To the Point
Wildfires: Big Threats and Big Business
The US is losing the fight against wildfires, which are bigger, more numerous and more costly than ever before. We hear how firefighting has become an industry, which sometimes makes matters worse. Can we learn to live more successfully with a growing menace that's not going away? Also, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down, and a massive sheet of ice breaks off from Ellesmere Island in Canada.
By Warren Olney • • 1h 0m ListenThe US is losing the fight against wildfires, which are bigger, more numerous and more costly than ever before. We hear how firefighting has become an industry, which sometimes makes matters worse. Can we learn to live more successfully with a growing menace that's not going away? Also, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down, and another big piece has broken off Canada's ice shelf, which has been shrinking for almost 100 years.
A firefighter with the Lathrop-Manteca Fire District talks on his radio as a spot fire burns through trees and brush July 10, 2008 in Concow, Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
In this episode
3 storiesIsrael's Olmert Won't Stand for Re-Election
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has announced he's effectively stepping down. He will not be a candidate to lead his Kadima Party in its September primary. Isabel Kershner, whoc is based in Jerusalem for the New York Times , has an update.
Read the story6 minFighting Mega-Fires
More than 100 years after the federal government declared war on wildfire, wildfire is winning. The US Forest Service reports there are 40 large fires currently burning, from Florida to California, with 564 contained so far this year. They are "bigger, fiercer and costlier to put out [than they've ever been]… and there is no end in sight."
Read the story37 minMelting Ice in the Arctic
The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf is what remains of a frozen mass that used to extend across all of Ellesmere Island. The shelf is 130 feet thick and 170 square miles in size. Today, after a massive sheet of ice broke away—the largest on record in the past three years, it's about 10 square miles smaller than it was last week.
Read the story6 min
