Daily News for July 10, 2026

Today’s Takeaway

Canada’s wildfire season stays manageable as Europe battles deadly blazes

The Tree Frog Forestry News
July 10, 2026
Category: Today's Takeaway

Canada’s wildfire season remains manageable despite more fires than last year, while Europe faces worsening heat and deadly wildfires in Spain. In related news: BC faces challenging conditions near Boston Bar; Quebec wildfires prompt road closures near Cree communities; Oregon prepares for a busy fire season; Greece deploys AI-powered fire-detection satellites; and Colorado firefighters race to contain the Gold Mountain fire.

In Forestry news: AFPA’s Jason Krips opines on Alberta’s forest asset; Winnipeg protects its urban forest funding; Trump’s “full suppression” wildfire policy draws criticism; Oregon seeks input on logging in national forests; Maine pays landowners to conserve old-growth; and an Australian scientist says ending native forestry shifts environmental impacts offshore.

In Business news: David Elstone argues BC’s stumpage debate should focus on stewardship, not revenue; Alberta’s forest sector remains cautiously optimistic; the US housing affordability bill is set to become law; Pacific Rim softwood markets are expected to tighten; and registration is now open for Mass Timber+ 2026.

Finally, political risk expert Robert McKellar explains how to makes sense of a relentless news cycle and separate the noise from what matters.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor

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Special Feature

International Political Risk: Separating Noise from What Matters

By Kelly McCloskey, Editor
Tree Frog Forestry News
July 10, 2026
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, United States, International

Kelly McCloskey

Robert McKellar

Over the past two years, Tree Frog has periodically turned to political risk consultant Robert McKellar to help readers better understand the geopolitical forces increasingly shaping the business environment in which the North American forest sector operates. In his feature Trump’s Second Term and Political Risk in the Canadian Forest Sector, Robert explored how changing politics, government policy and international relations can create both risks and opportunities for forest companies. In doing so, he also introduced readers to the discipline of political risk management—a practical framework for anticipating and responding to an increasingly uncertain world. 

Robert’s earlier articles generated thoughtful feedback and reinforced a common observation: the pace of global change is becoming increasingly difficult to follow. Every day seems to bring another headline about tariffs, trade disputes, wars, sanctions, shipping disruptions, energy prices, artificial intelligence, or some other geopolitical development. For many of us, the challenge is no longer keeping up with the news—it’s deciding what actually deserves our attention. Which developments are likely to influence markets, trade and investment in the forest sector? Which simply warrant monitoring? And which are little more than background noise? Those questions are central to political risk management. They are also questions we increasingly hear from readers trying to make sense of a relentless news cycle and what it means for their businesses and organizations.

In this article, Robert steps back from the daily headlines to explain how political risk professionals approach that challenge. His answer offers a practical framework for separating signal from noise—and a useful way of thinking about the global forces increasingly shaping the future of the forest sector.

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Opinion / EdiTOADial

BC Timber Pricing Equity – Time To Recognize The Tradeoffs Between Tabular Rates and Transformational Change

By David Elstone, Managing Director
Spar Tree Group
July 9, 2026
Category: Opinion / EdiTOADial
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Elstone

Five years after the Modernizing Forest Policy in BC paper signalled the province’s intention to address the “disparity” in stumpage rates among Community Forest Agreements (CFAs), Woodlot Licences (WLs), and First Nations Woodland Licences (FNWLs), the issue remains unresolved. The question should not simply be whether all these tenure types should use tabular rates; but rather how BC should fund transformational change in forest management. …In 2025, CFAs and WLs paid substantially lower stumpage on harvested timber than FNWLs, whose rates were more comparable to major tenures such as Tree Farm Licences and Forest Licences. …While CFAs and WLs use tabular rates, stumpage for FNWLs is determined using the appraisal approach and revenue sharing. All three tenure types are area-based and, at least in principle, are meant to support a more locally intense form of forest stewardship than typical industrial forestry.

That distinction matters. If lower stumpage is simply treated as a revenue loss to government, the debate will remain stuck. If it is treated as a policy tool to secure measurable stewardship, wildfire resilience, and community stability, the discussion becomes far more productive. …The better approach is to stop treating equity reform in rates as a narrow revenue problem and start treating it as a performance bargain. If tenure holders want access to tabular rates instead of higher appraisal-based rates, they should be prepared to commit to measurable stewardship outcomes. …That is the trade-off those at the policy table should be debating. Tabular rates should not be viewed as a giveaway, nor should they be dismissed as a loss of revenue. They should be designed as a trade-off: more flexible administration of pricing and potentially lower rates in exchange for measurable stewardship gains, wildfire resilience, and community benefits.

