By Derek Gatopoulos | Associated Press KRYO PIGADI, Greece — Skimming over miles of hills blackened by wildfires west of Athens, Fire Lt. Col. Ioannis Kolovos readies his elite fire crew crouched inside a helicopter. The 10-member group from the 1st Wildfire Special Operation Unit bristles with tools needed to hold back fires: chainsaws, specialized … Read more
Insurers in California have sounded the alarm: A warming climate has dramatically raised the risk of devastating wildfires, and with it the cost of providing coverage. But now a Peninsula lawmaker says those insurance companies should credit the state and homeowners for the work done to reduce our vulnerability to wildfires. State Sen. Josh Becker, … Read more
The CZU Lightning Complex wildfire that burned through the Santa Cruz Mountains in late summer 2020 was a wakeup call for Frank Bäuerle. He wasted no time fireproofing his Ben Lomond home and neighborhood, clearing brush and screening vents against flying embers to bolster his property’s resistance to flames. But even as his neighborhood got … Read more
By SEAN MURPHY, JIM VERTUNO and KEN MILLER STINNETT, Texas — Firefighters in Texas faced rising temperatures, whipped-up winds and dry air Saturday in their battle to keep the largest wildfire in state history from turning more of the Panhandle into a parched wasteland. Firefighters were focused on containing the fire along its northern and … Read more
The wildfire ravaging the Texas Panhandle is now one of the largest wildfires in U.S. history, with an estimated more than 1.1 million acres burned so far — which would rank it second-largest among U.S. wildfires. The Smokehouse Creek Fire, which broke out earlier this week, is just 15% contained and is already “the largest … Read more
Robberies, felony assaults, overdose deaths, stolen vehicles, sex assaults, pass-outs behind the wheel, minors in possession, suicides — these are among the calls law enforcement responded to last year alone on Lookout Mountain Road, west of Golden. Then there’s the gunfire — bullets shot from up high raining down on the Beverly Heights neighborhood below, … Read more
Canada’s 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive ever recorded, with 6,551 fires scorching nearly 71,000 square miles of land from the West Coast to the Atlantic provinces, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. It wasn’t just remarkable for its destruction, however, but also for the fact that it never really seemed to … Read more
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez | Getty Images While both renters and homeowners are beginning to take climate hazards into consideration, affordability continues to drive moving trends. Between 2021 and 2022, about 1.2 million more homeowners and renters moved out of than moved into U.S. cities with high risk of poor air quality, according to a new … Read more
Expert discusses EPA crackdown on air quality rules Expert discusses EPA crackdown on air quality rules 03:16 Much of the U.S. Northeast was smothered last summer by dense smoke from Canadian wildfires, leading to New York City’s worst air quality since the 1960s. Such episodes, once mostly isolated incidents, are increasingly common due to the impact … Read more
Five years and 2,500 miles apart, fires devastated thriving communities — and major U.S. utility companies stood at the center of the infernos. It’s a story increasingly familiar in the energy industry: Some utility companies don’t properly assess the risks wildfires pose to their operations. A failure to mitigate these risks can have disastrous consequences … Read more
