There are multiple major fires that have burned hundreds of thousands of acres so far, prompting evacuation orders in several counties. GEM is providing pallets of disaster relief throughout the affected regions to assist all those affected

Chile is currently experiencing their worst disaster in over a decade. Severe forest fires have devastated the Valparaiso region, having burnt nearly 64,000 acres and forcing thousands to evacuate. The GEM LATAM team is currently deployed to assist in Chile.

Colombia declared a disaster situation on Thursday due to wildfires raging across several parts of the country, as the president warned the conditions could get worse.

The GEM team is on the ground alongside the HARP team, offering resources & critical support to all those affected by the recent Oregon Road Fire, in Elk, Washington. We will be on the ground distributing aid and BStrong cash cards to community members.

Our GEM BStrong team is on the ground now in Maui, Hawaii, assisting those who have been severely affected by the wildfires. We are distributing our BStrong cash cards immediately to help cover immediate, emergency needs by residents of the island

Our GEM Europe team is on the ground in Greece, responding to the 90 active fires within the country. We have been coordinating with local and foreign first responders to best reach the most affected communities.

On January 28, a 75 unit apartment complex in Miami Gardens suffered major devastation due to a fire. More than half the units are completely destroyed, with the remainder being inhabitable due to extreme fire, smoke, and water damage.

In late July, with 100’s of structures destroyed and at least four-related deaths the Oak Fire and McKinney Fire burn throughout California.

The total number of wildfires in the European Union since the beginning of 2022 is almost four times the 15-year average for the same time period.

Over 1,000 firefighters backed by bulldozers and aircraft battled the largest active wildfire in the U.S. on Saturday after strong winds pushed it across some containment lines.

On January 9, 2022, a malfunctioning space heater was the source of an apartment building fire in the Bronx that killed 17 people including eight children, making it one of the worst fires in the city.

On July 13 – October 25 2021 The Dixie and Caldor Fire was an enormous wildfire impacting seveal counties in California. The fire roared through entire towns such as Greenville and leaving hundreds of people stranded and homeless.

On January 16, 2021 a fire destroyed Tuluksak’s only source of clean, running water in this Alaskan tribal community.

CalFire has reported that California has lost 3.1 million acres, or about 4,844 sq miles (12,546 sq km), to wildfires since the beginning of this year. There are currently 29 major fires burning.

Wildfires have burned 1,500,000 acres of forest and numerous historic communities leaving entire towns in ashes causing over 500,000 people to evacuate with an ever-growing list of missing persons.

On September 9, 2020 a huge fire ripped through a massively overcrowded refugee camp in the Greek island of Lesbos. This caused over 13,000 people seeking asylum to be without shelter.

In June 2019, over 18 million hectares burned, destroying over 5,900 buildings and 2,800 homes in Australia. In addition to human fatalities, millions of animals were killed.

In 2019, the Amazon wildfires season saw a surge in fires with more than 906,000 affected hectares occurring in the Amazon rainforest and Amazon biome within Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru.

In 2018, the wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive ever recorded in California. More than 7,639 fires burned an area of 1,893,913 acres causing more than $3.5 billion in damage.