Tag: Wildfires
PG&E avoids criminal prosecution for starting two wildfires
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will avoid criminal charges for two wildfires started by its equipment under settlements announced Monday by district attorneys of...
California power regulators cast doubt on utility’s plans
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — California power regulators are poised to reprimand Pacific Gas & Electric for continuing to neglect its electrical grid that...
California targets urgent projects as wildfire season looms
OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — California is in such an urgent race with another devastating wildfire season that officials began soliciting local project ideas even...
Arizona wildfire destroys 12 homes; 200 people evacuated
DUDLEYVILLE, Ariz. (AP) — A small community in south-central Arizona remained under an evacuation notice Friday after crews and air tankers stopped the growth...
Judge halts California development, citing wildfire risk
LEBEC, Calif. (AP) — A long-running plan to build a community of 19,000 homes on vast Tejon Ranch north of Los Angeles has been...
California plans $536M for forests before wildfire season
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will authorize $536 million toward forest management projects and efforts to reduce wildfires before the worst of the fire...
California’s Pacific Gas & Electric charged in 2019 wildfire
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California prosecutor filed 33 criminal charges Tuesday accusing troubled Pacific Gas & Electric of inadvertently injuring six firefighters and...
Study: Drought-breaking rains more rare, erratic in US West
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Rainstorms grew more erratic and droughts much longer across most of the U.S. West over the past half-century as climate...
Wildfire in Theodore Roosevelt National Park 45% contained
MEDORA, N.D. (AP) — Firefighters are making headway against a blaze in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.
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Wildfire evacuees return to North Dakota tourist town
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Residents of a small western North Dakota tourist town forced to evacuate as a large wildfire approached have been able...
On tap in California: Another drought four years after last
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s hopes for a wet “March miracle” did not materialize and a dousing of April showers may as well be...
Firefighters make progress containing Black Hills fires
NEMO, S.D. (AP) — Firefighters continued to make progress Wednesday on containing wildfires in the Black Hills of South Dakota that earlier forced the...
California to add nearly 1,400 firefighters amid dry weather
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday said the state will hire nearly 1,400 additional firefighters as an unusually dry winter...
Crews battling Black Hills wildfires gaining control
NEMO, S.D. (AP) — Firefighters on Tuesday began to gain control of wildfires in the Black Hills of South Dakota that have forced the...
US departments urged to become year-round wildfire agencies
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s U.S. senators and nearly two-dozen representatives asked the Agriculture and Interior departments on Monday to transition their agencies to...
Judge mulls requiring PG&E to turn off power more frequently
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge overseeing Pacific Gas & Electric's criminal probation said Tuesday that he is considering requiring the utility...
Report: California wildfire sparked when tree hit power line
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Northern California wildfire that killed four people and destroyed more than 200 buildings last year was sparked when tree...
Investigators say deadly 2020 Northern California wildfire was caused by tree hitting Pacific Gas...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Investigators say deadly 2020 Northern California wildfire was caused by tree hitting Pacific Gas & Electric power lines.
DISPATCH: When home burns, and your job is to cover it
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — The redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains had not burned in decades. But they burned the year I...
California AG challenges housing plans in wildfire areas
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's attorney general is challenging some of the state's largest suburban development projects as local officials weigh the risk of...
Sonoma county to use artificial intelligence against fires
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sonoma County officials say they will add artificial intelligence technology to help fight wildfires with a 24-7 monitor to track...
Portugal: Number of wildfires, scorched areas falls by half
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s government is reporting major progress against wildfires that traditionally scorch the country each summer, saying Thursday the average annual...
Democratic-led House makes conservation push with lands bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed legislation Friday that would create about 1.5 million acres of new wilderness and incorporate nearly 1,200 miles of...
Amendment would ban ‘servitude’ by California prison inmates
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California relies on thousands of inmates to fight massive wildfires, churn out vehicle license plates, mop prison floors and myriad...
California buffeted by strong offshore winds
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Strong winds swept out of the interior of California and out to sea early Thursday, fanning small fires and toppling...
