Small, portable laser pointers could be used to guide lightning strikes, with a study suggesting the technology may prevent bolts from sparking wildfires, a researcher told AFP Thursday.

An unprecedented spate of fierce, wind-driven wildfires in all US West Coast states have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least seven people, state and local authorities said.

Torrential rain across Australia's east could extinguish all remaining bushfires in the country's most populous state by the end of the week, authorities said on Tuesday ...

Bushfires burned dangerously out of control on Australia's east coast on Saturday, fuelled by high temperatures and strong winds that had firefighters battling to save lives

California's governor declared a statewide emergency on Sunday as a huge blaze, fanned by strong winds, forced mass evacuations and power blackouts as it bore down on towns in the famed Sonoma wine region.

Wildfires raged across California on Friday, destroying homes and forcing evacuations, as over 1,000 firefighters tackled flames in the southern part of the state alone.

California firefighters on Friday sought to take advantage of a brief lull in high winds behind fast-moving wildfires that forced the evacuation of more than 40,000 residents north of Los Angeles

More than a thousand firefighters battled Sunday to control wildfires in central Portugal that have forced village evacuations

Hundreds of firefighters were battling two major blazes in northern Portugal on Tuesday, forcing authorities to shut schools and close roads.

Rain is on the way for fire-scorched and smoke-choked northern California, forecasters said on Sunday, as the search for the dead and missing continued after the state's most destructive wildfires.

More than 30,000 personnel, including firefighters from across the United States and nearly 140 from Australia and New Zealand, are battling the blazes.

The fire, which was 5% contained, was being fuelled by dry brush covering steep terrain and stoked by erratic wind gusts during the night.