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Business & Politics

The Forest Products Association of Canada is hiring a Bilingual Communications Advisor to join their team

Forest Products Association of Canada / Canadian Wood Council
July 2, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

We’re looking for a Bilingual Communications Advisor to join the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC). In this role, you’ll help bring important stories and initiatives to life through strategic communications, digital content, executive communications, stakeholder engagement, and AI-enabled tools, all while supporting the work of both FPAC and the Canadian Wood Council. The Bilingual Communications Advisor plays a key role in driving clear, creative, and high-impact communications across Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) and the Canadian Wood Council (CWC), supporting a shared services model that serves both organizations. Combining strong project management, operational coordination, and content development skills, this role helps bring major communications products to life — from the Annual Report and executive briefings to newsletters, stakeholder communications, digital content, and media and issues monitoring. If you’re a collaborative communicator with strong project management skills and a passion for creating meaningful impact, we’d love to hear from you! Applications close July 16, 2026.

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Northern Alberta wood, timber holds firm despite cyclical market

By Rob Brown
The Edmonton Journal
July 9, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Alberta’s forestry sector enters a second half of 2026 with cautious optimism, even as weak housing markets supply, U.S. tariffs and softwood lumber duties continue to weigh on the industry. Ken Greenway, Alberta Forestry and Parks’ executive director of strategy, policy and economics, said northern Alberta’s timber industry remains relatively stable compared to some other parts of Canada, where forestry communities have faced sharper contractions. “We haven’t seen huge disruptions,” Greenway said. “Pulp is a weak market and that’s an area of concern, but softwood products prices are slowly moving to the positive side.” …“It’s a cyclical market, we’re at the bottom of a cycle at the moment. The current contraction across Canada – we have not seen as much in Alberta. We hope to withstand this storm.” The industry is also becoming more involved in wildfire mitigation.

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A major housing affordability bill is about to become law, even without Trump’s signature

By Clair Boston
Yahoo! Finance
July 10, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

A sweeping bipartisan housing affordability bill President Trump has refused — so far — to sign is set to become law on Friday, provided the president doesn’t act. The legislation, called the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, aims to improve housing affordability by incentivizing local governments to build more homes by streamlining complex environmental review processes, making it easier for credit unions and banks to issue mortgages, expanding access to modular homes, and restricting large corporate investors from purchasing single-family homes. Following months of negotiations, the bill passed Congress by wide margins in late June. …But even without Trump’s signature, the housing bill is on track to become law on Friday due to a quirk of constitutional law. …Trump could still veto the bill before Friday, although the final version passed Congress so overwhelmingly — 85-5 in the Senate and 358-32 in the House — that the legislative branch could potentially override his veto.

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Finance & Economics

Tight supply and higher prices to reshape Pacific Rim softwood markets

By Stephen Powney
The Timber Trades Journal
July 9, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International

Softwood markets across Latin America and the Asia-Pacific are approaching a turning point, according to the latest market report from Global Wood Trends and O’Kelly Acumen. The report says some of the world’s lowest-cost plantation producers are increasingly linked to major importing markets where domestic supply growth is limited. “With harvests expected to decline in key exporting regions, China remaining structurally dependent on imports, and Japan nearing peak production, the regional supply balance is likely to tighten through 2035 – creating new risks and opportunities for producers, investors, traders, and wood consumers,” it says. The ‘Global Softwood Roundwood Supply – Latin America & Asia-Pacific’ report… says Latin America, Asia, and Oceania. Latin America remain a highly competitive source of softwood roundwood. Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay account for nearly all regional softwood supply, supported by large-scale plantation forestry and investment by integrated forest-product companies and institutional owners. 

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Registration is now open for Mass Timber+ 2026 | Early Bird Discount Ends July 15th

By Lisa Kelly
Mass Timber+ Offsite Construction Conference
July 10, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Join us October 6–8 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia for three days of innovation, inspiration, and game-changing conversations shaping the future of mass timber and offsite wood construction. This isn’t just another conference—it’s where breakthrough ideas become buildable solutions, industry leaders forge lasting partnerships, and the next generation of construction comes to life. Don’t just watch the future unfold. Be part of building it. Your registration includes: Full access to the exhibit hall, 20+ educational sessions, keynotes, and panels; Invitation to the Welcome Reception at Victory Brewing Company on October 6 & Expo Hall Reception October 7; Insight into the latest technologies and strategies driving sustainable construction; and Eligibility to earn up to  9.0 AIA/CES HSW LUs, 9.0 PDHs, or 0.09 ICC credits. Want more? Exclusive building tours are available on October 6 (separate registration and fee apply). 

