Each year, state, federal and local officials train around 1,000 firefighters. Trainings start in April and last through May. Now, that's all on hold. Continue Reading Northwest Wildfire Season Is Coming Up — With Fewer Read More
The Washington Court of Appeals on Tuesday dismissed a case against the state brought by more than 300 survivors of the 2014 Carlton Complex wildfire in north-central Washington. Continue Reading Washington Appeals Read More
Researchers began their detective work, trying to figure out what happened to these treated areas during the first few extreme days of the Carlton Complex fire. They gathered geospatial maps and satellite images. Continue Read More
It's the first time since July that the state has been fire-free. "That's more than 240 days of fire activity" across the country's most populous state, New South Wales Rural Fire Service said. Continue Reading All Bushfires Read More
The Australian bushfires are emitting huge amounts of climate warming carbon into the atmosphere. Normally, new vegetation that grows back would recapture it, but that may be changing. Continue Reading Australia’s Wildfires Are Releasing Vast Read More
It’s been a little over a year since the Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise, which impacted thousands of lives in Northern California. The disaster also alarmed people across the West, who are now asking themselves: Could a fire like that happen here? Read More
The utility hopes the settlement will help it emerge from bankruptcy proceedings by the end of the year. When it declared bankruptcy in January, the company faced potential liabilities of $30 billion. Continue Reading PG&E Read More
Many are commuting to school in Paradise from surrounding cities and towns, including almost all of the town's high school football team, the Bobcats. The team is undefeated, and is about to find out if they are making it to the playoffs. Read More
Free-burning fire is the proximate provocation for the havoc, since its ember storms are engulfing landscapes. But in the hands of humans, combustion is also the deeper cause. Continue Reading Analysis: Big Fall Wildfires Signal Arrival Of A Read More
Don’t be fooled by the fall weather and cold temps hitting the Northwest this week. Washington officials are warning people to keep an eye on outdoor burning this time of year. It can still spark a fire, especially with strong winds whipping through the state Monday night through Tuesday morning.
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Connecting different projects – like these large-scale fuels management ones – with efforts by homeowners down below helps make the landscape more resilient. It’s part of a larger effort to help central Washington avoid the fate of towns like Paradise, California, which was devastated by the Camp Fire in 2018.
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There are no agencies assigned to fight fires on certain stretches of Washington rangeland. Ranchers want to form their own firefighting teams – something already happening in Oregon and Idaho. Continue Reading Washington Read More
Labor Day weekend marked the second anniversary of the start of the Eagle Creek Fire, which burned almost 50,000 acres of forest land in the Columbia River Gorge. Continue Reading Columbia River Gorge Inches Closer To Recovery, Read More
A Washington firefighter was badly burned over the Labor Day weekend while fighting a small brush fire in Okanogan County. He’s currently in a medically induced coma at a Seattle hospital. Continue Reading Okanogan County Read More
The fire season so far has been relatively mild as far as large fires and region-wide smoke inundation go. But that could change in late summer and early fall, according to a recent federal report from the National Interagency Fire Center. Read More
After the 2018 Camp Fire, scientists detected dangerous levels of cancer-causing benzenes from burned plastics in some water lines. Recent tests show the problem has not gone away. Chronic exposure to benzenes can heighten the risk of blood cancers such as leukemia. Read More
A fire district around Wenatchee has come up with a new way to make wildland fires less severe. Chelan County Fire District 1 is ditching the hand tools and machinery that firefighters traditionally use to thin overgrown brush. Instead, they’re turning to a more natural approach to thin out fuels around the Broadview neighborhood that burned in the 2015 Sleepy Hollow Read More
It’s been a relatively quiet summer so far for Northwest wildland firefighters. But after a couple days of lightning storms in eastern and central Washington, paired with dry and windy conditions, more fires are starting to flare up.
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A wildfire continued burning today near the Hanford Nuclear Site. The Cold Creek Fire is burning sensitive, federally protected habitat. As of Friday afternoon it was estimated at about 18,000 acres and 10 percent containment. Read More
Five years later, the Carlton Complex is still the single largest fire in Washington state’s history. By the end of summer, the Okanogan Long Term Recovery Group will have rebuilt 39 homes. The group’s contractors are putting the finishing touches on the final two homes now. They’ve held a ribbon cutting at nearly each spot. Read More
No figures on wildland firefighter suicides are available because federal agencies often track only fatalities that occur during work hours, and families don’t always release a cause of death. But lang management agencies are concerned about an increasing number of suicides, and seeking to address ways to help. Read More
Four years ago, the Sleepy Hollow Fire burned to the edge of Wenatchee. Flames rushed through, consuming brush and cheatgrass and quickly destroying 28 homes and three businesses. Now, with the help of a federal grant, firefighters are getting rid of some of those grasses to better protect homes. Read More
The amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere from forest fires in the U.S. West is being greatly overestimated, possibly leading to poor land management decisions, researchers at the University of Idaho said. Continue Read More
The chief of the U.S. Forest Service is warning that a billion acres of land across America are at risk of catastrophic wildfires like last fall's deadly Camp Fire that destroyed most of Paradise, Calif. Continue Reading 1 Billion Read More
Firefighters continued to attack a growing fire today in Grant County. It’s burning near the Wanapum Dam between the Columbia River and Royal City. Afternoon estimates had the so-called 2-4-3 Fire at nearly 5,000 acres, with that number expected to rise in windy conditions this afternoon and overnight. Read More
