Military aircraft to be equipped to fight wildfires
Military aircraft will be equipped to help tackle wildfires, the UK government has announced, after a summer of "unrelenting" blazes and sustained hot conditions.
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Military aircraft will be equipped to help tackle wildfires, the UK government has announced, after a summer of "unrelenting" blazes and sustained hot conditions.
PM will also announce funding for specialised protective gear and the deployment of military aircraftThe UK government is to create an AI Cobra unit to spot wildfires after this year’s record-breaking summer saw devastating blazes across the country.The country experienced its hottest-ever summer this year, with prolonged dry periods and extreme heat fuelling wildfires that triggered an emergency alert to mobile phones in England and Wales.
Figures released on 8 October showed a clear upward trend in the number of fires recorded each year. Continue reading...
Ministers are ramping up plans to prepare for extreme and severe weather in the UK, from the blazing heatwaves earlier this year to the challenges El Niño could bring this winter
The prime minister is hosting the UK's first wildfire summit to prepare for future blazes after a record summer 2026.
The UK experienced a summer of hot and dry weather, with multiple heatwaves declared
Indonesia’s government has resisted mounting calls to declare widespread forest and land fires a national disaster, insisting it can handle the crisis alone as residents report worsening health impacts and disaster experts warn that a broader, coordinated response is needed. Critics suggest the reluctance may stem from concerns that a national declaration could force Jakarta to redirect funds from other political priorities, while exposing the administration to greater scrutiny over its disaster...
As wildfires rage across Sumatra and Kalimantan, frustrated Indonesians are turning to performance art to call for greater government action and draw global attention to the destruction of both the country’s rainforests and rich cultural heritage. In South Sumatra, local art collective Jaga Api recently launched a project titled Tarian Kehancuran Budaya (the Dance of Cultural Destruction), using traditional performance to convey the human and environmental toll of the fires, as reported by The...
Crews and control centre staff say the fires were relentless with many firefighters still off work injured.
Zia Yusuf claims undercover investigation broke the law as broadcaster stands by its journalismHere is an explainer by Jill Ambrose about the Jackdaw decision.But environmental groups have condemned the decision. Ami McCarthy, head of politics for Greenpeace UK, said:Approving Jackdaw shows the toxic grip fossil fuel lobbyists still hold over our energy policy.
Andy Burnham promised pragmatism [see 8.40am], but there is nothing pragmatic about rubber-stamping a project that won’t lower energy bills, won’t boost energy security and will create just 27 full-time jobs …True pragmatism means severing our reliance on expensive oil and gas that leaves British households broke, supercharges extreme weather, and leaves our energy security at the mercy of petrostates.Is the prime minister living in a parallel universe? One where we haven’t just endured our hottest summer on record, with droughts, wildfires and, in all likelihood, the most heat-related deaths on record? And where the UN hasn’t warned that we’re on the brink of breaching the all-important 1.5 degree warming limit?Shell will be cheering this decision but it won’t knock a penny off our energy bills, which is what’s keeping people up at night, or make a meaningful difference to our gas supply.
Jackdaw will provide around just 2% of our gas demand for roughly ten years. It has been oversold and won’t stop the decline in North Sea jobs, as it will be largely unmanned and operated remotely. Continue reading...
Fire crews in England and Wales tackled more wildfires by mid-August than during the whole of 2025. The ordeal saw homes destroyed and communities forced to flee
At a gathering in Texas, near where floods killed 136 people last year, survivors are united on the need for urgent actionIt may be a club none of its members actually want to be in, but the growing number of people in the US affected by extreme weather disasters are starting to organize into a political force.Severe wildfires, floods storms and other calamities now touch the lives of huge numbers of Americans – about half of all people in the US by one estimate – as the climate crisis supercharges extreme events.
Some survivors are now coalescing to push for improved disaster response and even action on the politically contentious issue of global heating. Continue reading...
The chatbot can help easyJet customers with everything from booking confirmations to help in incidents such as wildfires
“Every additional fraction of a degree and additional year of warming above 1.5°C increases climate impacts and risks, such as the deadly floods, heatwaves and wildfires that have plagued many nations this year”.
Wildfires have blanketed Palangkaraya, on the Indonesian island of Borneo, in toxic haze for weeks, leaving residents struggling with persistent coughs, falling incomes and disrupted education.
New firefighting planes and disposal barbecue bans are needed to tackle the growing danger of wildfires in the UK, MPs have urged.