Temperatures have topped 50 degrees in 10 countries around the world in the past year,but Australia could experience a cooler,wetter summer.
Sydney Morning Herald chief photographer Nick Moir has joined NSW RFS members and thousands of firefighters from across the US who are attempting to slow the destructive progress of the raging California Fire Park fires.
The pilots and crew from the NSW RFS “Marie Bashir” talk about the RFS aircraft deployment to California. Their mission is to create containment lines and slow the spread of The Park Fire.
RFS volunteer Stuart Dawson has been put in charge of a taskforce of forestry workers on huge tree harvesting machinery. They are preparing a secondary containment line near the town of Oakridge,in mountainous and heavily forested southern Oregon.
In Southern California,cooler temperatures and rain brought respite to firefighters battling the massive Fairview Fire about 121 kilometres southeast of Los Angeles.
A fast-moving brush fire near Yosemite National Park has exploded in size,prompting evacuation orders for thousands of people.
The blazes burnt hot enough and high enough to kill thousands of giant sequoias – trees once considered nearly fire-proof.
The base of the colossal General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park has been wrapped in a fire-resistant blanket to protect it against intense flames.
Fuelled by strong winds and bone-dry vegetation,the Dixie Fire has grown to become one of the largest wildfires in California’s history.
Tree projects helping companies such as BP and Microsoft reach climate targets have been hit by the massive blazes up the west coast of the US.
Thousands of residents of the town of Greenville had evacuated earlier under a warning from authorities that they were in imminent danger.