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Forestry

Wildfire season so far considered manageable across Canada, officials say

By Sarah Richei
The Canadian Press in The Chronicle Journal
July 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

OTTAWA – The 2026 wildfire season has been manageable so far, largely because of significant amounts of rain across Western Canada, but federal officials cautioned Thursday the summer forecast is hotter and drier than normal in much of the country. … The southern Prairies and eastern Quebec have had more rain than usual this year, and it’s expected that above-average precipitation will continue in Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Forecasts for July and August are calling for higher than usual temperatures for Ontario, Quebec, northern parts of the Prairies and the territories. …The latest information from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre shows there have been 3,100 fires across the country so far this season, compared to around 2,900 at this time last year. …But the total area burned this year is less than last year, at around 12,000 square kilometres, down from 46,000 square kilometres.

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Forest giants reveal harvesting plans

By Richard Froese
The South Peace News
July 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

ALBERTA — Harvesting plans for forestry companies operating in the High Prairie and Slave Lake regions were presented June 17 at a joint open house in High Prairie. Plans were displayed by West Fraser Timber that operates High Prairie Forest Products, Tolko Industries, and by Millar Western Forest Products that bought the Slave Lake Pulp Mill from West Fraser and became the owner in April 2024. No representative was present from West Fraser. Companies hosted the event to allow citizens to comment on the proposed plans. Tolko plans to have operations in the Sweathouse area south of Snipe Lake, Salt Prairie and Whitemud, says woodlands supervisor Callie Skellett. …Millar Western plans to harvest trees in three areas, forestry superintendent Stuart Adkins says.

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Mayor moves to protect tree funds and maintain record urban forestry investment

City of Winnipeg
July 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Mayor Scott Gillingham announced today he will bring forward a proposal to City Council next week to maintain full funding for tree planting in the 2026 Urban Forest Renewal Program. The move follows public feedback about a proposed budget amendment that would have reduced 2026 tree planting work by $1.236 million to offset a provincial government change to the City’s Strategic Infrastructure Basket funding allocation. “Winnipeggers care deeply about our urban forest, and I’ve heard that clearly,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham. “The public wants this tree planting funding protected. I agree, and I’ll be bringing forward a plan to Council next week to do exactly that.” City Council adopted Winnipeg’s first Urban Forest Strategy in 2023, setting a long-term plan to protect, preserve, and grow the city’s tree canopy.

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Critical of forests minister

Letter by Kristi Chorney, Wildsight Revelstoke
Castanet
July 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Open letter to Premier David Eby, B.C.’s Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar, spoke in Revelstoke about his hopes for sawmills, old- growth and caribou protection (recently). It is evident Parmar is misinformed about the issues critical to the Revelstoke community and other British Columbia residents, and is failing to act on your government’s commitments to climate action, environmental protection, and sustainability. When asked about protecting old-growth within the Revelstoke region, such as the Rainbow-Jordan Wilderness (RJW), Parmar stated: “What I wouldn’t support is just saving land for the sake of saving land and seeing mills close down.” That response demonstrated a lack of understanding of community priorities. …The minister’s comments also show a lack of understanding of the Old Growth Strategic Review, which your government commissioned and committed to implementing. Rather than perpetuating the volume-based resource extraction model, a shift to a value-added sustainable forestry is needed for the provincial economy and long-term employment opportunities.

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Interview with Jason Krips, President and CEO of the Alberta Forest Products Association

Impact Reports
July 1, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Jason Krips

In Alberta, we take great pride in managing our forests for future generations. Few industries can truly say they plan on a 200-year horizon and that long-term approach allows us to remain deeply rooted in communities across the province. Today, the forestry sector is active in around 70 communities, primarily in northern Alberta. We work closely with the provincial government to develop long-term forest management plans that balance a wide range of priorities, including healthy watercourses, wildlife habitat, recreation, Indigenous values, climate adaptation and wildfire mitigation. The sector supports approximately 30,000 direct and indirect jobs across Alberta. It is a substantive industry that continues to create value for both our economy and our communities. As AFPA approaches more than 80 years of history, I would group our legacy into three key areas: Our members, the public and students, and the global economy. 

