SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — The 2-month-old California wildfire that threatened the Lake Tahoe resort region over the summer has been declared 100% contained, officials said. The fire, which scorched more than 346 square miles (896 square kilometers) of the Sierra...
Residents Return as Firefighters Get 87-Percent Containment of Alisal Fire
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Residents who fled the Alisal Fire west of Santa Barbara have been allowed to return home. All evacuation orders and warnings were canceled Sunday afternoon. The fire was 87% contained Monday morning and its size was holding at about 27...
CA Firefighters Make Progress Corralling Alisal Fire
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters reported significant progress in corralling a wildfire in Southern California coastal mountains on Friday. The Alisal Fire in the Santa Ynez Mountains west of Santa Barbara grew only slightly since Thursday morning to 26.4...
CA Wildfires Destroy Mobile Homes; One Man Burned
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Destructive California wildfires driven by intense winds caused damage at two mobile home parks, destroying some trailers, and one person suffered burns, officials said. The fires on Monday also toppled trees, whipped up blinding dust clouds and...
Does Forest Thinning Slow Spread of Catastrophic Wildfires? Fuel Reduction Efforts Spark Division
By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters and numerous studies credit intensive forest thinning projects with helping save communities like those recently threatened near Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada, but dissent from some...
Four Injured by Falling Tree at KNP Complex Fire in CA
THREE RIVERS, Calif. (AP) — Four people injured when a tree fell on them as they were working inside a Northern California wildfire have been released from the hospital, officials said Friday. One is an employee with the California Department of Forestry and Fire...
PG&E May Shut off Power to Thousands over Windy Forecast
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric said it may shut off power to about 44,000 customers in California beginning on Monday due to potentially dry, gusty winds that could raise the risk electrical equipment sparking fires. The National Weather Service...
Portugal Records Its Fewest Summer Wildfires in 10 years
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal has so far this year recorded its lowest number of wildfires since 2011, and the blazes have claimed no lives since more than 100 people died in 2017, authorities said Friday. More than 80% of the 7,253 wildfires reported through Sept....
CA Fires Threatening Sequoias Continue to Grow
THREE RIVERS, Calif. (AP) — California firefighters battled fast-growing forest fires threatening giant sequoias and small communities in the Sierra Nevada on Monday and worked to fully surround a suspected arson wildfire that destroyed homes last week. More than...
Crews Make Progress on CA Fire That Has Displaced Thousands
REDDING, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters were gaining the upper hand Sunday on a forest fire that displaced thousands of people and destroyed more than 100 buildings near Shasta Lake in Northern California. Lighter winds and cooler temperatures slowed the Fawn Fire as it...
PG&E Charged in CA Wildfire Last Year That Killed Four
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter and other crimes after its equipment sparked a Northern California wildfire that killed four people and destroyed hundreds of homes last year, prosecutors said. It is...
Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest Unscathed by Wildfire
THREE RIVERS, Calif. (AP) — The ancient massive trees of Sequoia National Park’s famed Giant Forest were unscathed Tuesday even though a wildfire has been burning near them on the western side of California’s Sierra Nevada for nearly two weeks. “As of right now we...