wildfires News

On Eve of Solstice, Insurers Projecting Gloom

The summer solstice, which begins Tuesday, has historically been a cause of celebration for cultures throughout the Northern Hemisphere. But various catastrophe projections released in recent weeks are making the insurance industry’s midsummer night’s dream look like a nightmare. Analysts …

PG&E Moves Power Underground in Plan to Bury 10,000 miles

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is working on an ambitious project to bury thousands of miles of power lines in an effort to prevent igniting fires with its equipment and avoid shutting down electricity during …

Northern Arizona Watches Winds as Western Wildfires Blaze

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The northern Arizona city of Flagstaff is synonymous with mountains — lush with ponderosa pines, meadows and hiking trails that are a respite from the desert heat. Now, parts of them are burning yet again, fueled …

Human-Triggered California Wildfires More Severe than Natural Blazes

Human-caused wildfires in California are more ferocious than blazes sparked by lightning, a team led by scientists from the University of California, Irvine reported recently in the journal Nature Communications. The research could help scientists better understand fire severity and …

Weather’s Unwanted Guest: Nasty La Nina Keeps Popping Up

Something weird is up with La Nina, the natural but potent weather event linked to more drought and wildfires in the western United States and more Atlantic hurricanes. It’s becoming the nation’s unwanted weather guest and meteorologists said the West’s …

Menaced by Flames, Nuclear Lab Peers Into Future of Wildfire

LOS ALAMOS N.M. (AP) — Public schools were closed and evacuation bags packed this week as a stubborn wildfire crept within a few miles of the city of Los Alamos and its companion U.S. national security lab — where assessing …

Big Progress on Wildfires, but Dangerous Winds on the Way

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Firefighters have been making significant progress Wednesday on the biggest wildfires burning unusually hot and fast for this time of year in the western United States. But forecasters from the Southwest to the southern High Plains …

Added Crews Making Progress on Midwest, Southwest Fires

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Beefed up fire crews made major progress on a large prairie fire burning near the Nebraska-Kansas line on Tuesday and lighter winds allowed firefighters to keep flames from advancing significantly at big fires in the Southwest …

Weary of Many Disasters? UN Says Worse to Come

A disaster-weary globe will be hit harder in the coming years by even more catastrophes colliding in an interconnected world, a United Nations report issued Monday says. If current trends continue the world will go from around 400 disasters per …

Wildfires Tear Across Several States, Driven by High Winds

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Firefighters across the country are battling multiple wildfires as tinder-dry conditions and high winds whip up flames from Arizona to Florida — including a prairie fire in rural southwestern Nebraska that has killed one person, injured …