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Trump administration seeks to stomp out all fires quickly, reviving policy that has been discredited

My Martha Bellisle and Matthew Brown
Associated Press in Oregon Public Broadcasting
July 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

©US Forest Service FB

The deaths of three U.S. government firefighters in a Colorado wildfire are casting a spotlight on the Trump administration’s creation of a new federal fire service and its revival of a previously discredited policy to stomp out all wildfires quickly. …And the administration’s focus on “full suppression” of new fires marks a sharp reversal from a decades-long trend toward embracing flames as a tool — to burn off old vegetation and growth that acts like fuel and lessen the risk of catastrophic blazes being stoked by a warming planet. The changes benefit private fire aviation companies that are key to hitting blazes fast. Federal officials have not released details on the circumstances preceding the weekend deaths, including the firefighters’ objective at the site where they were overrun. “The question is, why were they attacking that fire in the first place?” asked Timothy Ingalsbee, a former federal firefighter and cofounder of the advocacy group Firefighters United For Safety, Ethics and Ecology. 

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Public invited to comment on plan to possibly triple logging in eastern Oregon national forests

By Alex Baumhardt
News From The States
July 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Officials at the U.S. Forest Service are proposing new management plans for eastern Oregon’s Blue Mountains that include potentially tripling the amount of logging across 5.5 million acres in the next decade. The Forest Service published a draft of proposed changes to the 35-year-old Blue Mountain Forest Plan last week. It would allow more logging, mining and grazing across four national forests spread across eastern Oregon, as well as parts of southeast Washington: the Malheur, Ochoco, Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla National Forests. The public has until Sept. 30 to submit comments on the 350-page draft proposal. The draft plan … predicts everything from habitat conservation to forest carbon storage would improve over the long term if more logging is allowed because strategically logging and grazing parts of the forest would prevent wildfire, which officials characterize as the biggest threat to habitat and forest loss. Environmental advocates disagree with the framing.

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Oregon wildland firefighters prepare for potentially ‘very busy’ fire season

By Troy Brynelson and Joni Auden Land
Oregon Public Broadcasting
July 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

©Oregon Dept Forestry

…Like many states, Oregon is coming off a warm winter that did little to fill the reservoirs of snow that melt in the spring and summer and refresh downstream forestlands. That dryness makes kindling – or “fuels” in the firefighting community – out of brush, shrubs, plants, small trees and the like. About 86% of the state is currently facing drought conditions, according to a June 26 report from the Oregon Water Resources Department. Several counties – a belt stretching from Douglas and Lane counties to Umatilla and Union counties – are facing “extreme” drought conditions. “There was no snow this year,” Craig Pettinger, a unit forester with the Oregon Department of Forestry said. “All those fuels that are usually buried under a blanket of snow, they’ve had sun on them for months.” Firefighters train for worst-case scenarios. On June 26, roughly 200 wildland firefighting trainees completed a five-day academy, which culminated in a controlled burn near the lower Santiam River. 

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Fire protection bill sparks debate over Shasta-Trinity National Forest

By Jessica Skropanic
The Redding Record Searchlight
July 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — A bipartisan bill intended to protect people and forests from wildfires in the Shasta-Trinity and other national forests is dividing lawmakers and conservationists in Northern California and nationwide. Supporters of the Fix Our Forests Act say it speeds up the bureaucratic process for approving projects that reduce wildfire risk in national forests. These include control burn and vegetation removal projects. A chorus of conservationists opposed to the bill say they worry about uncontrolled logging in some of the country’s pristine forestlands. …According to the bill’s wording, it would limit how much environmental protection oversight projects that reduce vegetation would have to surmount before they’re approved. It also would limit legal challenges to those projects from community and environmental groups. The latter has been dividing lawmakers across both parties for more than a year.

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From Sweeping Floors to Becoming CEO: The Story of Pierce Pacific

By Forestnet
You Tube
June 26, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

When investment bankers tried to kill this American factory, one fired employee bought it back to protect his crew. This is the incredible true story of Pierce Manufacturing and the survival of the blue-collar American Dream.

