More than 1 million people in the Carolinas were ordered to evacuate days before Hurricane Florence hit landfall.

Government officials order coastal evacuation even when it’s sunny at the beach with not a cloud in the sky and no hint of the ominous threat thousands of miles away other than from satellite images. People who know I study hurricane evacuations have often asked me to explain this curious decision.

In the end, evacuation planning is part science, part skill based on experience, and part luck.

More than 500 wildfires were still burning in B.C. in September, with the Yukon, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and parts of the Atlantic provinces all experiencing one of the worst fire seasons in history. Globally, wildfires in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Sweden and Australia are burning at an alarming rate.

According to John Pomeroy, Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change and director of the University of Saskatchewan-led Global Water Futures Program (GWF), this is a horrific year for wildfires not only in Canada, but around the world.

"You do not expect extensive wildfire in Swedish mountain tundra or in Welsh mountains, but we see that this year," said Pomeroy. "This is further evidence of remarkably fast changes in climate around the world as a result of new extremes of heat and variable precipitation, due to human-introduced greenhouse gasses."

California lawmakers didn’t go as far as Governor Jerry Brown wanted to address potential liabilities for utilities from wildfires, and the governor said that “it’s hard to say” if they ever would.

Brown, citing longstanding practice, declined to say if he would sign the bill passed last month that included measures considered beneficial for utilities such as PG&E Corp. But the wide-ranging plan didn’t tackle the issue of inverse condemnation, in which utilities can be held liable for costs if their equipment is found to have caused a fire — regardless of whether they followed safety rules. Brown had pushed a proposal that would have given utilities relief from the rule, which was opposed by insurance companies, trial lawyers and fire victims.

Tuesday marks the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The tragic loss of around 3,000 lives that day is still impacting the way first responders prepare for and respond to emergencies.

In 2003, President George W. Bush directed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to create a nationwide framework for emergency preparation and response, which is now known as the National Incident Management System.

Superior Fire Chief Steve Panger said it’s creation showed the federal government recognized that state and local responders are the first line of defense.

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt visited the Yosemite National Park, and described it as “a great solemn cathedral, far vaster and more beautiful than any built by the hand of man.” Residents of Tuolumne County, Calif. like myself are blessed to have that solemn cathedral in our back yard. The wonders of the Yosemite Valley draw millions of tourists to our communities each year to hike, camp and explore this natural treasure.

The number of deaths associated with the inhalation of wildfire smoke in the U.S. could double by the end of the century, according to new research.

A new study simulating the effects of wildfire smoke on human health finds continued increases in wildfire activity in the continental United States due to climate change could worsen air quality over the coming decades. The number of human deaths from chronic inhalation of wildfire smoke could increase to more than 40,000 per year by the end of the 21st century, up from around 15,000 per year today.

America’s opioid crisis has shifted. As Congress and the White House have dawdled, the overdose death toll has continued its steady climb — reaching more than 49,000 in 2017, an increase of nearly 7,000 over the previous year, itself a record-breaker. But the primary agent of death is no longer ordinary prescription painkillers. It’s illicit fentanyl, often mixed with heroin or some other street drug.

Will repeated exposure to vivid scenes of natural disaster – Western wildfires, a global heat wave, Hawaiian volcano eruptions, the 2017 hurricanes’ anniversary and a suddenly active 2018 season – finally turn America into a go-bag nation, prepared for calamity and ready to flee it?

Experience counsels skepticism. So does human nature.

Among the more frightening elements of the world we inhabit is the ever-evolving set of extremist ideologies that give rise to justifications for violence. Terrorism is perhaps the clearest example of such violence, but workplace attacks are also increasingly likely to be ideologically motivated. To prevent or manage the risk of incidents, employers must take a proactive approach to spotting radicalization of all kinds. It is therefore important for them to understand the potential threat of “incel” culture, an emerging extremist ideology rooted in anger at women and driven by a furious sense of entitlement.