Canada wildfire season declared worst on record

• Rebecca Falconer

THE HILL

TODAY

Smoke from northeastern Ontario and central western Quebec wildfires creates a haze across the skyline in Toronto, Ontario, on Wednesday. Photo: Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Firefighters in Canada are now battling 497 active wildfires across the country after 31 new blazes ignited, according to the latest data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

The big picture: New figures show 3,023 fires have burned across some 19.7 million acres of land during what officials this week declared has been Canada's worst wildfire season on record.

• Smoke from the fires has triggered multiple air quality alerts in Canada and across the U.S. since the country's worst-ever fire season began in April.
• Chicago, D.C., and Detroit were among the latest cities to endure some of the world's worst air quality on Thursday morning.

Threat level: Inhaling high concentrations of wildfire smoke at ground level can cause serious health complications and is particularly dangerous for elderly populations and those with heart ailments or asthma.

• Wildfire smoke poses a threat to people's health even when hundreds of miles from the fire sites because of its harmful microscopic particles, studies show.

Context: Multiple studies show human-caused climate change is a key driver behind increased wildfire risk and that heat waves are more likely to occur, be more intense and last longer due to this.

Go deeper: Canada's wildfire smoke emissions break records

Smoke from historic Canadian wildfires again triggers air alerts across U.S.

• Jacob Knutson

THE HILL

Updated 14 hours ago - Energy & Environment

A person wearing a mask while riding a scooter as a smokey haze fills the air in downtown Chicago on June 28. Photo:Scott Olson/Getty Images

Smoke from unprecedented wildfires in Canada triggered poor air quality alerts over swaths of the U.S. again on Wednesday, with multiple cities reporting some of the worst air pollution levels of any major city around the world.

The latest: While continuing to choke the Great Lakes region and the upper Midwest Wednesday, the low-lying smoke also drifted southeast and began affecting Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic cities.

• Canadian cities, too, were also greatly affected by the smoke, with Toronto reporting the worst air quality for major cities around the world on Wednesday, according to Swiss air technology company IQAir.

Why it matters: Smoke from unprecedented Canadian wildfires, which have been exacerbated by human-caused climate change and global warming, has repeatedly choked North American cities this summer, and additional rounds of smoke may follow.

• Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season on record, driven by extreme heat events and exacerbating drought conditions, according to data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC).
• Because of their size, locations and behavior, the fires are not expected to be extinguished anytime soon either by firefighters or a major shift in weather conditions until after summer ends, Axios' Andrew Freedman reports.

Threat level: Inhaling wildfire smoke when its present in high concentrations at ground level can cause serious health complications and is especially dangerous for elderly populations and people with heart ailments or asthma.

• An air quality action day was declared for all of northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana for Wednesday, meaning fine particulate matter and other pollutants could build to unhealthy levels in the outdoor air.
• Air quality alerts across the Upper Midwest are expected to remain in effect until Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.

By the numbers: Chicago had the second worst air quality for major cities around the world Wednesday with a 181 — or a code red — on the Air Quality Index (AQI), which is considered dangerous for sensitive groups.

• Detroit and Minneapolis followed with the second and third worst levels, respectively.
• Cleveland, which wasn't included in IQAir's ranking system, had an AQI of 238 on Wednesday afternoon, which is considered dangerous for all people.
• An Environmental Protection Agency monitor near Chippewa Lake, Ohio, was reporting an AQI of 309, which is a code Maroon — the highest alert level of the index.

Zoom in: The Cleveland skyline couldn't be seen from live cameras positioned just a few miles from the shore on Wednesday, while visibility at the city's international airport fell to 1.25 miles multiple times throughout the day.

• A slight haze and the smell of smoke were present in Washington, D.C. Wednesday, where air quality fell to levels unhealthy to sensitive groups of people.
• The smoke caused a thick haze in downtown Chicago on Tuesday and Wednesday, reducing visibility at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport to 1.25 miles for several hours on both days.

The big picture: Winds have also carried the smoke across the Atlantic Ocean over to Europe, where the sun was partially shrouded in areas of Portugal and Spain on Tuesday.

• 476 wildfires were burning across Canada on Wednesday, including 234 out-of-control fires.
• On Tuesday, CIFFC reported that 2,957 fires this season have burnt 19.3 million acres (7.8 million hectares) in in Canada, which is an area equivalent to all of Michigan's forest land.
• The reported total number of fires jumped to 2,988 by Wednesday, while the burned acreage went up to around 19.8 million acres (8 million hectares).

Go deeper: Heatwave affects 45 million people from Southwest to Miss. Valley

MEXICO

Baroque church emerges from drought-stricken reservoir


Daniel Esparza - published on 06/28/23

A 16th-century Catholic church emerged from a reservoir in Mexico, after water levels dramatically fell due to an intense, ongoing drought.

A16th-century Catholic church emerged from a reservoir in Mexico, after water levels dramatically fell due to an intense, ongoing drought.

The structure, built by Dominican friars led by Bartolomé de las Casas in the mid 1500s, and originally dedicated to the Apostle James, sits in the Nezahualcoyotl Reservoir in Chiapas – a dam built on the Grijalva River in 1966. The reservoir is currently just at 29% capacity.