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Maine’s old growth forests are disappearing. This program could help save them

By Peter McGuire
Maine Public
July 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

To Caleb Chaplin, it’s clear what sets a patch of old forest on his family’s land in Naples apart from the woods around it. …Some of the trees are up to 200 years old. Foresters call these woods “late successional and old growth.” They’re also some of the rarest features on Maine’s landscape, trap lots of greenhouse gas and provide critical habitat for unique species. Chaplin said his family was planning to harvest the stand this year. …Then they learned the New England Forestry Foundation would pay them to delay harvesting. Chaplin said it was a tough decision at a time when these big trees are drawing some of the highest prices in the timber market. Ultimately, the family agreed to leave the stand alone for 10 years, and work with the foundation to develop a permanent conservation plan.

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Scientist Warns Locking Up Australian Forests Only Shifts Responsibility Offshore

By Jason Ross
Wood Central Australia
July 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International

AUSTRALIA — One of the country’s most senior forest scientists has warned Tasmanians that locking up native forests would not end the demand for timber, only shift that demand onto someone else, met by imports that carry higher environmental and emissions costs. That is according to Dr John Raison, a former CSIRO chief research scientist, in an opinion piece published in News Limited newspapers today. “Serious answers require evidence, not slogans,” Raison wrote, restating the findings of a peer-reviewed paper he co-authored in the journal Australian Forestry. The review tested the standard criticisms of native forestry using the available science, decades of management records and field outcomes. …Raison’s intervention comes as the timber industry fights a run of native forestry closures, from Victoria’s harvesting ban to the Great Koala National Park in New South Wales. …The paper did not argue that forestry should be beyond criticism.

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Greece deploys world‑first wildfire‑detection satellites as AI system begins sending real‑time alerts

International Association of Fire and Rescue Services
July 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The system, developed with German company OroraTech, (A CTIF Associate Member) uses thermal sensors capable of detecting hotspots as small as 4×4 metres, far surpassing conventional satellites that typically identify fires only once they reach the size of a cruise ship. The satellites scan Greece’s fire‑prone mainland and more than 100 inhabited islands, feeding imagery into AI models that instantly analyse heat signatures, filter out false alarms such as solar panels or hot factory roofs, and send verified alerts directly to fire‑service command units. When multiple fires ignite simultaneously — a growing challenge during Europe’s increasingly severe heatwaves — the system provides commanders with location, size, intensity, and predictive spread simulations to help prioritize resources. Officials say the technology is a critical response to Greece’s escalating wildfire threat.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Hydro-Québec to build biomass cogeneration plant for Atikamekw community in Quebec

Bioenergy Insight Magazine
July 8, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada East

Hydro-Québec has reached an agreement with the Atikamekw community of Opitciwan and Société en commandite Onimiskiw Opitciwan (SCOO) to build a 4.8MW forest biomass cogeneration plant that will replace the community’s diesel-fired power generation, with commercial operation expected to begin this month. Under the 25-year agreement … the utility will also fund the acquisition and installation of a dryer at the Opitciwan sawmill, majority-owned by the Conseil des Atikamekw d’Opitciwan (CAO). The project is estimated to cost C$60.2 million (around $45 million), with funding contributions from the Quebec provincial and Canadian federal governments alongside investment from CAO and SCOO. The Atikamekw are a First Nations people numbering around 8,000 across several communities in northern Quebec; Opitciwan itself is home to close to 3,000 residents. …”Replacing the current diesel plant with one that’s powered by forest biomass from the sawmill is a huge step forward,” said Denis Clary, President of SCOO.

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Trees keep absorbing carbon long after they stop growing

By Columbia Climate School
ScienceDaily
July 9, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

Trees do not necessarily keep growing for as long as they keep photosynthesizing, according to a new study published in Science Advances. Researchers found that oak trees continue absorbing carbon dioxide well after their annual growth has ended, suggesting forests may store less carbon in wood than many climate models currently predict. The discovery challenges a long standing assumption that higher rates of photosynthesis naturally lead to greater tree growth. If trees continue taking in carbon without turning much of it into new wood, less carbon may remain locked away over the long term. …Scientists have generally expected that rising atmospheric CO2 levels would boost photosynthesis, leading to faster growth and increased long term carbon storage. The new findings suggest …trees may continue absorbing carbon, [but] much of it does not necessarily become new wood. Instead,[it’s] used for other functions, reducing the amount of carbon stored in forests compared with previous expectations.

