Hayley Smith - Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES -- On a cool, cloudy morning one day last week, Albert Rivas approached a pile of dry wood in the Angeles National Forest and set it on fire. The pile roared to life, and within minutes, it was spewing flames at least 10...
LA’s Battle Against Wildfires Sparks Plea for $43 Million Boost in Funding
Tristan Baurick - The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Dec. 4—The months-long battle against hundreds of wildfires across Louisiana has made clear that the state is ill-prepared for hotter, drier summers producing multiple simultaneous blazes that ravage...
NM Got $7M from Interior Department to Prevent Wildfires
Scott Wyland - The Santa Fe New Mexican Nov. 30—The Interior Department estimates it spent more than $7 million in the 2023 fiscal year to support prescribed burns and thinning on almost 64,000 acres in New Mexico. The funding to improve what the agency calls wildfire...
Caldor (CA) Fire Hearing Resumes with Testimony of Victims Fleeing Flames in Terror
Sam Stanton - The Sacramento Bee The second day of proceedings in the Caldor Fire court case continued Wednesday with an investigator describing some of the severe injuries victims experienced during the blaze, part of an effort to buttress charges against the...
New Orleans Fire Officials Want Wildfire Training and Gear to Deal with the Next Swamp Blaze
Tristan Baurick - The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Nov. 29—The long-running swamp fire in New Orleans East has convinced the city's emergency responders that more training and equipment are needed to deal with what's expected to be more frequent and...
Maui County (HI) Agencies Served Subpoenas in Wildfire Probe
Peter Boylan - The Honolulu Star-Advertiser Nov. 28—Three Maui County departments were served subpoenas Monday after not meeting the timelines with a state investigation into their response to the Aug. 8 wildfires that killed 100, left 7, 500 homeless and caused $5.5...
San Diego Sheriff’s Department Unveils Its First Night-Flying Firefighting Helicopter
El Cajon, California - November 20: New Sheriffs Department helicopters were shown during a press conference on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in El Cajon, California. The BELL 412EPX cost more than $15 million and the BELL 407GXi cost $5.5 million. (Ana Ramirez / The San...
Smokey Bear Could Grace Next Custom WA License Plate
Nov. 20—TACOMA — Washingtonians will be able to show their appreciation for forests — and the people who protect them — if a new custom license plate is approved, according to an announcement from state Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. The plate, depicting...
‘It Was Just Raining Fire’: The Day the Gray (WA) Fire Changed a Town Forever
Emma Epperly The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash. (TNS) Nov. 18—Five years ago, a prophetic email landed in Cody Rohrbach's inbox. "Spokane is a real concern to me — think back to 1991. So much attention is on the greater Wenatchee area, and rightly so, BUT, I think a...
US Fire Official Warns of Risks for HI, Strain on Firefighters
Kevin Knodell - The Honolulu Star-Advertiser LAHAINA—A top federal fire official warned that Hawaii's firefighters are under considerable strain and that Hawaii residents need to be aware of the risks and begin making fire survival plans for themselves and their...
Deadly CA Fairview Fire Triggered by Sagging Edison Electrical Line
Brian Rokos - The Orange County Register A Cal Fire investigatory report released this week confirmed that a sagging Southern California Edison electrical line came in contact with a communications cable, creating an arc that ignited the deadly Fairview fire near...
Dollywood Temporarily Suspends Park Entry Due to Nearby Wildfire
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (AP) — Dolly Parton's Dollywood temporarily suspended entry Thursday into the Tennessee amusement park as wildfire crews on Thursday battled nearby flames. Park officials say they paused entry to allow fire crews enough room to assess the growing...