Fires

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.

Northern California currently faces little or no risk of large wildfires thanks to a late October downpour, fire officials said Friday.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection declared an end Tuesday to the 2008 fire season in its Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit.

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.

As firefighters tried to tame a blaze Saturday along the lower stretch of the American River Parkway and as cars on Highway 160 slowed to watch a helicopter dart overhead to make a water drop, Ralph Plunkett stood in the shade of the overpass, his head bowed.

Firefighters contained a blaze early Friday that burned about 7 acres in Nevada County and briefly forced evacuations of a few homes.

Placer County has issued cleanup guidelines to Lincoln residents whose rural properties were burned or damaged by a fire Monday and Tuesday.

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.

Just when you thought you couldn't get enough of that furry little face with those piercing brown eyes, Li'l Smokey is about to go 24/7.

The U.S. Forest Service is again allowing controlled fires in California, after a ban last month in response to air quality concerns and personnel limitations.

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.

Michael Brown, one of the firefighters who survived Tuesday's fatal helicopter crash in the Northern California wilderness, remains committed to his work despite the horror he experienced.

Ladder fuel, firefighters call it.

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.

Transportation officials have found the cockpit voice recorder from a firefighting helicopter that crashed in the rugged Trinity Alps on Thursday, killing nine people and injuring four others.

As transportation officials probed Tuesday's fatal crash of a firefighting helicopter, questions arose about why firefighters were in the area at all.

TRINITY COUNTY – Teams of federal investigators will comb rugged terrain in Northern California's Trinity Alps Wilderness today, searching for clues to what caused the nation's worst-ever helicopter crash involving firefighters.

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.

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.

MARIPOSA – Her little brown cabin in the woods was gone, reduced to ash and rubble by a wave of flames, but Mary Briggs had no time to be consoled. Her mind was elsewhere.

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.

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.

Video from the Mariposa fire.
Telegraph fire photo gallery.
Updates from Cal Fire.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK – The view of El Capitan was shrouded by a thick curtain of ashy haze Monday, but Marc Allard had flown from Paris to view the iconic rock formation. And it was no time to minimize the grandeur standing before him.

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.

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.

Li'l Smokey – the cub who suffered horrible burns to his paws in the Northern California wildfires – was off the critical list Thursday and gaining a little weight at a South Lake Tahoe wildlife care center.

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.

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.

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.

The National Weather Service says the Sacramento Valley is experiencing cooler, damper air -- which should help firefighters battling woodland blazes.

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?

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.

CHICO – Fire officials have determined that the Humboldt fire, which consumed 23,500 acres and destroyed more than 80 homes near Paradise in Butte County, was intentionally set.

As a wall of flames roared down the mountainside, a firefighter unfurled a protective tent over himself and discovered a chipmunk had scrambled into his fireproof shelter with him.

NEVADA CITY – When it comes to coverage of California wildfires, newspapers and television pretty much have the story down cold: "Massive" or "wind-whipped" fires fed by "explosively dry" grasses or "tinderbox" forests "ripped" through "rugged terrain" as "weary" firefighters fought to "contain" the "conflagration."

State fire officials allowed residents of Concow, Jarbo Gap and Big Bend to return to their homes Sunday afternoon as firefighting crews gained the upper hand on the Butte County wildfires.

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.

Devouring wildlands across California, more than 300 fires are creating immense logistical challenges for firefighters and burning a deeper hole into the state budget.

Years of working hard to create a defensible space on their property paid off for Peggy Moak and her family.

The flames burning the Big Sur coast have captured the nation's attention, and a big blaze in Butte County is forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. But a stubborn fire steadily chewing its way up the western slope of the Sierra Nevada is largely responsible for making life hell for residents from Tahoe to the Sacramento Valley. And that fire might be burning for weeks to come.

When smoke in fire-besieged California is at its worst, the public often doesn't get to see just how bad it is.

PARADISE – A welcome sign on the town's western border hopes that visitors find the place to be all the name implies.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency announced Friday it will consider fee waivers for anyone who has lost immigration documents to California fires and must now replace them.

WILLOW CREEK – A memorial service for John Hermo, 33, of Oregon was conducted Thursday in Willow Creek at the fire command post where he had been working as a contract firefighter.

OROVILLE – For Mary Johnston, the guessing game ended when she saw the photograph in the local newspaper.

BIG SUR – As fires rip up and down mountain ridges hemming this coastal village, there is a love story playing out here.

Oppressive heat and choking smoke have brought a feeling of Armageddon to Butte County as fickle winds threaten to keep wildfires on the move today.

The poor air quality from wildfires ravaging the region is putting a dent in outdoor workout schedules. Here are 10 ways to keep exercising without sacrificing your lungs.

Another triple-whammy of dense wildfire smoke, heavy smog and stultifying heat is forecast for the southern Sacramento Valley and Sierra foothills today as a high-pressure system cuts off fresh marine air.