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So began what she remembers as the worst night of her life.

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It was July 9 and the forest fire that raged in Bedar and Los Gallardos, in Almeria, ultimately killed 14 people and saw more than 1,500 people evacuated.

“There were five British people, friends of mine and others in the village, who died in the fire that night. Another close female friend is still fighting for her life in hospital,” she said. “It was probably the most terrifying thing that has ever happened. As we left [as evacuees], there were plumes of white smoke. I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, our house is going to burn.'”

On the night of the fire, when they reached the nearby village of Lubrin, they received an “amazing response” and were offered a bed in a woman’s house.

The Almeria fire was among the deadliest blazes in Spain in recent years. As it spread, other forest fires threatened parts of France and Greece.

Chapman returned home days later.

“But what happens is there is a kind of survivor’s guilt,” the 62-year-old retired mediator told Al Jazeera.

‘This can’t happen again’

Bedar, a tiny village of just more than 1,000 residents, has one local police officer.

Chapman said church bells were rung and neighbours warned them to leave. A passing civil guard officer also told them to go the same way.

“This tragedy will never be forgotten. The ninth of July was a dark day for Bedar. What could have gone wrong did go wrong,” she said.

Chapman is part of a residents’ group campaigning to stop a repeat of this tragedy.

“This can’t happen again. We are going to be pressing any political party to put in the protocols to stop this happening again,” she said.

As wildfires have been tearing through forests across Europe, forcing residents to flee and filling the sky with smoke, Ferran Dalmau has been a front-line witness to the chaos they are wreaking across the continent.

An expert firefighting analyst with the Spanish Ministry of Interior, Dalmau has been working with a small team to try to stop the flames destroying more homes and livelihoods and threatening lives.

Though many of the blazes are starting to ease, there are concerns that intense heatwaves raise the risk of more fires.

In southwest France’s Gironde region and the mountainous Var department, wildfires scorched tens of thousands of hectares before stabilising. Officials say the country’s largest blaze since 1949 is now under control but still not fully extinguished.

In central Spain, fires that burned through tens of thousands of hectares near Madrid have been brought under control, allowing many evacuees to return home, even as crews battle flare-ups and new hotspots in provinces including Leon and Caceres.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, and scientists warn that rising temperatures, prolonged drought and strong winds are turning southern Europe, especially France and Spain, into a far more flammable landscape, with the number of summer days featuring fire-prone conditions more than doubling since the early 1980s.

Dalmau, a volunteer member of the Forest Fires Assessment and Advisory Team (FAST), saw with his own eyes how huge blazes merged into one at Almorox in Toledo and in Avila – threatening to join a third to create one mammoth fire near Madrid.

“The most recent data was that about 66,000 hectares [163,000 acres] was destroyed, but we think in the end the final area which was burned was between 70,000 and 80,000 [173,000 to 198,000 acres],” he told Al Jazeera.

The three fires that merged into one were caused by “gross carelessness involving heavy machinery, a vehicle that caught fire on a road, and alleged negligence near a housing development, and these factors converged to create the largest fire in our history,” Dalmau said.

As part of a group of experts working on the front line and remotely, he offers rare insight into the battle behind the scenes to try to bring these huge fires under control.

“Our work mainly involves behavioural analysis and supporting decision-making,” he said.

Like everyone else, he gets scared when faced with fires bearing down on him.

“This is a hazard of the job. In our trade, not being afraid can make you reckless. The important thing is not to let fear get the better of you. You must stay calm and put your knowledge into practice,” Dalmau said. “And remain calm in front of the team, of course, to help keep everyone calm. If you panic, you are a danger to yourself and everyone else.”

Courage, he said, is the ability to control fear “and to use it to enhance your situational awareness”.

Dalmau said the Navarre Forestry Agenda, a regional government body dedicated to improving firefighting methods, estimates that it costs $11,534 to firefight each hectare. This means that just combating the recent fires near Madrid has cost up to $923m.

However, this does not include the cost of damage, restoration and environmental and economic impacts, he adds.

‘An absolute disaster’

The Spanish government has not released a figure for the economic cost of fighting the recent fires around the capital.

For Esteban Carrasco, the owner of the Monasterio de Pelayos campsite outside Madrid, the cost was all too obvious.

He said about half of the mobile homes were burned down when the fire reached the site on July 24.

“About 200 campers had to evacuate. Their homes were destroyed. They come here every year to enjoy nature. But the homes on the other side of the road escaped the fire. It was an absolute disaster. It will take ages to rebuild, but at least no one was hurt,” he told Al Jazeera.

