Daily News for August 18, 2025

Today’s Takeaway

US firefighters sickened by smoke as Forest Service blocks mask use

Tree Frog Forestry News
August 18, 2025
Category: Today's Takeaway

According to the NY Times, the US Forest Service continues to send crews into toxic smoke without respirators, leaving firefighters sickened. In related news: Canada’s wildfires are shifting east to the Prairies and Atlantic; scientists say climate predictions linking warming to more intense fires are proving true; debate arises over whether governments or individuals bear responsibility for fire prevention; and wildfire updates from Vancouver Island; Nova Scotia; Newfoundland; Arizona; and Spain.

In other news: West Fraser’s proposed cut increase in Alberta faces pushback; Dallas Smith weighs in on LKSM Forestry strike on Vancouver Island; Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest is ramping up logging; controversial timber sales begin in Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest; and Montana signs a historic forest restoration agreement. Meanwhile: Brazilian wood exports face collapse under US tariffs; Canadian housing starts rise 4% in July; lumber futures continue to drop; US consumer sentiment dropped on inflation fears; and US building material prices continue to climb.

Finally, from Tongass spruce to Steinway pianos — why the music may soon stop.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor

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Business & Politics

Recognizing Indigenous rights is key to resolving forestry strike

By Dallas Smith, president of the Na̲nwak̲olas Council
Victoria Times Colonist
August 16, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

Dallas Smith

At a time when uncertainty is dogging the forestry economy in British Columbia … everyone wants stability in the sector. That is especially true of the increasing numbers of First Nations who have made significant investments in forestry tenures and businesses. …On Vancouver Island, for example, Tlowitsis, We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum and K’ómoks First Nations collectively invested $35.9 million in the La-kwa sa muqw Forestry Partnership (LKSM) with Western Forest Products (WFP) in 2024. …All of this is important context as to why the First Nations partners in LKSM are frustrated and upset by the United Steelworkers, Local 1-1937 (USW) strike at the company that was instigated in June, and the union’s refusal to return to the bargaining table. There is no reason for this strike to continue. …There is only one key point causing an impasse: the USW’s objection to LKSM’s existing right to work with contractors without compulsory union certification.

Related coverage: United Steelworkers Press Release (June 10): Strike commences at LKSM Forestry LP on Vancouver Island

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Brazilian wood product exports to the US facing tariff pressure

By Stephen Powney
The Timber Trades Journal
August 18, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

US orders of Brazilian wood products are apparently already beginning to be cancelled due to the new US import tariffs, according to the International Tropical Timber Organisation’s (ITTO) latest market bulletin. ITTO’s bulletin reports that Brazilian forest product companies in the South, Southeast and Amazon regions were facing operational shutdowns and growing uncertainty regarding exports. The US market is viewed as important for Brazilian wood product manufacturers, especially for flooring, panels and mouldings. Companies are reportedly saying that 50% US tariffs cannot be absorbed. Brazilian timber industry organisations have warned that the US volumes can’t be replaced by other markets and are urging the Brazilian Government to intervene. They want to see similar arrangements established as for its competitors in Indonesia, Chile and Vietnam. Brazil’s wood products are subject to an additional 40% tariff from the US. 

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Finance & Economics

Canadian housing starts rise 4% in July

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
August 18, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

The six-month trend in housing starts increased (3.7%) in July (263,088 units), according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada. Actual housing starts were up 4% year-over-year in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater, with 23,464 units recorded in July, compared to 22,610 units in July 2024. The year-to-date total was 137,875, up 4% from the same period in 2024. The total monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was up 4% in July (294,085 units) compared to June (283,523 units). Through the first seven months of the year, actual housing starts have remained above 2024 levels, primarily driven by increased multi-unit starts in the Prairie Provinces and Québec,” said Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, CMHC’s Deputy Chief Economist.

