News

Trump says to halt aid to California wildfire victims, but law says he can't

Sharon Bernstein, Reuters
Posted at Jan 10 09:46 AM

SACRAMENTO, California - U.S. President Donald Trump cannot withhold disaster relief once an emergency has been declared, federal statutes show, despite the Republican's tweet on Wednesday that he had ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to cease helping victims of last year's California wildfires. Read more »

Disaster-linked losses in 2018 hit $155 billion: Swiss Re

Agence France-Presse
Posted at Dec 19 09:23 AM

Events this year "highlight the increasing vulnerability of the ever-growing concentration of humans and property values on coastlines and in the urban-wildlife interface."  Read more »

Mountain lion that crossed freeways died after California wildfire

Alex Dobuzinskis, Reuters
Posted at Dec 08 05:44 AM

LOS ANGELES - A Southern California mountain lion that crossed freeways dozens of times, evading potentially deadly traffic, has died after burning its paws during a wildfire, officials said on Friday. Read more »

Mountain lion that crossed freeways died after California wildfire

Alex Dobuzinskis, Reuters
Posted at Dec 08 05:41 AM

LOS ANGELES - A Southern California mountain lion that crossed freeways dozens of times, evading potentially deadly traffic, has died after burning its paws during a wildfire, officials said on Friday. Read more »

California's deadliest wildfire finally tamed

Agence France-Presse
Posted at Nov 26 07:03 AM

The deadliest and most destructive fire in California's history was finally brought totally under control by firefighters, more than two weeks after it erupted, authorities said on Sunday. Read more »

Death toll in California fire rises to 87

Agence France-Presse
Posted at Nov 25 04:05 PM

The office of the Butte County Sheriff said that 249 people remained unaccounted for - a steep drop from 474 missing reported earlier in the day.  Read more »

Rain complicates grim task of finding remains of California wildfire

Reuters
Posted at Nov 24 10:33 AM

Steady rain in northern California doused the state's deadliest wildfire on Friday, but it turned ash from thousands of destroyed homes into slurry, complicating work to find bodies reduced to bone fragments. Read more »

Californians left homeless by wildfire brace for heavy rain and mud

Elijah Nouvelage, Reuters
Posted at Nov 21 12:34 PM

Northern California residents left homeless by the deadliest, most destructive wildfire in state history braced for a new bout of misery on Tuesday from showers expected to plunge encampments of evacuees into rain-soaked fields of mud. Read more »

California searches for 1,000 missing in its deadliest fire

Terray Sylvester, Reuters
Updated as of Nov 17 11:41 AM

PARADISE, California - Recovery teams with cadaver dogs pressed on with their search for more victims in a flame-ravaged northern California town on Friday as authorities sought clues to the fate of more than 1,000 people reported missing in the deadliest wildfire in state history. Read more »

Number of missing in California fire jumps past 600

Agence France-Presse
Posted at Nov 16 11:44 AM

The number of people listed as missing in one of California's deadliest wildfires has skyrocketed past 600, authorities said Thursday, as the remains of seven additional victims were found by rescuers. Read more »

At least 56 killed, 130 missing in California's deadliest wildfire

Terray Sylvester, Reuters
Posted at Nov 15 02:08 PM

National Guard troops joined the grim search on Wednesday for more victims in the ruins of an incinerated northern California town while the death toll climbed to 56 in the most deadly and destructive wildfire in the state's history. Read more »

Deadly California wildfire leaves 100 people missing, mostly elderly

Terray Sylvester, Reuters
Updated as of Nov 15 11:09 AM

Fire crews in northern California seized on improved weather on Wednesday in their 6-day-old battle to suppress the deadliest wildfire in state history as authorities reported at least 100 people still missing and National Guard troops arrived to help search for victims. Read more »

'Angels everywhere': Man battles wildfire to save his corner of Paradise

Agence France-Presse
Posted at Nov 14 01:05 PM

Using garden hoses and then buckets of water, 63-year-old Brad Weldon fought the Camp Fire in Paradise to save his house and his 90-year-old blind mom. Read more »

Deadly California wildfire grows as teams sift through ashes for remains

Noel Randewich and Sharon Bernstein, Reuters
Posted at Nov 14 05:27 AM

PARADISE, California - Convoys of fire engines rumbled through the smoldering northern California town of Paradise on Tuesday on their way to combat still-active sections of the state's deadliest and most destructive wildfire in history, which grew by 8,000 acres. Read more »

Northern California wildfire kills 42 to rank as deadliest in state history

Sharon Bernstein and Noel Randewich, Reuters
Posted at Nov 13 12:21 PM

Search teams have recovered the remains of at least 42 people killed by a devastating wildfire that largely incinerated the town of Paradise in northern California, making it the deadliest single wildland blaze in state history, authorities said on Monday. Read more »

Trump blames 'gross mismanagement of forests' for California wildfires

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Nov 10 06:07 PM

US President Donald Trump on Saturday blamed "gross mismanagement of forests" for 2 unchecked wildfires burning in California, where at least 9 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands forced to evacuate. Read more »

Nine die in California wildfires, tens of thousands forced to flee

Josh Edelson, Agence France-Presse
Posted at Nov 10 03:11 PM

The fast moving blaze, known as the "Camp Fire," began Thursday morning Read more »

California wildfire destroys homes, hospital; deaths reported

Stephen Lam, Reuters
Posted at Nov 09 11:35 AM

A fast-moving wildfire roared through a Northern California town on Thursday, with deaths reported as it burned a hospital, hundreds of homes and sent tens of thousands of people fleeing flames in cars and on foot, authorities said. Read more »

California’s largest wildfire surges overnight in West Coast

Makini Brice, Reuters
Posted at Aug 05 12:52 AM

Firefighters have managed to contain 41 percent of that blaze and authorities are allowing some people who had evacuated to return. Read more »

Thousands more evacuated from California's largest wildfire

Reuters
Posted at Aug 04 10:42 AM

Thousands more mountain residents were evacuated from the path of California's biggest wildfire on Friday as fatigued firefighters battled gusting winds driving one of the state's worst fire seasons in a decade. Read more »