Over the past few years, Northwest communities have been getting better acquainted with wildfire smoke. But even in the most affected places, people can get some relief by limiting time outside and using air filters and inexpensive masks. These aren’t options for wildland firefighters. Read More
At the Hanford Nuclear Site in southeastern Washington, and across the West, winter’s deep snow and a cool spring have produced lots of brush and grass. That’s a problem for the coming fire season. Continue Reading Big Spring Read More
The federal Bureau of Land Management has banned fireworks and exploding targets this summer in Idaho. Last year, people shooting at exploding or steel targets caused 60% of the wildfires on BLM land. Continue Reading Read More
More people in the Northwest are worried about wildfires than they were four years ago. A new poll has found people in Washington are now five times more likely to say they’ll feel the effects of wildfires. In Oregon, people are three times more likely to worry about wildfires. Read More
As wildfires become more frequent and intense, the disappearance of snow now ushers in a season of higher anxiety for those who have experienced the destruction of wildfire. And this spring feels particularly ominous, with water levels in ponds and lakes already exposing bathtub rings of pale earth that wouldn’t normally be visible until the end of the dry summer months. Read More
Springtime means it’s morel mushroom harvesting season. Depending on where fires burned last summer, mushroom collecting could take you to different spots across the Northwest. Continue Reading Mushroom Hunters, Rejoice: Springtime Crop Read More
Washington Senate Democrats on Friday proposed a capital gains tax that would fund a suite of tax reductions for low-income families, small businesses and senior citizen homeowners. The tax proposal was rolled out in conjunction with the Senate Democrats' unveiling of a $52 billion two-year state spending plan, which followed a House Democratic budget presentation earlier Read More
Last fall's deadly Camp Fire has brought renewed questions about whether towns in high-risk areas like Paradise, Calif., should even be rebuilt. Continue Reading ‘Reimagining Paradise’ — Making Plans To Rebuild A Town Read More
Washington may soon copy a rural wildfire fighting strategy that Oregon, Idaho and Nevada already employ: letting private ranchers attack range fires before the blazes get big. Continue Reading Washington May Rope In Read More
From aviation contracts to deals with vendors and even seasonal hiring, the partial federal government shutdown is cutting into planning and preparation for the 2019 wildfire season in the Northwest.
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More than two months after the Camp Fire, the small city of Chico, Calif. is struggling to handle an influx of an estimated 20,000 new people from neighboring Paradise. Continue Reading Crisis Builds In Chico In Read More
Firefighters and forest managers are losing valuable time to prepare for the upcoming wildland fire season as the partial government shutdown continues. Continue Reading Shutdown Hampers Wildfire Preparedness And Training Read More
The Northwest is already seeing the effects of climate change, according to a new national climate assessment. Continue Reading Report: Climate Change Is Already Bringing Problems To Northwest — And It Will Get WorseRead More
Both those homes burned to the ground in the historic Camp Fire. The scale of the fire's destruction is so spread out that very little of the towns of Paradise, Magalia and Concow remain. So far, the fire scorched 230 square miles — an area the size of Chicago. So many evacuees have fled to nearby Chico, prompting local businesses to try and give them a place to exhale. Read More
Climate change is expected to increase drought and wildfire vulnerability in forests across the West. But new research out of Oregon State University shows that some places will fare better than others. Continue Reading New Research Read More
As flames consume parts of California, an unexpected group of firefighters has put their lives at risk to protect communities: prison inmates. For $2 per day — and another $1 an hour when battling fires — qualified inmates can volunteer to help authorities combat fires. Read More
Authorities say at least 63 people died in the Northern California wildfire known as the Camp Fire, which has burned through at least 218 square miles of land and consumed the town of Paradise. Seven sets of remains were discovered on Thursday. Read More
The Camp Fire tore through Paradise, Calif., the morning of Nov. 8, 2018. Paul Weingartner, a nurse at the Adventist Health Feather River hospital in Paradise, recounts how it unfolded, and how he narrowly escaped, to return to the hospital and treat patients. Read More
The entire town of 27,000 people was evacuated in front of the wildfire in Northern California. The fire is the latest in a string of disastrous wildfires to hit the state in the past year. Continue Reading Paradise Lost: Northern Read More
After wildfire season ends each year, land managers start planning what comes next for the areas that burned. Often, the strategy used to ensure the forests return is to salvage log and then replant. But a recent study suggests that in some areas, it might be just as effective to leave the forest alone. Read More
Nothing is simple when it comes to federal lands management. But in order to thin fire-prone forests — and to break legal and ideological gridlock — national forests in the Pacific Northwest are supporting collaborations with formerly adversarial interests. Read More
Washington Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz is asking the state legislature to nearly double funding to manage and respond to wildfire. Continue Reading ‘Historic’ Wildfire Funding Request Goes To Washington LegislatureRead More
Not all wildfire is a force of destruction. Many of our favorite Northwest plants and animals have evolved to depend on it. Continue Reading Why Many Northwest Animals And Plants Need WildfireRead More
State and federal agencies throughout the Northwest are starting to lift burn restrictions on some lands. The Wildfire Preparedness level for the region was downgraded to its lowest stage -- Level 1 -- this week. But the region is below normal for precipitation and has been so for the past two months. Read More
More people are living in places that are prone to wildfires. That means during fire season, they live with the very real possibility of having to evacuate on very short notice. Continue Reading For Many In The West, Year-Round Read More