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Lumber Future Prices Have Tumbled This Month

By Ryan Dezember
The Wall Street Journal
August 15, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

Lumber futures have dropped about 12% since hitting a three-year high two weeks ago, a sign that wood buyers stocked up before duties on Canadian two-by-fours more than doubled this month and that traders are worried about the U.S. housing market. Futures for September delivery fell to around $610 per thousand board feet late Friday and have declined in nine of the past 10 trading sessions. On-the-spot prices are also down, according to Random Lengths. …Jordan Rizzuto, chief investment officer at GammaRoad Capital Partners… said that besides indicating that lumber was piled high in U.S. lumberyards before the higher duties took effect, the whipsaw in wood prices is a warning sign for other asset classes. “Lumber’s price behavior over the past several weeks relative to countercyclical and defensive assets suggests potential weakening of new construction and cyclical sectors of the economy,” he said. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]

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US Consumer Sentiment Fell About 5% in August Due to Unemployment and Inflation Expectations

The University of Michigan
August 15, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Consumer sentiment fell back about 5% in August, declining for the first time in four months. This deterioration largely stems from rising worries about inflation. Buying conditions for durables plunged 14%, its lowest reading in a year, on the basis of high prices. Current personal finances declined modestly amid growing concerns about purchasing power. In contrast, expected personal finances inched up a touch along with a slight firming in income expectations, which remain subdued. Overall, consumers are no longer bracing for the worst-case scenario for the economy feared in April when reciprocal tariffs were announced and then paused. However, consumers continue to expect both inflation and unemployment to deteriorate in the future. …Year-ahead inflation expectations rose from 4.5% last month to 4.9% this month… Long-run inflation expectations also lifted from 3.4% in July to 3.9% in August. 

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US building material prices climb as inflation pressures mount

By Jesse Wade
NAHB Eye on Housing
August 14, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

Prices for residential building materials rose again in July, marking the largest year-over-year increase in over two years. The underlying price growth trend remained the same, with service prices continuing to grow at a faster pace than goods prices. Similar to last month, parts for construction machinery and metal molding/trim experienced significant price growth, as both increased over 25% compared to last year. Prices for inputs to new residential construction—excluding capital investment, labor, and imports—rose 0.2% in July, following a 0.8% increase in June. These figures are taken from the most recent Producer Price Index (PPI) report published by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The inputs to the new residential construction price index grew 2.8% from July of last year. The index can be broken into two components­—the goods component increased 2.4% over the year, while services increased 3.3%. 

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Tariffs as a driver in the evolution of alternative building materials

By Alex Carrick
Daily Commercial News
August 18, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

Technological advances are also primary drivers of construction material innovations. …Also, there are new types of structures that are economically viable only thanks to their novel employment of existing but relatively fresh-on-the-scene materials. …Plus, external economic factors can pack a wallop and play an important role. Obviously, at present, there are the cost consequences of the exorbitant tariff structure attached to the usage of steel, aluminum, and copper. …Mass timber is making a bid to be the wall, floor, ceiling, and load-bearing substitute for steel and cement in building construction projects. The selling points laser in on sustainability and the potential for prefabrication. The subset products all see dimensional lumber bonded together. Glulam has grains running parallel; cross-laminated (CLT) has grains fashioned perpendicularly; and nail-laminated (NLT) and dowel laminated (DLT) are obvious in how they are tied together. …Finally, kudos should be awarded to the Green Building Council. 

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Forestry

‘Pray for rain’: wildfires in Canada are now burning where they never used to

By Leyland Cecco
The Guardian
August 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Road closures, evacuations, travel chaos and stern warnings from officials have become fixtures of Canada’s wildfire season. But as the country goes through its second-worst burn on record, the blazes come with a twist: few are coming from the western provinces. Instead, the worst of the fires have been concentrated in the prairie provinces and the Atlantic region, with bone-dry conditions upending how Canada responds to a threat that is only likely to grow as the climate warms. Experts say the shift serves as a stark reminder that the risk of disaster is present across the thickly forested nation. …“We had fire everywhere,” said Paul Kovacs, at the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction at Western University. “And so for the first time, we had a different thought about wildfires as a country. …This is a national issue. This can show up anywhere.”