People visit the Quechula church that emerged from the Malpaso Dam due to a drought that dried up the Grijalba River in Nuevo Quechula, Chiapas, on June 16, 202
RAUL VERA/AFP/East News

The ruins of the baroque church, which was abandoned in the mid 18th century due to a plague, often partially emerge when water levels are low, and it is customary that tourists arrive by boat to visit it. But this year’s drought has left it totally exposed – so tourists can now just walk or drive to its very doors.

A devastating heatwave

High temperatures and the absence of rain have already claimed eight lives across Mexico in the past week. The low water level in the Nezahualcoyotl Reservoir is affecting the local fishermen, who also engage in tilapia fish farming.

“About five months ago, the water started to recede excessively, going beyond the normal levels,” Darinel Gutiérrez, a local fisherman, told Euronews. “How am I supposed to support my family? Right now, I have nothing.”

UK

Stephen Flynn asks 'near billionaire' Rishi Sunak 'when was the last time he struggled to pay a bill'

The SNP Westminster leader said that the Prime Minister was 'out of touch' and that the Tories were 'soon to be out of time'


Andrew Quinn

 28 JUN 2023

Stephen Flynn has slammed "near billionaire" Rishi Sunak for having "patronised the public" over mortgage rate rises during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday. The SNP Westminster leader said that the Prime Minister was "out of touch" and asked him "when was the last time he struggled to pay a bill".

He also had a go at the PM and Labour for not committing to public sector pay rises which were recommended by independent review bodies. Sunak came under fire earlier this week after he urged the public to “hold our nerve” over an increase in interest rates which have left mortgage-holders bracing for a big jump in their monthly repayments.

Flynn first paid tribute to SNP legend Winnie Ewing and former Scotland manager Craig Brown who passed away recently.

He said during PMQs: "On Sunday, the Prime Minister patronised the public when he told them that, in the face of ever increasing mortgage bills, that they simply need to hold their nerve. What a nerve. So may I ask him, the near billionaire, when was the last time that he struggled to pay a bill?"

Several Tory MPs groaned when Flynn mentioned Sunak's wealth. Sunak replied: "The reason that mortgage rates are rising is because of inflation. That is the root cause which is why it's absolutely the right policy to tackle high inflation and reduce it back to target.

"Now, that does mean that we do have to make difficult decisions. It does mean we have to be patient while the impact of those decisions actually has an impact.

"But in the meantime as I was explaining previously, we are taking practical steps to support mortgage holders across the United Kingdom, particularly through the SMI scheme and the new mortgage charter."

Flynn then had a go at Sunak over public sector pay rises. He said: "That answer confirms what we already know, that this Prime Minister's out of touch and the Tory Party is soon to be out of time.

"What the public really want is change. But in a week where the Conservative Party and indeed the Labour Party both refused to accept proposals for public sector pay raises, whilst at the same time, accepting the economic damage of Brexit, is it not the case the Westminster does not offer the people real change nor real hope for the future?"

NHS staff sickness hits record high in England

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

By Nick Triggle

BBC

Health correspondent

Staff sickness in the NHS in England has reached record levels.

Figures for 2022 show an absence rate - the proportion of days lost - of 5.6%, meaning the NHS lost the equivalent of nearly 75,000 staff to illness.

This is higher than during the peak pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 - and a 29% rise on the 2019 rate.

Mental health problems were the most common cause, responsible for nearly a quarter of absences, the Nuffield Trust analysis of official NHS data shows.

Big rises were also seen in cold, coughs, infections and respiratory problems, likely to be linked to the continued circulation of Covid as well as the return of flu last year.

There were three categories covering these types of illnesses. If combined, they would be responsible for more sickness than mental health.

Staff leaving

The think tank warned the NHS was stuck in a "seemingly unsustainable cycle" of increased work and burnout, which was contributing to staff leaving.

The analysis, exclusively for BBC News, comes ahead of the publication of the government and NHS England's long-awaited workforce plan.

Nuffield Trust senior fellow Dr Billy Palmer said: "The health service is grappling with a difficult new normal when it comes to staff sickness leave.

"There has been a lot of focus on recruitment but we need more endeavour to improve the working conditions of existing staff and protect them from illness.

"The workforce plan needs to have concrete support to enable employers to improve NHS staff experience if the service is to break this cycle of staff absences, sickness and leaving rates."

'Psychological strain'

The NHS sickness rate, the highest since records began, in 2010, is above the public sector average of 3.6%.

The Nuffield Trust warned it was likely to be an undercount of the true figure as not every absence would have been recorded.

And while recording systems differed in Wales and Scotland, it was clear those nations were also seeing increased levels of sickness in the NHS.

Miriam Deakin, of NHS Providers, which represents health managers, said the findings "laid bare the psychological strain on staff".

She said the absences came on top of 110,000 vacancies in the health service and warned the situation was having a "knock-on effect on patient care".

Unison head of health Sara Gorton said the rise in illness was due to the "unrelenting pressure" on the NHS.

"Until the NHS has sufficient employees to care for and treat all the people needing its help, absence levels will keep going through the roof. If there's to be a healthy NHS, it first needs a healthy workforce."