Wildfires were responsible for the death of some 310 people worldwide from January to September 2023, already putting 2023 as the year with the highest number of such deaths since 1990. In the past three decades the global death toll due to wildfires surpassed 2,900.
Greece faced a wildfire which its north-eastern Evros region declared the biggest in the last 20 years as it had been raging for about weeks. The bodies of 20 people including 2 children who had burned to death were found in the Dadia forest in the Evros due to the wildfire.
A wildfire in Spain broke out on august 15 and scorched around 10,000 hectares. Authorities said it was the worst on record for the Canary Islands. More than 12,600 people had to evacuate their homes.
Canada meanwhile has seen a record number of wildfires so far this year, with 5,500 wildfires consuming 13.4 million hectares. There had been 211 evacuations and 167,000 people were forced to leave their homes.
In addition, the US state of Hawaii suffered an unimaginable tragedy in August when a wildfire destroyed the historic town of Lahaina. At least 115 people lost their lives in the disaster which caused the evacuation of over 1400 residents to shelters.
In Algeria on July 24th 2023, the death toll as wildfire sweeps across regions has risen to 34 people including 10 soldiers. In Tunisia, wildfires swept through the border town of Melloula. It reached people’s home and forced hundreds of families to flee.
In Ankara, Turkey dozens of people have been injured and over a thousand have fled their homes as a wildfire raged. The number of evacuees reached 1,200 and nearly 4,000 acres of land had been destroyed by the blaze.
