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Updated Aug 9, 2021 - Energy & Environment

In photos: Fires rage across the world as new report warns of escalating climate change

Ivana Saric
A local resident gestures as he holds an empty water hose during an attempt to extinguish forest fires approaching the village of Pefki on Evia (Euboea) island in Greece.

A local resident gestures as he holds an empty water hose during an attempt to extinguish forest fires approaching the village of Pefki on Evia (Euboea) island, Greece's second largest island, on August 8, 2021. Photo: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP via Getty Images

As a new report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned Monday of the "unequivocal" connection between human-caused global warming and extreme weather and climate events, massive wildfires burned across the world.

Why it matters: There appears to be no end in sight. Wildfires are currently devastating large swaths of the U.S., Canada, Russia, and the Mediterranean, and the wildfire season is far from over.

The big picture: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report notes that the world is on track to pass a crucial temperature threshold a decade sooner than expected.

  • The report warns of the potential for "compound events," in which various extremes, such as heatwaves and drought events, occur simultaneously.

State of play: Even with 107 large wildfires burning across the American West, the region will brace for a new heatwave this week.

  • California's Dixie Fire is the second-biggest wildfire in the state's history and the largest blaze now burning in the U.S. It remains only 21% contained as of Monday morning, per Cal Fire.
  • Dozens of wildfires broke out in Greece last week after the country suffered its worst heatwave in decades, prompting a U.S. senator to appeal to the federal government to send aid.
  • Wildfires in Turkey forced thousands to evacuate and killed six at the start of the month.
  • Intense wildfires burning across Siberia's Sakha Republic have been active for months and their smoke has even reached the North Pole.
In Photos
Firefighters and a volunteer use a water hose near a burning blaze
Firefighters and a volunteer use a water hose near a burning blaze trying to extinguish a fire in the village of Glatsona on Evia (Euboea) island, on Aug. 9. Photo: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP via Getty Images
Silhouetted local youths and volunteers gather in an open field as a wildfire burns in the distance in Greece
Local youths and volunteers gather in an open field and wait to support firefighters during a wildfire next to the village of Kamatriades, near Istiaia, northern Evia (Euboea) island on Aug. 9. Photo: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP via Getty Images
An elderly resident reacts as a wildfire approaches her house in the village of Gouves, on the island of Evia, Greece, on Aug. 8. Photo: Konstantinos Tsakalidis/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A ferry hosting people who can't evacuate in Greece, surrounded by a hazy orange sky
A ferry hosts people who can't evacuate in the Pefki village, in Evia Island, Greece, on Aug. 8. Photo: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Before and after of a house burning and the charred remains
A home is seen burning (above) on July 24 and the remains are seen two days later during the Dixie fire in the Indian Falls neighborhood of unincorporated Plumas County, California. Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
The remnants of a church sign near the burned remains of the church building in California
The remnants of a church sign near the burned remains of the church building on Aug. 8, 2021 in Greenville, California, after the Dixie Fire tore through the town. Photo: Maranie R. Staab/Getty Images
Two women stand before the charred remains of a building, one is photographing it
A woman covers her face from the smoke as her sister photographs what is left of Hunters Hardware store and the Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce on Main St. in Greenville that was destroyed in the Dixie Fire. Photo: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
A firefighter watches forrest burn in Siberia
Extinguishing works continue for the wildfire in the village of Kuel in Yakutia, Sakha, Russia on Aug. 8. Photo: Ivan Nikiforov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Firefighters in Siberia march into the haze
Extinguishing work continues for the wildfire in the village of Kuel in Yakutia, Sakha, Russia on Aug. 8. Photo: Ivan Nikiforov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
People try to extinguish a wildfire spreading in a field in Turkey
People try to extinguish a wildfire spreading in the village of Akcayaka in the area of Milas in the Mugla province, Turkey, on Aug. 6. Photo: Yasin Akgul/AFP via Getty Images
A man in uniform walks on a road in front of a billowing fire in Turkey
A man in uniform walks on a road in front of a billowing fire in Milas district of Mugla, Turkey on Aug. 5. Photo: Omer Evren Atalay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Editor's Note: This story has been updated.

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