Wildfires and other fire incidents

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Why the Water Trump Ordered Released in California Won't Help Los Angeles Firefighting
by Jonathan Vigliotti, Nicole Brown Chau
January 3, 2025

Introduction:

(CBS) Following the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles in January, President Trump ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release billions of gallons of water from two reservoirs in California's Central Valley, more than 100 miles away from the fire zones.

Mr. Trump had claimed that California withheld water supplies that could have made a difference in fighting the flames. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials disputed those claims.

Now, the water released from dams at Lake Kaweah and Lake Success is rushing into a dry lakebed in the Central Valley, where experts say it can't flow to Southern California and will likely go to waste.

"There is absolutely no connection between this water and the water needed for firefighting in L.A.," said Peter Gleick, a climate and hydrology expert. "There's no physical connection. There's no way to move the water from where it is to the Los Angeles basin."

Gleick, who co-founded the Pacific Institute, a research center in Oakland, says the move ignores the reality of water management in California.

Read more here: https://bsky.app/profile/carlquintanill ... chfc2lqk2b

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Here is the Executive Order which apparently led to the federal actions taken as described in the previous post. It seems to me that a competent administrator could have interpreted that order in a manner that would not have resulted in the fiasco described above.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... in-certain

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What It’s Like to Fight an L.A. Fire
by Ruth Nolan
February 6, 2025

Introduction:

(Zócalo) As evening fell on January 7, 2025, I anxiously texted back and forth with family in Santa Monica, encouraging them to leave. Their house sat within a block of the evacuation warning zone of the Palisades Fire, and I knew all too well the imminent danger of extreme Santa Ana wind-driven spot fires igniting buildings and brush far from the actively burning areas.

Even as I urged them to leave, from my home in the Mojave Desert, I was moved by a different compulsion: to get in my car, report to work, and rush, via fire engine or helicopter, toward the fires. It tears me up inside to feel so helpless whenever I see an ominous header of smoke exploding high into the atmosphere. Why?

Because I’m a seasoned wildland firefighter who spent seven years working for the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (B.L.M.) in the 1980s, fighting wildfires in Southern California and throughout the Western U.S. Like many if not most firefighters, I also have what one of my fire chiefs called “a fire personality.”

My firefighting days are over; my career took a detour into the academic world. But every time I learn of a wildfire breaking out in our region, I still feel the urge to get out there and go to work. Like my comrades from all walks of life—firefighters are men, women, inmates, and people of all colors—I thrive on the specialized and adrenalized work of saving lives, structures, and communities, and wrangling wildfires into containment and eventual control.

Fighting fires requires extensive training and education; physical fitness and mental stamina; and the ability to work as a team to find and reassemble puzzle pieces of a fragmenting, burning landscape into wholeness and safety once again. It is also a job that makes a person feel as alive and useful to others as they may ever be.

Read more here: https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/wha ... la-fires/



Mojave-based writer and former firefighter Ruth Nolan recalls shepherding Southern California wildfires.
Courtesy of CAL FIRE_Official

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Undocumented Workers Prepare to Clean Up L.A.’s Fires Amid ICE Raids
by Hilary Beaumont

February 12, 2025

Introduction:

(Capital and Main) In the aftermath of the devastating wildfires that tore through Los Angeles last month, undocumented day laborers will likely make up a significant portion of the workforce tasked with clearing debris and rebuilding homes. As they navigate the environmental hazards of this work, they’re also facing the Trump administration’s escalating crackdown on immigrants.

The threat is real. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency at the border, paving the way for military operations in the borderlands. Immigration and Customs Enforcement swiftly followed with raids, arresting thousands in cities including Chicago, New York, Miami, Atlanta and San Diego. In Los Angeles, ICE worked with other federal agencies in an enforcement operation. Federal law enforcement agencies are planning “large scale” immigration raids by the end of February, according to a leaked memo obtained by the L.A. Times. Even before Joe Biden left office, the U.S. Border Patrol conducted a raid in Bakersfield, Calif.

For day laborers in Los Angeles and beyond, anxiety is mounting, said Nadia Marin Molina, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). At a recent “Know Your Rights” workshop at the Pasadena Community Job Center, workers expressed concern. “People were saying they were worried,” she said, noting that their fears were intensified by social media posts warning of raids, not all of which are accurate. (The job center serves as a hub for immigrant workers seeking employment, including those who are undocumented.)