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Western Europe records hottest-ever June as heatwaves intensify

By Ajit Niranjan and Damian Carrington
The Guardian UK
July 9, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Western Europe has been scorched by its hottest June on record, scientists have said, as the UK enters its third heatwave of the year and wildfires ravage France and Spain. Inflamed by carbon pollution, the deadly June heatwave helped push surface air temperatures for the region 3.06C above their average from recent decades. Globally, June 2026 was 0.56C hotter than the 1991-2020 average and 1.39C hotter than preindustrial levels, making it the second-warmest June on record, the agency found. …Western Europe is facing its third heatwave in six weeks and widespread dryness is helping small wildfires explode into unchecked blazes. Copernicus said the succession of heatwaves illustrated “the growing challenge” posed by worsening heat extremes. Raging infernos have laid waste to large areas of southern Europe in recent days, prompting the EU to scramble firefighters and water-bearing planes to help national services overwhelmed by simultaneous blazes. 

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Forest Fires

BC Wildfire Service crews continue to see ‘challenging’ conditions on Boston Bar-area wildfires

By Tim Petruk and Josh Dawson
Castanet Kamloops
July 9, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada West

©BCWS

The BC Wildfire Service will continue battling the Brunswick complex overnight with night-vision helicopters dropping water and crews conducting direct attack and patrols. “We are operating 24-hours a day on the complex fires,” the wildfire service said in an online update. The complex includes the 2,621-hectare Brunswick Creek wildfire and the Ainslie Creek fire, now estimated at 15,497 hectares. While down from an earlier estimate of 16,987 hectares, the Ainslie Creek fire has grown significantly since earlier this week. The Brunswick Creek fire, which started July 2, sparked the Ainslie Creek blaze after embers crossed Highway 1, which remains closed through the area. Strong south winds of up to 40 km/h fuelled aggressive fire behaviour Wednesday and are expected to continue overnight, according to an online BCWS update. …The BCWS said fire activity increased Thursday along the west and south flanks of the Ainslie Creek fire. 

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Northern Quebec wildfires force road closures near Cree communities

By Vanna Blacksmith
CBC News
July 10, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada East

©SOPFEU FB

More than 200 wildfires are triggering safety operations and forcing on-and-off road closures in several Cree communities in northern Quebec. Two fires are out of control. The Cree public safety department and the Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU) are working to put out several forest fires caused by lightning last month. “I feel like the communities are more prepared. It’s a bit calmer, the wildfires near the communities,” said Tracy Iserhoff, the regional public safety officer for the Cree Nation Government. Iserhoff thinks back of the 2023 forest fires, when Cree safety officers and SOPFEU also collaborated. Key priorities for emergency crews include ensuring public safety and securing vital infrastructure like highways, cell towers, and Hydro-Québec networks, Iserhoff said.

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Gold Mountain fire: Still active, but firefighters racing to make progress before hotter weather arrives

Colorado Public Radio
July 9, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: US West

The Gold Mountain fire in Ouray County, west of Pueblo, has now burned more than 32,000 acres, but firefighters were hoping to make progress Thursday before forecast hot weather begins this weekend. In the latest update from the fire incident management team, authorities said 984 people were working on the blaze, which is now 8% contained. Much of the focus remains on protecting any structures that might be threatened by the fire, which has closed areas to the public in the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests. Jeramy Dietz, operations section chief for the incident management team, said firefighters were pleased to be able to allow some people back into the area to see their homes on the southwest side of the fire. Now, a lot of the focus is on getting containment lines built to the north and east of the active fire.

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At least 12 dead and 23 missing in wildfire in southern Spain

By Paul Kirby and Henry Moore
BBC News
July 10, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International

At least 12 people have died and 23 others are missing in a wildfire in southern Spain, Andalusia’s regional leader Juanma Moreno has said. Four of the victims may be British, Andalusia officials say. Hundreds of people are trying to contain the fire, which Moreno said appeared to have been caused by a downed power line. The flames then spread in a wooded area around Los Gallardos, Almería. A sustained heatwave with temperatures of around 40C (104F) has caused wildfires across Southern Europe this summer. …Antonio Sanz, Andalusia’s health and emergencies minister, said the fire had been complex and rapid and the majority or even all of the victims may have been foreign nationals. …The fire also led to road closures, while 1,000 residents were evacuated, according to emergency services. Spain’s Military Emergency Unit (UME) said it had deployed 220 soldiers and 70 vehicles to the Almería region to combat the blaze.

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