In June, Spain announced a forest fire plan which involved 13 ministries, including the army, the forest fire brigades and state security forces, working together.

Despite this, Spain was forced to call for help for water-bombing planes from across Europe when the worst blazes in its history started in July %!s()

Ina Fassbender | Afp | Getty Images

The drought in Europe is so severe that it is jeopardizing countries' economic growth and forcing them to take extreme measures like blowing up riverbeds.

Gripped by a summer of weather extremes, Romania recently shut down its sole working nuclear reactor cooled by the Danube for the first time, with Bucharest even deploying naval forces to carry out underwater detonations to improve water flow.

Images published Monday showed the Romanian navy blasting rocks in controlled explosions in Izvoarele village as part of a push to divert a higher volume of water toward the cooling systems of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant.

Low water levels on the Danube have also threatened to close Hungary's Paks nuclear plant, which supplies around 40% of the country's electricity, and forced Serbia to cut hydropower generation.

Why low Rhine levels threaten Germany's economy

In Germany, the water levels on the Rhine River, a crucial waterway in Europe's economic heartland, have fallen to their lowest levels in nearly 150 years, posing a risk to the German economy and further disrupting supply chains.

The water level at Kaub, a key choke point for vessels transiting to southern Germany and Switzerland, fell to 24 centimeters on Monday and Tuesday, reflecting its lowest level since records began in 1880, with forecasts of even lower levels toward the end of this week, according to official data compiled by ETH Zurich.

That's far below the critical level of 78 centimeters at the Kaub gauge for navigation on the Rhine. Transport is still possible below this threshold, but cargo barges must be less heavily loaded, and freight transport costs and low-water surcharges rise sharply.

"Major rivers like the Rhine and Danube are critical trade corridors and sources of water for industry and energy generation, so when water levels fall, the effects extend far beyond the waterways themselves," Liz Saccoccia, water security lead at the World Resources Institute, told CNBC by email.

A controlled underwater explosion is pictured on the riverbed of the Danube River in Izvoarele village, on August 3, 2026. The blast aimed at deepening the channel and diverting a higher volume of water toward the cooling systems of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant.

Daniel Mihailescu | Afp | Getty Images

"We're already seeing that happen. Nuclear plants in Hungary, Romania and France, along with hydropower facilities in Serbia, have already had to reduce electricity generation because there isn't enough water for cooling or driving turbines, increasing the risk of blackouts and costly electricity imports," Saccoccia said.

"Along the Danube, low water levels have prevented farmers from shipping their crops and stopped cruise ships from reaching ports such as Budapest. These are early examples of how increasingly unreliable water supplies can ripple through the economy, affecting trade, energy security, supply chains and local businesses," she added.

What low water levels mean for freight and supply chains

The issue shines a light on a critically important environmental issue: water scarcity.

The issue is especially acute across southern Europe, where around 30% of the population is known to be situated in areas with permanent water stress: when water demand exceeds the available supply.

In economic terms, the effects of low water levels on the Rhine could be enough to dampen German gross domestic product (GDP) by up to 0.2 percent in the third quarter, according to Stefan Kooths, professor of economics at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW).

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"Since water levels are unlikely to rise sharply back above the critical threshold in early August, transport capacity is likely to remain affected by the low water levels for some time in the coming month as well," Kooths told CNBC by email.

"The loss in value added can be roughly estimated at 1 to 2 billion euros ($1.15 billion to $2.3 billion) in the third quarter," he added.

How climate change is increasing Europe's drought risk

Felix Schmidt, senior economist at the private German bank Berenberg, said companies in Europe's traditional growth engine had likely not been caught by surprise by the Rhine's low water levels because climate change means this has become a recurring challenge.

Businesses have prepared by either stocking up on inventories or diverting the transport of some goods via rail or road, although Schmidt acknowledged that freight rates were currently going "through the roof," exacerbating inflationary worries.

"Given that Germany is growing very little, obviously, if we grow 0.1 instead of 0.2 then this means we lose half of the growth, if you want to frame it like that," Schmidt told CNBC in a phone interview.

The German economy expanded by 0.2% in the second quarter, compared to the previous three-month period. That followed an upwardly revised 0.4% quarter-on-quarter increase in the first quarter.

A view of the Paks Power Plant from the Danube embankment in the town across the river on July 31, 2026 in Dunaszentbenedek, Hungary.