Instilling fear is a central element of the crackdown, she said. Yet the undocumented workers preparing to clear debris from the Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires face other pressures — chief among them, the need to make money for themselves and their families. Workers interviewed for this story said those pressures have kept them focused on the work ahead. They also say they want to give back to the country that has offered them a tenuous refuge.

Luis, who asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear for his safety, said he plans to apply for a job to help clear debris from the fires — so long as he has the proper protective equipment. After a climate disaster, large national companies will often hire local day laborers through subcontractors. “We’re available, we’re here, ready to help,” Luis said in Spanish.

Read more here: https://capitalandmain.com/undocumente ... ce-raids

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Trump’s Funding and Hiring Freezes Leave America Vulnerable to Catastrophic Wildfire
by Mark Olalde

February 14, 2025

Introduction:

(ProPublica) President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to shrink the federal government, launched as the deadly Palisades and Eaton fires burned across Los Angeles, have left the country’s wildland firefighting force unprepared for the rapidly approaching wildfire season.

The administration has frozen funds, including money appropriated by Congress, and issued a deluge of orders eliminating federal employees, which has thrown agencies tasked with battling blazes into disarray as individual offices and managers struggle to interpret the directives. The uncertainty has limited training and postponed work to reduce flammable vegetation in areas vulnerable to wildfire. It has also left some firefighters with little choice but to leave the force, their colleagues said

ProPublica spoke to a dozen firefighters and others who assist with the federal wildfire response across the country and across agencies. They described a range of immediate impacts on a workforce that was already stressed by budgetary woes predating the Trump administration. Hiring of some seasonal workers has stalled. Money for partner nonprofits that assist with fuel-reduction projects has been frozen. And crews that had traveled to support prescribed burns in Florida were turned back, while those assisting with wildfire cleanup in California faced confusion over how long they would be allowed to do that work.

Read more here: https://www.propublica.org/article/tru ... e-season

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Tornadoes, wildfires and blinding dust sweep across US as massive storm leaves at least 35 dead

PIEDMONT, Mo. (AP) — Residents pounded by unusually vicious weather across parts of the U.S. surveyed damage Sunday from violent tornadoes, high winds and blinding dust storms that decimated homes and other structures and left at least 35 people dead.

National Weather Service meteorologist Cody Snell said tornado watches remained in effect Sunday morning for portions of the Carolinas, east Georgia and northern Florida. He said the main threat would be damaging winds, but there is the possibility of more tornadoes.

“As we go through the day today, there still is the potential for severe weather from, say, the upper Ohio Valley and western Pennsylvania down through the rest of the mid-Atlantic and Southeast as we have this cold front that's still moving across the country, and it won't clear the East Coast until later on tonight,” Snell said.

The dynamic storm from Friday through Sunday earned an unusual “high risk” designation from weather forecasters. Still, experts said it’s not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tornadoes-wi ... 29087.html

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Trump Said Cuts Wouldn’t Affect Public Safety. Then He Fired Hundreds of Workers Who Help Fight Wildfires.
by Mark Olalde
April 7, 2025

Introduction:

(ProPublica) President Donald Trump’s executive orders shrinking the federal workforce make a notable exception for public safety staff, including those who fight wildland fires. But ongoing cuts, funding freezes and hiring pauses have weakened the nation’s already strained firefighting force by hitting support staff who play crucial roles in preventing and battling blazes.

Most notably, about 700 Forest Service employees terminated in mid-February’s “Valentine’s Day massacre” are red-card-carrying staffers, an agency spokesperson confirmed to ProPublica. These workers hold other full-time jobs in the agency, but they’ve been trained to aid firefighting crews, such as by providing logistical support during blazes. They also assist with prescribed burns, which reduce flammable vegetation and prevent bigger fires, but the burns can only move forward if there’s a certain number of staff available to contain them. (Non-firefighting employees without a red card cannot perform such tasks.)

Red-card-carrying employees are the “backbone” of the firefighting force, and their loss will have “a significant impact,” said Frank Beum, a board member of the National Association of Forest Service Retirees who spent more than four decades with the agency and ran the Rocky Mountain Region. “There are not enough primary firefighters to do the full job that needs to be done when we have a high fire season.”