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Want a Steinway? The Forest Service Stands in the Way

By Sara Lehnert
The Wall Street Journal
August 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States

KLAWOCK, Alaska — Steinway pianos have a particular sound. …The secret to the sound isn’t merely Steinway’s skilled craftsmen—who’ve been using the same methods since 1853—but the specialized wood they use for the soundboards. It comes from the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. Unfortunately, a broken promise from the federal government will soon stop the music. …In 2016 the U.S. Department of Agriculture created a management plan that promised the availability of old-growth timber from the Tongass annually on a fixed schedule. …Not only has the Forest Service never met the timber-sale goals outlined in their management plan, in the past four years it offered less than 10% of the annual needs for the industry. …An executive order from President Trump… and a lawsuit we filed against the USDA earlier this year haven’t been enough to get the Forest Service to stop starving the industry. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]

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A look at how wildfire predictions held up throughout the years

By Genevieve Beauchemin
CTV News
August 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

©BCWildfireService

As Canada’s forests burn, climate change scientists warn the increasingly warm planet will continue to take part in fuelling more frequent and violent wildfires. That is their forecast now, but how did their predictions hold up over the past decades? “We are following the trend that scientists have predicted for some time,” says the director of research on adaptation at the Canadian Climate Institute Ryan Ness. CTV News archives shows that research two decades ago linked climate and a rise in fire frequencies. A 2006 study concluded new evidence showed climate change, not forest management and logging, was the main factor behind a spike of wildfires in California. …Statistics from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre show that trend is proving to be a reality on the ground, not just a hypothesis. …And now, scientists warn if the trend continue, the planet will continue to burn even hotter and help spread wildfires.

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Who bears responsibility to prevent wildfire disasters: government or individuals?

By Lyndsay Armstrong
Canadian Press in the Prince George Citizen
August 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

HALIFAX — As climate change continues to raise the risk of extreme wildfires, a debate has arisen over who bears the responsibility to prevent disasters: government or individuals? …In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, last week provincial governments banned hiking, fishing and using vehicles in the woods in addition to their existing bans on open fires. …Their provincial governments have received a flood of feedback from people expressing confusion and frustration, and some have claimed the restrictions represent an infringement on their personal freedoms. …A day after the Nova Scotia restrictions were implemented, Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre criticized the ban and called on the province to address wildfire risk by making long-term investments in sustainable forestry management and climate adaptation, along with ramping up funding for local fire services.

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Climbing trees repaired for Ladysmith loggers’ sports show

By Duck Paterson
The Chemainus Valley Courier
August 17, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

…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.

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Conservation group warns against West Fraser Timber’s push for higher logging limits in southern Alberta

By Noah Brennan
Calgary Herald
August 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A wilderness conservation group is sounding the alarm over a major forestry company’s bid to significantly increase the amount of timber it can cut in southern Alberta each year. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. is seeking a significant increase to its annual allowable cut in the Crowsnest Forest Management Agreement area, according to a draft of its forest management plan posted on the company’s website. The current cut level, set by the province in 2017, is 157,800 cubic metres a year. West Fraser is proposing to raise that to 208,000 cubic metres annually under a new 10-year plan spanning 2025 to 2035. The plan has yet to be approved by the provincial government. …The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s southern Alberta chapter says the proposed increase comes before comprehensive impact and watershed risk assessments have been completed, and will likely worsen existing environmental pressures in the area.

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Calls for provincial ban on herbicides in forestry are growing in northeastern Ontario

By Jonathan Migneault
CBC News
August 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

LAKE HURON, Ontario — Jenifer Brousseau often picks berries and traditional medicines in the bush around her community in northeastern Ontario. But in recent years, Brousseau and many others from Serpent River have been concerned about the forestry industry’s use of herbicides that contain the chemical glyphosate. …Environmental groups — including Friends of the Earth Canada, the David Suzuki Foundation, Safe Food Matters and Environmental Defence Canada — have launched a court challenge of Health Canada’s conclusions on glyphosate. …Some small municipalities in northern Ontario have also started to petition the province in their effort to get the ban. …Fred Pinto, an adjunct professor of forestry at the University of Toronto said herbicides are just one tool used by forestry companies to manage vegetation. Pinto said herbicide spraying is often done using aircraft in areas that have little to no road access.