Wildfire victims sue former PG&E executives alleging neglect
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — A trust representing more than 80,000 victims of deadly wildfires ignited by Pacific Gas and Electric’s rickety electrical grid...
Burned firefighter leaves California hospital to cheers
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A firefighter who barely survived being overrun by flames while battling a Southern California wildfire last October was released from...
Colorado judge maintains charges for Dane accused in fire
DENVER (AP) — A judge on Friday decided against dropping criminal charges lodged against a mentally ill Danish man accused of starting a large...
Garbage truck driver charged in deadly California fire
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a garbage truck driver suspected of dumping burning trash that sparked a 2019 brush fire that killed...
Audit raises concerns about wildfire risks at US nuclear lab
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — One of the nation’s premier nuclear laboratories isn’t taking the necessary precautions to guard against wildfires, according to an audit...
California sets home hardening standards to lower fire risks
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As consecutive years of catastrophic wildfires in California drive up the cost of insuring homes, state regulators on Monday announced...
California utilities to spend billions to cut wildfire risk
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California's largest utilities said Friday that they will spend about $13 billion to reduce the risk of wildfires following the...
Pyrotechnics explosion injures 4 in Southern California
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — Four people suffered extensive injuries Tuesday when commercial pyrotechnics exploded in Southern California and sparked a brush fire in...
Wildfire in west Australia burns more homes in dry wind
PERTH, Australia (AP) — More than 70 homes have been lost in a wildfire outside Australia's western city of Perth that is expected to...
59 homes lost, more threatened in Australian wildfire
PERTH, Australia (AP) — An out-of-control wildfire burning northeast of the Australian west coast city of Perth has destroyed at least 59 homes and...
2 dead as winter storm barrels through California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — At least two people were killed after a drenching storm that flooded areas and buried the Sierra Nevada in snow,...
Atmospheric river storm drenches California, snow piles high
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Evacuations were ordered Thursday in wildfire burn areas prone to mudslides as an atmospheric river storm pumped drenching rain into...
Powerful storm hits California with rain, winds and snow
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A powerful storm packing heavy rain, snow and wind pounded parts of California and western Nevada early Wednesday, toppling trees,...
Potent atmospheric river storm heading toward California
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A potent atmospheric river barreled toward California on Tuesday, bringing the threat of downpours that could unleash destructive debris flows...
Utility to pay $2B settlement in deadly 2018 California fire
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California Edison will pay $2.2 billion to settle insurance claims from a deadly, destructive wildfire sparked by its equipment...
California winds easing after sparking fires, power outages
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A windstorm that fanned brushfires, toppled trees and left thousands of Californians without power focused its remaining energy Wednesday on...
Fierce California winds fan fires, topple trees and trucks
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Months-old embers from a deadly California fire were blown back to life Tuesday by powerful winds that raked the...
Wildfire burns in hot, dry, windy Southern California
MOUNTAIN CENTER, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters battled a wildfire in the inland mountains of Southern California on Friday as Santa Ana winds brought dry...
Trump administration slashes imperiled spotted owls’ habitat
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Trump administration said Wednesday that it would slash millions of acres of protected habitat designated for the imperiled northern...
Environmentalists move toward lawsuit over fuel break plan
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Environmentalists have filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S government to block plans to build up to 11,000...
Study: Wildfires produced up to half of pollution in US West
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Wildfire smoke accounted for up to half of all health-damaging small particle air pollution in the western U.S. in recent...
Australia sweltered through its 4th-hottest year in 2020
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia sweltered through its fourth-hottest year on record last year despite the recent return of the usually cooling La Nina...
Southern California wildfire stalls as Santa Ana winds ease
FALLBROOK, Calif. (AP) — A wildfire on the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in northern San Diego County triggered evacuation orders early Thursday as...
Santa Ana winds bring wildfire danger to Southern California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Red flag warnings of high fire danger went into effect across a wide swath of Southern California on Wednesday as...
The stormy, fiery year when climate disasters wouldn’t stop
Nature struck relentlessly in 2020 with record-breaking and deadly weather- and climate-related disasters.
