By David Jackson 9 January 2019 WASHINGTON (USA TODAY) – President Donald Trump said in a Wednesday tweet that he is cutting off federal money to fight California wildfires, claiming the money is being wasted. “Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forrest fires that, with proper Forrest Management, would never […]
By Eric Westervelt4 January 2019 (NPR) – Facing staggering liability costs for its potential culpability in a series of deadly wildfires, the parent company of California’s largest utility is exploring whether to sell off a major part of the company, NPR has learned. Internally, Pacific Gas & Electric has dubbed this strategy “Project Falcon.” Under […]
By Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano 20 December 2018 PARADISE, California (The Guardian) – William Goggia awoke to a poisonous orange atmosphere so thick with smoke he couldn’t see the sun.It was 8am on Thursday 8 November. He heard the piercing metallic clang of propane tanks exploding in the distance. His sister, who lived […]
By Holly Yan and Chris Boyette 4 December 2018 (CNN) – California’s Camp Fire didn’t just kill dozens of people and destroy thousands of homes. It also left an insurance company in financial ruins, unable to pay millions of dollars to policyholders.A state judge ruled that Merced Property & Casualty Co. can’t meet its obligations […]
By Robyn Wuth 30 November 2018 (Australian Associated Press) – There is no relief in sight for Queensland’s bushfire crisis as extreme heatwave conditions continue to grip the state on the first day of summer.There have been no lives lost as wildfires raged across central Queensland this week but 110 are still burning around the […]
26 November 2018 (BBC News) – Hundreds of Australians have evacuated their homes due to bushfires amid “unprecedented” weather conditions in the state of Queensland, officials say. About 40 bushfires are burning across the state following a heatwave, said Queensland Fire and Emergency Services. The most serious blaze, 450km (280 miles) north of Brisbane, has […]
19 November 2018 (Desdemona Despair) – In August 2018, it was “environmental terrorist groups” causing California’s forest fires. Before that, it was water regulations. Now, California just needs to rake its forests and manage them like Finland.Anything to deny the obvious: global warming is causing California’s megafires.Throughout 2018, the Trump administration has undertaken a Stalinist […]
By Christie Aschwanden, Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Maggie Koerth-Baker, and Ella Koeze 16 November 2018 (FiveThirtyEight) – The Camp Fire in Northern California has already been the most lethal and most destructive in state history, and it continues to burn. The death toll, currently at 63, is expected to grow — more than 600 people are […]
By Amanda Mull 17 November 2018 (The Atlantic) – The particulates in smoke don’t destroy homes. They don’t down trees. But in the case of wildfires, smoke’s impacts—and dangers—can reach hundreds of miles further than the flames themselves. As of Friday evening, the Camp Fire raging in Butte County, north of the San Francisco Bay […]
16 November 2018 (BBC News) – Northern California’s air quality has become the worst in the world, according to monitoring groups, as the state battles devastating fires. Air quality network Purple Air said on Thursday the air is now worse than smoggy cities in India and China. Schools have cancelled classes, flights have been delayed, […]