ProPublica spoke to employees across the Forest Service — which manages an area of land nearly twice the size of California — including staff working in firefighting, facilities, timber sales and other roles, to learn how sweeping personnel changes are affecting the agency’s ability to function.

Read more here: https://www.propublica.org/article/tr ... efighting

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New Jersey forest fire prompts thousands of evacuations and closes a major highway

Source: AP

Updated 12:26 AM CDT, April 23, 2025

BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A fast-moving wildfire burning in New Jersey on Tuesday forced thousands of people to evacuate and closed a stretch of a major highway.

The Garden State Parkway, one of New Jersey’s busiest highways, was closed between Barnegat and Lacey townships, according to the New Jersey Fire Service.

More than 1,300 structures were threatened and about 3,000 residents were evacuated, the fire service said. Shelters were open at two high schools, according to the Barnegat Police Department.

The Jersey Central Power and Light Company cut power to about 25,000 customers at the request of the Forest Fire Service and the wildfire’s command post Tuesday evening, including thousands in Barnegat Township. The company said on X that it doesn’t expect to restore the power before Wednesday.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfire-new ... c9f0ce1028

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Area burned by UK wildfires in 2025 already at annual record

27 April 2025

The area of the UK burnt by wildfires so far this year is already higher than the total for any year in more than a decade, satellite data suggests.

More than 29,200 hectares (292 sq km or 113 sq miles) has been burnt so far, according to figures from the Global Wildfire Information System, which has recorded burnt area since 2012.

That is more than the previous high of 28,100 hectares for the whole year of 2019.

The prolonged dry, sunny weather in March and early April helped to create ideal conditions for widespread burning, according to researchers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0m9gm3jwljo

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[firestar464]

Residents of areas northeast of Edmonton ordered to evacuate due to wildfires

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/r ... r-AA1EhwHb

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Wildland firefighting crews left short-staffed by DOGE ahead of wildfire season

Source: CBS News/AP

Updated on: May 9, 2025 / 12:01 PM EDT

Trump administration funding cuts and a loss of federal workers who help support wildland firefighting continues to make planning for the upcoming wildfire season a challenge, according to forest and fire officials in Washington state and Oregon.

The biggest issue they're facing is a lack of communication from the federal government as the West faces "a pretty significant wildland fire season," Washington State Forester George Geissler said Thursday during a press conference hosted by Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Jeff Merkley of Oregon.

"This is the time when we make certain that we have the aviation we need, when we have the personnel we need and that all of our systems check out and are ready to go when the alarm bell rings," he said. "Without knowing what our partners are doing or not having a clear understanding of what actions are being taken, we struggle with missing the third leg of the stool that we have."

The Forest Service workforce was cut in February during Elon Musk's push to reduce federal spending as part of the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. At least 1,000 National Park Service workers were let go. A court order to rehire fired workers, along with a public outcry brought many workers back to their jobs, but Murray and fire officials say it wasn't enough. Plus, the lost of experienced, trained workers set the process back. "We're hearing that don't worry, we are going to hire frontline people," Murray said. "You just let a whole bunch of frontline people go."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-wash ... wildfires/

[firestar464]

Man, woman found dead as crews battle wildfire in Manitoba, police say

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/m ... r-AA1EMw3p

[wjfox]

Recent Canadian wildfires are record-breaking – and will threaten US air quality for days

After historic seasons in last two years, blazes continue trend of warm, dry conditions intensified by climate crisis

Fri 30 May 2025 13.00 BST

Enormous early-season wildfires have erupted across the prairie provinces of Canada this week, taxing local emergency response and threatening a long stretch of dangerous air quality across eastern North America.

The country’s largest fires – the Bird River fire and the Border fire – remain completely uncontained in northern Manitoba. In Manitoba alone, wildfires have burned about 200,000 hectares already this year – already about three times the recent full-year average for the province.

More than 17,000 people are in the process of being airlifted out of wildfire zones by the Canadian military, some of which now have no safe overland roads connecting them to the rest of the country. Wab Kinew, the Manitoba premier, declared a province-wide state of emergency on Wednesday, and Saskatchewan’s premier, Scott Moe, declared the same on Thursday.

“This is the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most people’s living memory,” Kinew said at a press conference. “For the first time, it’s not a fire in one region, we have fires in every region. That is a sign of a changing climate that we are going to have to adapt to.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ir-quality

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