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Family of pilot killed fighting CA wildfire files lawsuit
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The family of a veteran helicopter pilot who died when his aircraft crashed as he was dropping water over a...
California fire danger eases as winds ease, cooling arrives
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wildfire danger eased in Southern California on Wednesday as warm and dry Santa Ana winds faded and developing onshore flow...
Vast wildfires in Siberia linked to warming Arctic
WASHINGTON (AP) — This year's vast wildfires in far northeastern Russia were linked to broader changes in a warming Arctic, according to a report...
Winds bring Southern California power cuts, fire danger
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gusty, dry Santa Ana winds swept parts of Southern California on Monday, forcing utilities to begin targeted power cuts to...
California fire danger grows with strong winds in forecast
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Fire danger in California will ramp up on Monday as forecasted strong winds in Southern California, the Bay Area and...
Wildfire operations boss still on the job during retirement
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Back home in Flagstaff, retirement resumed, Buck Wickham looks none the worse for wear.
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California fire danger remains high even as winds ease
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fire danger remained high Friday amid unpredictable wind gusts and dry conditions in Southern California, as crews made progress against...
Wind fans wildfire in California canyons, residents flee
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Powerful gusts pushed flames from a wildfire through Southern California canyons on Thursday, one of several blazes that burned near...
PG&E rate hike aimed at improvements to ease fire risk
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric's household customers will be hit with an average rate increase of 8% to help the...
California firefighters critically injured setting backfires
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Two firefighters critically burned while trying to set backfires to slow the spread of a Southern California wildfire in October...
Power goes out as fire danger looms in Southern California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California utilities cut the power to tens of thousands of customers to avoid the threat of wildfires as the...
California winds bring fire threat, possible power outages
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Californians hoping December would finally usher in wetter weather after a disastrous fire season were instead bracing Wednesday for another...
UN calls on humanity to end ‘war on nature,’ go carbon-free
As an extreme year for hurricanes, wildfires and heat waves comes to an end, the head of the United Nations challenged world leaders to...
Bobcat burned in California wildfire set for release to wild
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A young bobcat that was badly burned in a Southern California wildfire will be released back into the wild, the...
California utilities may cut power as fire danger looms
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California utilities warned Tuesday that they may cut power to more than 300,000 customers as dry, gusty weather raises...
The Latest: Researchers urge Arizona shutdown, mask mandate
PHOENIX — University of Arizona researchers say the current surge in the coronavirus outbreak will present the state with a hospital crisis that could...
Plan released to reduce massive wildfires in US West
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. officials on Friday released an overarching plan for removing or changing vegetation over a huge swath of the U.S....
Thousands lose power in Southern California amid fire danger
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thousands of people in Southern California lost power Thanksgiving Day after a utility began shutting off electricity to prevent wildfires...
Santa Ana winds to bring fire danger to Southern California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Red flag warnings of extreme fire danger will go into effect on Thanksgiving for a large swath of Southern California...
Fire weather to return to Southern California by holiday
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fire weather will return to Southern California on Thanksgiving with the onset of Santa Ana winds, the National Weather Service...
Woman killed in Eastern Sierra wildfire identified
WALKER, Calif. (AP) — A person killed when a ferocious wildfire tore through a remote community in California’s eastern Sierra Nevada this week has...
More than 100 displaced after fire ravages California town
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A week before Thanksgiving, more than 100 residents were displaced Thursday by a wind-whipped wildfire that ravaged a remote mountain...
Over 1,000 evacuated in Nevada wildfire start returning home
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A day after a wind-whipped wildfire in northern Nevada roared through a neighborhood in Reno and destroyed at least five...
Northern California utility finds latest CEO in Michigan
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Embattled Northern California utility PG&E Corp. has lured away the top executive at Michigan's largest power provider to steer...
Wildfire destroys multiple Reno homes; hundreds threatened
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A fast-moving wildfire driven by strong winds destroyed several homes in a Reno neighborhood Tuesday and forced the evacuation of...