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Allegheny National Forest will increase logging by millions of board feet this year

By Abigail Hakas
Ellwood City Ledger
August 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

PENNSYLVANIA — The Allegheny National Forest is set to ramp up logging by more than 10% this year as part of a push from President Donald Trump to boost domestic lumber supplies. The move has sparked fierce debate between environmentalists and pro-logging groups who disagree on cutting trees to reduce wildfire risks or improve forest health. In the coming fiscal year, the state’s only national forest is set to sell 45 million board feet, an over 12% increase from this fiscal year, said Alisen Downs, for the Allegheny National Forest. …Allegheny National Forest has proposed a five-year plan starting next fiscal year, Downs said.“I think a slow and steady progress toward that increase is probably the best approach,” said Julia McCray, of the Allegheny Forest Alliance, which includes local officials and people from the timber industry. …While next year’s logging will be an increase… it’s not a historic high. 

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US Department of Agriculture signs historic agreement to reduce wildfire risk in Montana

Lewiston Sentinel
August 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

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.”

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Controversial timber sales begin in Hoosier National Forest, despite Gov. Braun’s objections

By Sophie Hartley
The Indianapolis Star
August 18, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

The US Forest Service kicked off timber sales in the Hoosier National Forest this week despite resistance from advocacy groups and Gov. Mike Braun, who called the federal project “misguided.” The timber auction is part of a controversial forest management plan called the Houston South Project — an initiative the USFS says will promote tree growth, reduce disease and move the landscape toward “desirable conditions.” Local environmental advocates have been suing the agency to halt operations since 2020, saying the project could jeopardize the quality of drinking water 130,000 Hoosiers rely on in Lake Monroe. But the project is plowing ahead, despite local outcry and direct pleas from Braun to halt the project. The Forest Service declined to immediately comment to IndyStar’s request, instead asking for one to two weeks to respond. …The project includes prescribed burns on 13,500 acres of forest and permitting timber harvests on another 4,300 acres across the next 10-15 years.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Clinicians point out glaring omission in Bergman letter calling for action on Canadian wildfires

Byt Kyle Davidson
Michigan Advance
August 15, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

Teresa Homsi

Climate activists are calling out U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman after the Watersmeet Republican sent a plea last week to a fellow member of the Canada–United States Inter-Parliamentary Group, seeking immediate action to manage and mitigate wildfires and consequently, the spread of wildfire smoke. In his letter to Canadian Sen. Michael MacDonald, chair of the inter-parliamentary group, Bergman requested greater accountability from Canada and stronger forest management policies, including forest thinning, fuel reduction and the use of prescribed burns. …While Teresa Homsi, deputy director of Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action commended Bergman for calling out the public health risks, the organization challenged the representative for failing to consider a key factor contributing to these wildfires: climate change. “It is ironic to focus on Canada’s forest management techniques when our current federal government is dismantling programs that present long-term solutions to the underlying drivers of wildfires,” Homsi told the Michigan Advance.  

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Health & Safety

Wildfire firefighters, unmasked in toxic smoke, are getting sick and dying

By Hannah Dreier
New York Times in the Spokesman-Review
August 17, 2025
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States

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.

