Three years after Maui wildfires many still struggle with ‘biological, emotional and social consequences’, study says

A spate of ferocious wildfires across North America and Europe, worsened by the climate crisis, has incinerated homes and forests and forced thousands of people to flee. Previous fires suggest the effects of these blazes may linger for years to come.

The current fires and their plumes of smoke can appear to be a temporary, if immediate, crisis. Nearly 1,000 fires have sprung into life in the boreal forests of Canada, causing the evacuation of towns and toxic smoke to waft into major Canadian and US cities, prompting threats of retribution from Donald Trump, who bizarrely accused Canada of “poisoning” his country’s air.

Smoke is billowing from wildfires in the US too, amid the third major heatwave of the past month which has furthered dried out parched vegetation. Vast, lightning-sparked fires across Washington, eastern Oregon and Idaho have caused a plume of smoke so large that it could reach Florida.

In Europe, meanwhile, huge fires have gripped parts of the UK, France and Spain, causing the evacuation of more than 250,000 people.

Read the full article on the Guardian