Sunday, August 20: Little (Massive) Fires Everywhere
What happens when all the fires combine into a global megafire??
Canada is currently experiencing the worst fire season on record as hundreds of wildfires spread across our neighbors to the north. Firefighters are working around the clock in western Canada battling the blaze and helping evacuation efforts for tens of thousands of residents. Sadly, their work is nowhere close to being complete, especially as drier and windier weather is expected in the coming days. I’ll be headed to Canada next week to do some on-the-ground reporting, but mostly to do some hiking, so let’s hope I don’t get burnt!
Meanwhile, over in Spain, thousands of residents of Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands have fled their homes as an out of control wildfire raged on for a fourth day. The regional government for the Canary Islands said that 4,000 more people were ordered to evacuate yesterday. Those were in addition to the 4,500 people who on Friday were forced to move out of harm’s way. The Canary Islands are home to around a million people and also a popular tourist destination. These fires don’t care, they just want to watch the world burn.
As if that wasn’t enough fire-related news, a wind-driven wildfire in eastern Washington state has destroyed at least 185 structures, closed a major highway and left one person dead. These blazes are increasing in their frequency and ferocity, and it won’t be long until we’re all affected by them in one way or another. Whether it’s the flames themselves or the smoke clouding the sky, there’s no escape from the fire this time.
Side Items
Final Women’s World Cupdate: Spain won its first Women’s World Cup title this morning, less than a year after a player rebellion against the coach. The Spaniards held off a strong English side to secure a 1-0 victory. This win makes La Roja the first team to hold the under-17, under-20 and senior world titles at the same time. It also makes Spain just the second country to have won both the men’s and women’s titles
Liverpool Matchweek 2: I promise I tried to make a video, but Substack seems to be giving me a hard time, so I’ll just type out my thoughts on yesterday’s match. It was Liverpool’s first home game of the season and we played Bournemouth, a team that (to be completely honest) is several levels below Liverpool in terms of overall quality. But that didn’t stop them from scoring first, sneaking a goal past Liverpool’s chaotic defense in the third minute of the game. Classic Liverpool, giving up the early goal just to give themselves a challenge and give me a headache. Fortunately, Luis Diaz came to the rescue, scoring a world-class goal as only the Columbian could. Mohammed Salah followed that up by scoring a penalty and Diogo Jota finished off the scoring to make it a 3-1 victory for the Reds. It’s still early in the season, and adjustments will certainly be made, but it’s not the worst start to a season, we’ll see what happens