Janos Kummer | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Schmidt described drying rivers as just one expression of Germany's economic struggle amid the intensifying climate crisis.

"Water levels are obviously one thing but we had this heat wave in Germany a couple of weeks back, impacting big parts of northern Europe, which brings down productivity. You have infrastructure which gets destroyed by the heat. You have energy supply, which is affected, like the nuclear plants being shut down in Hungary, France and Switzerland," Schmidt said.

"You also have the catastrophic development like the fires sweeping now in southern Europe … So, it's affecting the economy in many, many ways," he added. %!s()

Many felt the "tank" was a reference to vehicles deployed to crush pro-democracy protesters and the promotion sparked a mass boycott movement.

Starbucks quickly rolled it back, saying it was unintentional but civic groups filed a criminal complaint against the company, demanding the police investigate it for defaming victims of the military dictatorship.

Shinsegae Group, which operates Starbucks in Korea, said it had launched an internal investigation into the campaign and concluded that the mistake was unintentional.

It added the team that had planned the promotion did not draw the connection to the historical event, and the upper management had failed to spot it as well.

In June, Starbucks stores across the country closed for half a day to allow staff to attend history lessons.

Shinsegae apologised for the "inappropriate marketing" and said that the Tank Day controversy had led to serious decline in Starbucks sales in South Korea - one of the coffee chain's largest markets.

The company also sacked its chief executive.

Reports estimate that hundreds were killed by the forces of military dictator Chun Doo-hwan, on what is now remembered as a day of national trauma for South Koreans - and a day held sacred by many in the country.

In addition, promotional material for the tumbler used the phrase "tak on the table!", mimicking the sound of an object being slapped on a surface.

But "tak" was also the word used in a controversial statement given by police in 1987, describing the death of a student activist in custody.

South Korea's president Lee Jae Myung was among those who criticised the campaign, saying it "insults the victims and the bloody struggle" of Gwangju residents.

The scandal, which broke during the local elections season, also became a prominent talking point between the two major parties.

While the internal ministry under Lee announced a government-level boycott of Starbucks, the opposition leader responded by holding up a Starbucks cup during a speech and accusing the government of overreach.

Since then, Starbucks cups have been embraced by right-wing pundits as a symbol of opposition to the Lee Jae-myung government. It has also made appearances in right-wing rallies and livestreams. %!s()

While the toad may be much smaller than the mammoths and saber-toothed cats that made the Tar Pits famous, this discovery has a big impact on our understanding of the climate at the end of the last ice age.

Described in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, S. labreae spotlights the ongoing daily discoveries at the Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research at La Brea Tar Pits as the iconic museum begins a historic transformation.

The study's lead author, Dr. Alberto Cruz, wasn't looking for new species when he began his review of the Tar Pits' understudied collections of amphibians and reptiles as a postdoctoral fellow working at La Brea Tar Pits, where he remains a research associate while working full time as a researcher for Mexico's SECIHTI-Centro de Investigación Paleontológica Quinametzin (CIPAQ), Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH).

"I'm really more of a paleoecologist and paleogeographer, not a taxonomist," Cruz says. He first noticed the distinctive features that separate S. labreae from known spadefoot toads while reviewing the Tar Pits' collection of reptiles and amphibians.

His first thought on seeing the new species was that the specimen had been sick or injured during its life, an example of paleopathology, rather than a new species. However, further comparisons to modern spadefoot toads left no doubt.

"I reviewed and reviewed a lot of specimens until I was convinced. I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is a new species.' This material is originally from the 1950s, but when you study it again, you can find gold in these specimens. It's very cool."

"It's a great example of how we're still finding new things at La Brea Tar Pits, even after a century of ongoing excavation and research," says Dr. Emily Lindsey, curator and excavation site director at the Samuel Oschin Center for Global Ice Age Research at La Brea Tar Pits. "There's definitely more to come."

Ancient climate through the lens of amphibians

While the iconic large mammals often grab headlines and capture our imagination, the small reptiles and amphibians Cruz studies can tell scientists much more about ancient climate and environmental change.

Amphibians don't travel very far within their lifetimes and are extremely sensitive to environmental conditions. This limited movement and high sensitivity make amphibians excellent climate proxies, whose presence or absence can help scientists discern changes in climate on a smaller scale.

"If you change the environment, you change the vegetation, the climate is warmer or colder, it affects these animals directly," Cruz says.

