a huge deforestation threat to the Amazon rainforest until stakeholders voluntarily agreed to impose a moratorium and no longer source it from the region in 2006. …Greenpeace Brazil called the move a “terrible mistake”, which was the result of political pressure from the “regressive wings of agribusiness”…
The Forest Stewardship Council has allowed Asia Pulp & Paper — “one of the world’s most destructive forestry companies” — to resume its remedy process toward regaining certification it lost in 2007 for deforestation and land conflicts. Watchdog groups say the decision is premature because a legal review of APP’s links to Paper Excellence/Domtar, the biggest pulp and paper company in North America, is still unfinished. Critics warn the move could erode trust, enable greenwashing, and expose communities in conflict with APP-linked companies to further harm. NGOs are calling for the remedy process to be paused until the review is completed and for full transparency on corporate ownership and compliance.
A new study, led by the University of Missouri, has uncovered how poplar trees can naturally adjust a key part of their wood chemistry based on changes in their environment. This discovery … could help create better biofuels and other sustainable products. The study, “Factors underlying a latitudinal gradient in S/G lignin monomer ratio in natural poplar variants,” was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. …”Understanding how plants make lignin could help us improve its conversion into high-value biomaterials and improve the competitiveness of U.S. biorefineries,” Jaime Barros-Rios, an assistant professor of plant molecular biology, said. Poplars are used in the paper and pulp industry. Now, they’re being explored as a source of bioenergy—fuels, plastics and other bioproducts. They are useful for scientific research because their genome has been fully mapped.
The Occupational Health and Safety Regulation provides that, except as otherwise determined by WorkSafeBC, an employer must ensure no worker is exposed to a substance exceeding the Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) prescribed by the 
As Saskatchewan experiences one of its worst wildfire seasons on record, smoke continues to prompt air quality alerts for the public. …however, less than five per cent of personnel working the wildfires in Saskatchewan are wearing masks, and despite the health risks, that’s not likely to change any time soon. “Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) personnel have access to N95 masks if they wish to wear them on the fire line, but most choose to wear bandannas,” the SPSA wrote in an email to paNOW. Structural firefighters within urban centres are required to wear self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) to protect them from smoke inhalation and exposure to harmful airborne contaminants, but in Saskatchewan, using facial protection is voluntary for wildland firefighters, and there is no provincial protocol to use them. …N95 masks can help reduce exposure to fine particles, but don’t filter out harmful gases. Bandannas offer little to no protection.
Pointing to several recent closures that caused major traffic disruptions on Highway 97, Okanagan MPs and MLAs are urging the provincial and federal governments to work together on a solution. The group of six politicians gathered outside Okanagan Lake West-South Kelowna MP Dan Albas’ office on Tuesday (Aug. 12) to offer their own idea — pave 201 Forest Service Road (201 FSR) between Kelowna and Penticton so it can be used during emergency closures of Highway 97. “People are going to be taking that road, as we’ve seen reported by local journalists, and they’re getting lost,” Albas pointed out. “So this is going to happen whether or not the federal and provincial governments decide to act, but we can’t tolerate that.” The 201 FSR is a long and winding route that many Okanagan residents use during extended closures of Highway 97.
The smoke from the Los Angeles wildfires smelled like plastic and was so thick that it hid the ocean. Firefighters developed instant migraines, coughed up black goo and dropped to their knees, vomiting and dizzy. Seven months later, some are still jolted awake by wheezing fits in the middle of the night. …Fernando Allende, a 33-year-old whose U.S. Forest Service crew was among the first on the ground, figured he would bounce back from his nagging cough. But in June, while fighting another fire, he suddenly couldn’t breathe. …doctors discovered blood clots in his lungs and a mass pressing on his heart. They gave him a diagnosis usually seen in much older people: non-Hodgkin lymphoma, an aggressive cancer. It would be unthinkable for urban firefighters to [work] without wearing a mask. But people who fight wildfires spend weeks working in toxic smoke and ash wearing only a cloth bandanna, or nothing at all.