Crews stop wind-driven wildfire in Reno; cause unknown
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A wind-driven wildfire destroyed or damaged a dozen homes and other buildings in southwest Reno before being stopped by firefighters,...
Heavy snow, 100 mph wind Sierra-bound; power outages in Reno
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Thousands of homes were without power around Reno Tuesday as another early winter storm packing winds more powerful than the...
Northern California agencies sue PG&E over 2019 wildfire
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — Sonoma County and several Northern California agencies sued Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on Tuesday over damage caused by...
California voters give property tax breaks a makeover
SAN DIEGO (AP) — California voters gave the state's landmark 1978 law to limit property taxes a makeover Wednesday, passing a measure that gives...
California wine country adapting to annual wildfire threat
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Harvest season in Northern California's wine country is what dream weddings are made of: ripe grapevines and golden sunsets provide...
Fall finally arrives as parched California gets rain, snow
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fall finally arrived in California with back-to-back weekend storms that brought chilly temperatures, rain and snow to much of the...
After months of heat, California heads into rainy weekend
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California was poised to see chilly, showery and snowy weather this weekend as back-to-back cold fronts hit the state after...
Cold front moves into California after months of heat, fires
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The first of back-to-back cold fronts headed into California on Friday, bringing the prospect of an abrupt change to rain,...
Small fire burns tents in squalid Greek island refugee camp
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A small brush fire that started at an overcrowded refugee center on Greece's eastern Aegean island of Samos has burned...
Girl lost baseball cards to wildfire, gets surprise donation
PRATHER, Calif. (AP) — A 9-year-old girl who lost her collection of baseball cards when a wildfire destroyed her family’s central California home received...
Federal agencies fall short of Trump forest protection goals
Nearly two years ago, President Donald Trump stood amid the smoky ruins of Paradise, California, where he blamed the deadliest wildfire in the state's...
$166M in fines recommended for PG&E over power outages
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California regulators are being asked to fine Pacific Gas & Electric nearly $166 million for failing to properly inform customers...
Report: Utility equipment sparked fatal 2018 California fire
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 2018 wildfire that killed three people and destroyed 1,600 homes was sparked by Southern California Edison equipment, according to...
Australia wildfires probe recommends climate risk forecasts
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An investigation into Australia’s catastrophic wildfire season on Friday recommended greater efforts to forecast the impacts of climate change on...
Evacuation orders lifted in 2 California wind-driven blazes
IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Evacuation orders were lifted Thursday for the last of some 130,000 Californians forced from their homes by two wind-driven wildfires.
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Evacuation orders lifted for many Californians who fled fire
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thousands of Californians were allowed to return to their homes Wednesday as calmer winds helped firefighters beat back two wind-driven...
AP Explains: Power shutoffs to prevent California wildfires
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California's largest utilities have staged power shutoffs this year to prevent their equipment from sparking wildfires during the worst fire...
Utility: Winds too weak to cut power before California fire
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Facing extreme wildfire conditions this week that included hurricane-level winds, the main utility in Northern California cut power to nearly...
AP PHOTOS: Wind-whipped wildfires clobber California again
IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Wildfires roared through hills in Southern California, pushed by the region's whipping Santa Ana winds that often fuel flames in...
Utility says its equipment may have sparked California blaze
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California Edison said its equipment may have sparked a fast-moving wildfire that forced evacuation orders for some 100,000 people...
Californians see power shutoffs as winds, fire danger rise
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Californians lost power as utilities sought to prevent the chance of their equipment sparking wildfires and...
California girds for most dangerous fire weather of year
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California, which has endured its worst wildfire season in history, is bracing for the most dangerous winds of the year,...
PG&E may cut power to over 1 million people in California
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric may cut power to over 1 million people on Sunday to prevent the chance of sparking...
2 California wildfires last year blamed on electrical lines
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Investigations found that damaged electrical equipment ignited two Southern California wildfires last year, including one that threatened the Ronald Reagan...
Colorado wildfires drag on later than normal, break records
DENVER (AP) — Orange skies, winds gusting up to 70 mph, smoke tornadoes and hazardous air. While it could be an apocalyptic scene out...