Due to their fragile skeletons, amphibians like frogs, toads and salamanders rarely make it into the fossil record outside of asphaltic sites like the Tar Pits. The discovery of a new species—particularly a small amphibian like S. labreae—is an extraordinary find at the Tar Pits.

Their fragility and sensitivity to environmental changes also lead researchers like Cruz to suspect that there are many more extinct amphibians and reptiles whose remains were too delicate to make it into the fossil record.

To identify the new species, Cruz examined the bones of Tar Pits amphibians, a collection that had not been carefully assessed in nearly 30 years. Making detailed observations of their shape and size, Cruz compared Tar Pits amphibians to 80 specimens at the Herpetology Collections at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Along with the newly described species, the study identifies the first record of the Mexican burrowing toad, Rhinophrynus, from the southwestern United States. These living toads are no longer found in modern Los Angeles, and their nearest populations are nearly 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) away in southern Mexico.

This significant range shift, along with the extinction of S. labreae, further illuminates the multifaceted story of environmental change at the end of the last ice age and helps us understand how they might cope with today's human-caused climate change.

Publication details

A new extinct Pleistocene species of spadefoot toad and comments on the paleoecology and paleobiogeography of anurans from rancho La Brea, Q1 California, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (2026). DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2026.2689465

Who's behind this story?

Sadie Harley

BSc Life Sciences & Ecology. Microbiology lab background with pharmaceutical news experience in oil, gas, and renewable industries. Full profile →

Robert Egan

Bachelor's in mathematical biology, Master's in creative writing. Well-traveled with unique perspectives on science and language. Full profile →

Citation: A new species of Ice Age toad discovered at La Brea Tar Pits: The spadefoot toad Spea labreae (2026, August 5) retrieved 5 August 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-08-species-ice-age-toad-la.html

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Season 4 introduces a premise that gives Jason Sudeikis’ titular American-football-turned-British-football coach a chance at both a fresh start and a return to old stomping grounds. Two years after Ted walked away from AFC Richmond and took his signature mustache back to Kansas City, team owner Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), marketing chief Keeley (Juno Temple) and operations head Leslie Higgins (Jeremy Swift) arrive stateside with an offer he can’t refuse: coaching the club’s brand-new women’s team, who begin their existence as the underdogs — specifically, Greyhounds — their male counterparts once were. Given the cultural bias against women’s sports leagues, they’ll likely remain so even if they succeed.

The concepts of class reunion (Ted goes back to London and gets the gang back together!) and clean slate (Ted takes on a new challenge!) are somewhat at odds. Sure enough, Season 4 is far more enjoyable as the latter than the former — even as “Ted Lasso” keeps privileging nostalgia and tired subplots over its best chance at a renaissance. Tanya Reynolds of “Sex Education” is a welcome addition as Alice Chilton, a coach whose constant scowl and clipped severity make her a well-suited foil for Ted’s sunny optimism until she inevitably warms to it. But, at least in the five episodes provided to critics out of an eventual 10, she’s pretty much the only new character who feels fully established, because “Ted Lasso” refuses to make room in the ensemble by sidelining (or is it touchlining?) old ones.

Like Sudeikis, actor Brett Goldstein remains a creative force behind the camera, which may explain why his churlish then player, now coach Roy Kent remains such a presence despite the pivot away from his men’s squad. But while foregrounding Rebecca and Keeley makes sense given the renewed focus on women in sports, Roy and Keeley’s on-again, off-again romance lost its allure several seasons ago. Figures like Roy and Ted’s longtime deputy Beard (series co-creator Brendan Hunt) would be better deployed as occasional cameos, yet they remain load-bearing — and space-occupying — protagonists. The consequences can border on the absurd: a major decision by Ted’s ex-wife Michelle (Andrea Anders) is sped through rather than shown from her perspective; an episode hinges on a team problem with cliques that’s only depicted onscreen far too late. Until then, we’re mostly told about it by other characters with longer tenures.

Contributing to the sense of overcrowding is an otherwise welcome development: no single episode of the first five clocks in at over an hour, the way so much of Season 3 did. “Ted Lasso” is not for everyone; the blindingly earnest social consciousness and relentless positivity some find so grating remain firmly in place. (Feminist commentary was never the series’ strong suit, and centering the women’s team prompts more of it than ever.) But Season 4 reigns in some excesses and offers glimpses of fresh new faces: a walk-on player who’s also a single mom; a goalie who refuses to wear gloves; a new mentor for Rebecca, played by comic legend Tracey Ullmann. If only the show would clear the field for them. %!s()