Choking smoke spewed by wildfires is far more dangerous than previously thought, a new study has found, with death tolls from short-term exposure to fine particulates underestimated by 93%. Researchers found that 535 people in Europe died on average each year between 2004 and 2022 as a result of breathing in the tiny toxic particles known as PM2.5 that are released when wildfires rage. Under standard methods, which assume PM2.5 from wildfires is as deadly as from other sources, such as traffic, they would have expected just 38 deaths a year. The study comes as wildfires ravage southern Europe, and new data from EU fire monitors shows that 895,000 hectares (2.2m acres) have burned so far in 2025, breaking records for this time of year. “Our paper shows the health impact for the same amount of particles is stronger for wildfire particles,” said Prof Cathryn Tonne, an environmental epidemiologist and co-author of the study.
Sharie Minions told a news conference Tuesday that officials are working with the BC Wildfire Service to update two evacuation orders and three alerts that are in place due to the out-of-control Mount Underwood fire. The regional district’s chief administrative officer Daniel Sailland said about 50 permanent residents had to be evacuated along with approximately 150 campers and other visitors due to the fire, which was discovered Aug. 11. Fire information officer Karley Desrosiers said 160 personnel are working on the fire, which is not expected to grow beyond its current 36 square kilometres as the area warms up after several rainy days. “We have received considerable rain since Thursday, and more rain is expected today,” she said. “Going forward, we are expecting conditions to get a little bit warmer and a little bit drier and a bit windier as well. …The blaze has shut off power and the main road access to Bamfield since Aug. 11. 
Spain has sent 500 more troops to fight raging wildfires, bringing the total deployed to 1,900, as the death toll from the blazes has risen to four. On Sunday, a firefighter died after an accident during firefighting efforts when his truck fell down a steep hill, the Castile and León regional government said. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed “sadness” and “desolation” on X at the latest death. In neighbouring Portugal, where fires are also blazing, another firefighter was killed on Sunday in a “tragic” traffic accident, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said. Fires have also broken out in Greece, France, Turkey and the Balkans as a heatwave has scorched swathes of southern Europe. Several large fires are still burning in the northwest and west of Spain, where 27,000 residents are currently evacuated from their homes.
Spain is deploying a further 500 soldiers to battle wildfires that have torn through parched woodland during a prolonged spell of scorching weather, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Sunday. The decision to add to the more than 1,400 troops already on wildfire duty came as authorities struggled to contain forest blazes, especially in the northwestern Galicia region, and awaited the arrival of promised aircraft reinforcements from other European countries. …Spanish national weather agency said on Saturday, the maximum temperature was 44.7 degrees Celsius in the southern city of Cordoba. …Portugal is set for cooler weather in coming days after a spate of severe woodland fires. …In Turkey, where recent wildfires have killed 19 people, parts of the historic region that includes memorials to World War I’s Gallipoli campaign were evacuated Sunday as blazes threatened homes in the country’s northwest. …Turkey has been struck by hundreds of fires since late June, with record-breaking temperatures.
PATRAS, Greece,/MADRID – Wildfires caused by arsonists or thunderstorms and fanned by a heatwave and strong winds wreaked destruction across southern Europe on Wednesday, burning homes and forcing thousands of residents and tourists to flee. Fire has affected nearly 440,000 hectares in the eurozone so far in 2025, double the average for the same period of the year since 2006… Authorities ordered residents of a town of about 7,700 people near Patras to evacuate on Tuesday and issued new alerts on Wednesday, advising residents of two nearby villages to leave. On the Greek islands of Chios, in the east, and Cephalonia, in the west, both popular with tourists, authorities told people to move to safety as fires spread. In Spain, a volunteer firefighter died from severe burns and several people were hospitalised as state weather agency AEMET warned that almost all of the country was at extreme or very high risk of fire.