prescribed burns News

Southerners Are Rekindling a ‘Fire Culture’ to Boost Longleaf Pine Range

WEST END, N.C. (AP) — Jesse Wimberley burns the woods with neighbors. Using new tools to revive an old communal tradition, they set fire to wiregrasses and forest debris with a drip torch, corralling embers with leaf blowers. Wimberley, 65, …

New Mexico Lawmakers Seek Assurances amid Prescribed Burns

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) –New Mexico lawmakers seek assurances amid prescribed burns Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation are looking for assurances from the U.S. Forest Service that the agency is taking preventative measures to ensure that future prescribed fires don’t …

Pelosi: US Has to Do More to Help with Wildfire Recovery

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that the federal government has to do more to help with recovery in the wake of a devastating wildfire that charred several hundred homes and destroyed the livelihoods of …

NM City, Victim of Government Burn, Now Faces Water Shortage

LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) — In the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, buzzing chainsaws interrupt the serenity. Crews are hustling to remove charred trees and other debris that have been washing down the mountainsides in the wake of the largest …

3 Dead in Crashes Amid Fog and Smoke on I-95 in Florida

EDGEWATER, Fla. (AP) — Three people were killed in a series of crashes involving 17 vehicles early Thursday along a stretch of Interstate 95 in Florida where visibility was very low due to fog combined with smoke from prescribed burns …

California Encourages Prescribed Burns to Counter Wildfires

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is encouraging more use of fire to fight fire, such as when deliberately set burns were recently used to protect giant sequoias from a raging wildfire. But sometimes what are known as prescribed fires themselves …

Amid Clamor to Increase Prescribed Burns, Obstacles Await

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 …

As Drought Intensifies, California Seeing More Wildfires

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — As California sinks deeper into drought it already has had more than 900 additional wildfires than at this point in 2020, which was a record-breaking year that saw more than 4% of the state’s land scorched …

Researchers Say More Data Needed to Determine Cost-Effective Wildfire Solutions

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 …

Easing Fires Not as Simple as Climate Change vs. Forest Work

SALEM, Ore. — Deadly West Coast wildfires are dividing President Donald Trump and the states’ Democratic leaders over how to prevent blazes from becoming more frequent and destructive, but scientists and others on the front lines say it’s not as …