Published: Friday, June 12 2009 - 12:00 am
A giant firefighting plane dumps 20,000 gallons of water over McClellan Field in a demonstration of its capabilities Thursday.
By Kevin Yamamura -
Published: Friday, May 8 2009 - 12:00 am
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger started the week promoting Wildfire Awareness Week in events with fire officials, during which he suggested he might have to cut 1,700 firefighting jobs if voters reject the May 19 ballot measures.
Published: Friday, May 1 2009 - 12:00 am
A prescribed fire operation in the Rubicon Bay area on Lake Tahoe's West Shore, which began Thursday, will be creating smoke through the weekend.
Published: Sunday, April 26 2009 - 12:00 am
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, more popularly known as Cal Fire, is urging residents to create a 100-foot zone of defensible space around their homes before temperatures and the fire risk heat up.
By Marjie Lundstrom -
Updated: Saturday, January 10 2009 - 6:54 am
For one California man, a little fix-it job in the driveway wound up costing big $1 million, to be exact. This week, the U.S. Department of Justice approved a settlement with a homeowner from North Fork, east of Madera, whose attempt to sharpen a wood splitter with an electric grinder sparked a fire in the Sierra National Forest that burned more than 4,100 acres.
By Bill Lindelof and Sam Stanton -
Published: Sunday, November 16 2008 - 12:00 am
Sacramento fire officials were preparing to send a third strike team to Southern California on Saturday night to help firefighters battling a devastating wind-fueled blaze near Sylmar.
By Ed Fletcher -
Updated: Saturday, November 15 2008 - 12:11 am
Concerns about the late-season wildfire in the Santa Barbara area stretched to Sacramento and beyond, especially among people with loved ones in the area.
By Chris Bowman -
Updated: Saturday, November 15 2008 - 12:11 am
Northern California currently faces little or no risk of large wildfires thanks to a late October downpour, fire officials said Friday.
Published: Thursday, November 6 2008 - 12:00 am
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection declared an end Tuesday to the 2008 fire season in its Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit.
By M.S. Enkoji -
Published: Saturday, October 18 2008 - 12:00 am
Angel Island State Park, scarred by a fire this week that overran half the terrain, reopens on Monday for visitors, but will remain closed to campers at least through November.
Published: Saturday, September 6 2008 - 12:00 am
Firefighters contained a blaze early Friday that burned about 7 acres in Nevada County and briefly forced evacuations of a few homes.
Published: Saturday, September 6 2008 - 12:00 am
Placer County has issued cleanup guidelines to Lincoln residents whose rural properties were burned or damaged by a fire Monday and Tuesday.
By Kim Minugh -
Published: Tuesday, September 2 2008 - 12:00 am
Labor Day meant an awful lot of labor for Sacramento-area firefighters as dry, gusty winds fanned blazes threatening hundreds of homes across the region.
By Cynthia Hubert -
Published: Saturday, August 16 2008 - 12:00 am
Transportation officials have finished a field investigation of the fatal crash of a firefighting helicopter in the Trinity Alps earlier this month, but have much more work to do to pin down the cause, they said Friday.
By Pat Rubin -
Published: Sunday, August 10 2008 - 12:00 am
Ladder fuel, firefighters call it.
By Matt Weiser -
Published: Saturday, August 9 2008 - 12:00 am
The regional chief of the Forest Service recently banned a practice that allowed local fire managers to let some blazes burn if they don't pose a threat.
Published: Saturday, August 2 2008 - 12:00 am
The Rich fire continued to burn out of control through the Feather River Canyon on Friday, forcing Plumas National Forest officials to close about 400 square miles of the forest between Lake Almanor and Bucks Lake Wilderness.
By Jane Braxton Little -
Updated: Thursday, July 31 2008 - 9:40 am
BELDEN A fast-moving fire on Wednesday continued to whip through timber on both sides of the Feather River Canyon four miles east of Belden, closing state Highway 70 for a second day.
Published: Wednesday, July 30 2008 - 12:00 am
Firefighters working on a complex of lightning-sparked fires in Plumas National Forest were diverted Tuesday to a new blaze in the Feather River Canyon near Rich Bar.
Published: Wednesday, July 30 2008 - 12:00 am
Lightning-caused fires that killed a man and destroyed 106 residences and 11 outbuildings in Butte County were contained Tuesday evening, a Cal Fire official said.
By Les Blumenthal -
Published: Sunday, July 27 2008 - 12:00 am
WASHINGTON The Forest Service has struggled for years to pay for fighting fires that last year alone scorched almost 10 million acres, mainly in the West. As fire seasons grow longer and the blazes more intense in forests stressed by global warming, the agency's funding woes mount.
Published: Saturday, July 26 2008 - 12:00 am
OROVILLE Active fire along the trail to Feather Falls has forced Plumas National Forest officials to close the trail and scenic area for the rest of the summer.
By Janet Fullwood -
Published: Friday, July 25 2008 - 12:00 am
BIG SUR California's storied Big Sur region, ravaged for more than a month by wildfires that continue to blaze in remote areas, will take a step toward recovery today with the reopening of 218 campsites at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.
Updated: Wednesday, July 23 2008 - 12:25 am
JAMESTOWN Firefighters on Tuesday evening launched an aggressive attack on a wildfire that burned 102 acres to keep flames from reaching about 200 structures, most of them homes in Tuolumne County, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Bee Metro Staff -
Published: Sunday, July 20 2008 - 9:52 am
Firefighters have gained control over the woodland fires they've been battling since June 21, officials said. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported today it has contained more than 2,000 fires that have consumed nearly 1 million acres of woodlands.
By Wesley DeBerry -
Updated: Sunday, July 20 2008 - 11:40 am
The National Weather Service says the Sacramento Valley is experiencing cooler, damper air -- which should help firefighters battling woodland blazes.
By Chris Bowman -
Updated: Friday, July 18 2008 - 12:29 am
If every cloud has a silver lining, what good can be said of the big brown dome of wildfire smoke that capped much of California these past few weeks?
By Peter Hecht -
Updated: Friday, July 18 2008 - 12:14 am
President Bush took a helicopter tour of charred forests above Shasta Lake on Thursday and vowed to do the "best
we possibly can" in directing federal assistance to help California respond to devastating wildfires.
By Matt Weiser -
Updated: Sunday, July 13 2008 - 3:22 pm
Firefighting crews say cooler weather has allowed them to gain the upper hand on the Butte County wildfires, although they're not yet ready to declare the fight won. The fire is now 65 percent contained.