A company whose northern Illinois chemical plant was heavily damaged in a fire last week defended its use of firefighting foam containing toxic chemicals Wednesday, saying crews had taken steps to contain the material. An industrial team hired by Lubrizol …
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — In the 1950s, when University of California forestry professor Harold Biswell experimented with prescribed burns in the state’s pine forests, many people thought he was nuts. “Harry the Torch,” “Burn-Em-Up Biswell” and “Doctor Burnwell” were some …
While California wildfires cost property insurers billions each year, the impact of the smoke emitted by those fires may be even more costly — although scientists can’t say for sure. The cost of wildfire impacts on human health was one …
KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — The thick scent of smoke hung in the midday air when a trail along the Kings River opened up to an ominous scene: flames in the trees and thick gray smoke shrouding canyon walls. …
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A wildfire on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula expanded Wednesday but fire crews used controlled burns to create firebreaks and protect a highway leading to some of the state’s most popular tourist destinations. The fire grew about 8% to …
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Facing more wildfires and the lawsuits that come with them, a group of public and private California water systems want lawmakers to shield them from having to pay damages caused by fires they did not start but …
About 30 members of the crew stood in the morning still of the Oregon forest as Katie Sauerbrey laid out the plans for the day. Some carried shovels or pickaxes. Others leaned against trucks and peered at maps of the …
Kristi Mastrofini stared down the roaring gun barrel of the deadly Klamathon fire that was ready to burst through Oregon’s southern door. In just its second day, the 9,600-acre fire had killed one man in Northern California and swept through …
Lightning started a forest fire one August afternoon near this Oregon tourist town, and it was spreading fast. Residents in outlying areas evacuated as flames marched toward their homes. Just a few months earlier, the U.S. Forest Service and a …
The fire that destroyed most of a large apartment complex in northern New Jersey last month has prompted talk of legislation to toughen building codes, an effort that would butt up against long-established building practices like the use of lightweight …