The wildfires that ravaged Greece in August 2007 narrowly missed destroying the birthplace of the Olympics, scorching areas to the west and north instead.
Beginning in late August 2008, fire broke out near the western border of Botswana’s Central Kalahari Game Reserve. By late September, some 40,000 square kilometers (about 15,500 square miles) had burned, scorching roughly 80 percent of the park, according to news reports.