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Forest Fires

Mount Underwood wildfire grows to 3,668 hectares as rain falls near Port Alberni

By Jeff Bell
Victoria Times Colonist
August 16, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada West

©BCWildfireService

Overnight rain helped calm an out-of-control ­wildfire near Port Alberni on Friday, but it won’t be enough to put out the blaze, which has grown to more than 3,600 hectares burned. The B.C. Wildfire Service said about seven ­millimetres of rain overnight lowered the behaviour of the Mount Underwood blaze “to mainly a smouldering ground fire.” Brian Proctor, a meteorologist with ­Environment Canada, said 10 to 20 millimetres of rain was expected Friday, followed by some showers ­continuing into Saturday. “The real good news story is there should be enough moisture, and humidity should be high enough, that it should let the B.C. Wildfire Service crews get a better handle on the situation,” Proctor said. “But it’s not going to extinguish the fire. “We need much, much more rain than what we’re seeing to do that.” Proctor said ongoing drought conditions have made the ground very dry, which is why a lot of moisture is needed.

Related coverage in the CBC News, by Akshay Kulkarni: Wildfire that forced hundreds to flee on Vancouver Island now under controlThe B.C. Wildfire Service announced Saturday evening that crews made significant progress in fighting the Wesley Ridge wildfire burning on the north banks of Cameron Lake, about 50 kilometres northwest of Nanaimo in southeast Vancouver Island.

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Wildfire in Nova Scotia grows; cooler temperatures help firefighters in Newfoundland

The Canadian Press in City News Halifax
August 17, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada East

Officials in Nova Scotia say a wildfire in the western part of the province has grown and could force people out of their homes, while cooler temperatures and low winds have helped firefighters in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Long Lake wildfire is expected to grow, said Scott Tingley, manager of forest protection with Nova Scotia’s Natural Resources Department. On Sunday evening, the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources said the fire had almost doubled in size, growing from 11 square kilometres in the morning to nearly 20 square kilometres. It had spread past Godfrey Lake to the intersection of Fairns and West Dalhousie roads on one side and the south side of Spectacle Lakes on the other, it added. “These are not favourable firefighting conditions,” Tingley told reporters Sunday morning. “It’s very, very dry.” Two contracted helicopters were helping local firefighters along with crews from Prince Edward Island and Ontario, he said.

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Long Lake fire doubles again, estimated at 2,000 hectares as it threatens homes

By Ian Fairclough
Saltwire
August 18, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada East

©NovaScotiaGovt

NOVA SCOTIA — The Long Lake wildfire continued churning through forest land in Annapolis County on Sunday, reaching almost 2,000 hectares by early evening as additional firefighting crews were called to assist. The fire almost doubled in size from the previous estimate of 1,100 hectares Sunday morning. The call for more help reached to the eastern end of Kings County on Sunday evening as firefighters in Bridgetown called for assistance trying to protect structures. The fire department is working with the Department of Natural Resources, which has overall command of the fire. DNR said Sunday evening that the fire had advanced past Godfrey Lake to the intersection of Fairns and West Dalhousie roads on one side, and to the south side of Spectacle Lake on the other. By then there were more than 100 wildland firefighters from Nova Scotia, Ontario and Prince Edward Island working on the fires, along with 120 volunteer firefighters from southwest Nova Scotia.

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Firefighters push to strengthen containment on Washington Fire

By Alexis Beckman
The Payson Roundup
August 17, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

PAYSON, Arizona — Crews on the ground and in the air are making progress against the Washington Fire, which had burned an estimated 550 acres about 11 miles north of Payson. The lightning-caused blaze, which started Aug. 13, was 6% contained with nearly 500 personnel assigned as of Sunday. Firefighters are working to keep the fire boxed in between the Highline Trail to the south and Forest Road 300 to the north, while strengthening handlines and contingency lines around threatened communities and cabins. Officials say a combination of dozer work, hose lays, handlines and aerial water drops helped slow the spread and protect structures on the fire’s edge. …Dry, hot weather is expected to challenge suppression efforts in the days ahead, with firefighters also on alert for new starts. …Evacuation orders remain in place for Mountain Ridge Cabins, Washington Park and Shadow Rim Ranch.

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Spain deploys 500 more troops to wildfire fight, joining 1,400 already sent

By Barry Hatton
The Associated Press in Global News
August 17, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International

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.

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