"Hundreds of firefighters were battling a rapidly-spreading wildfire raging unchecked in drought-stricken Southern California on Wednesday after flames forced more than 80,000 residents to flee."

"California is burning. The state has nine active wildfires as large as 25 acres or more, including the massive Clayton fire north of San Francisco that forced nearly 1,500 residents to flee their homes after it erupted Saturday in dry conditions created by the state’s extreme drought. On Sunday the blaze doubled in size."

"A wildfire destroyed at least 10 homes and forced some 4,000 people to flee their homes as flames jumped a road and moved into a Northern California town located miles away from a devastating wildfire nearly a year ago."

"Brazil’s National Space Research Institute, INPE, registered over 53,000 forest fires in the country up to Friday, and warns that the hot, dry weather may make things worse, if law enforcement efforts are not increased."

"Several wild fires broke out in various parts of southern France on Wednesday, causing a major firefighting operation in which four firemen were injured, three of them seriously, the interior ministry said in a statement."

"Significant progress was made against a forest fire threatening homes in California's San Bernardino Mountains, while up the coast firefighters sought to prevent a 107-square-mile blaze near Big Sur from encroaching on Highway 1, authorities said Wednesday."

"A wildfire burning out of control in mountains and foothills east of Los Angeles mushroomed more than 50 percent overnight, forcing authorities to order three school districts to cancel classes due to heavy smoke and dangerous conditions."

"A Southern California wildfire has surged in size and put thousands of homes in potential peril. Smoke plumes roiling from flaming ridges of the San Bernardino Mountains blew all the way across the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas as the blaze on Monday forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes."

"There's a voracious little bug destroying forests across the eastern U.S. Scientists say emerald ash borers, exotic beetles imported accidentally from Asia, have killed as many as 50 million trees. They're now threatening groves in New York's Adirondack Mountains that are used to make an iconic kind of baseball bat."

"Joshua trees are weird. They've got shaggy bark, twisted branches and needle-like leaves."