The real Smokey Bear narrowly avoided death in the pine-filled Capitan Mountains of New Mexico, nearly 70 years ago.
Just west of the town of Roswell, firefighters found the bear cub clutching to the upper reaches of a tree, with singed paws an…
Category: Wildfires
Before and after photos show the devastation of the California wildfires
As wildfires continue to rage across California, a set of before and after photos brings into focus the utter devastation wrought by the blazes, particularly in the northern California town of Paradise Pines which has essentially been incinerated by …
View More Before and after photos show the devastation of the California wildfiresWatch California’s powerful, relentless winds stoke the state’s fires
Terrifying footage shows Southern California fires nipping at a highway
More harrowing footage of the California wildfires shows just how close the fires in the southern part of the state keep creeping to large urban areas.
The new video from ABC7 show the Peak Fire burning right up to the edge of a busy Highway 11…
Space photos show smoke smothering a burning California
Fires at opposite ends of California have smothered the Golden State in smoke.
Fall may be here, but rapidly-moving flames are still torching the exceptionally dry land, killing dozens of people in the state.
Photos captured by NASA satel…
Firefighters slam Trump’s illogical tweet about out-of-control California fires
As thousands of firefighters battled uncontrolled flames in both Northern and Southern California on Saturday, President Trump tweeted out an ill-informed, distorted message about the cause of these deadly autumn infernos.
But the firefighting community quickly rebutted the president’s rash claims, wherein he blamed “gross mismanagement of the forests,” while also threatening to cut federal support to fire management efforts.
There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2018 Read more…
More about Science, Global Warming, Climate Change, Wildfires, and President Trump
View More Firefighters slam Trump’s illogical tweet about out-of-control California firesElon Musk is playing superhero again. This time with the California wildfires.
As California’s deadly wildfires rage on, none other than billionaire SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk has come forth to offer help once again.
Just after midnight (ET) on Saturday morning, Musk took to Twitter (where else?) to offer help from his electric vehicle company Tesla, which is based in the state.
“If Tesla can help people in California wildfire, please let us know,” he tweeted. “Model S & X have hospital grade HEPA filters. Maybe helpful for transporting people.”
If Tesla can help people in California wildfire, please let us know. Model S & X have hospital grade HEPA filters. Maybe helpful for transporting people.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 10, 2018 Read more…
More about Tesla, Elon Musk, Wildfires, California Wildfires, and Tech
View More Elon Musk is playing superhero again. This time with the California wildfires.How California erupted in flames overnight
Newly-born fires torched bone-dry Northern and Southern California throughout the night of November 8. One deadly blaze in particular, the Camp Fire, ripped through 70,000 acres in just 24 hours.
“It’s incredible,” Michael Gollner, a fire scientist at the University of Maryland, said of the uncontrollable Northern California wildfire. “I don’t know if I want to say unprecedented — but it’s getting close to that. It’s incredibly rare.”
“That blows your mind,” Brenda Belongie, lead meteorologist of the U.S. Forest Service’s Predictive Services in Northern California, said in an interview. “That impresses us in the industry.” Read more…
More about Science, California, Climate Change, Wildfires, and California Wildfires
View More How California erupted in flames overnightViolent fire vortex sucks up a firehose in dramatic video. What happened?
Thousands of miles away from the deadly deluges brought by the now-tropical depression Florence, wildland firefighters are still battling extreme blazes out West.
An intense video posted to Instagram on Sunday shows a firefighting crew’s violent meeting with a large fire vortex, known scientifically as a fire whirl.
Wildland firefighter M.C. Schidlowsky — whose Instagram handle is mar.lowsky — posted the video taken in British Columbia, showing the vortex sucking a firehose up into the churning winds.
The crew was powerless to pull the heavy hose back. One firefighter, after the vortex ripped the hose away, hurled a rock at the fire, seemingly in frustration. Read more…
More about Science, Firefighters, Wildfires, Science Video, and Fire Whirl
View More Violent fire vortex sucks up a firehose in dramatic video. What happened?Verizon explains why it throttled a fire department’s data during wildfire
Earlier this summer, the Santa Clara County Fire Department sent a team to fight the largest wildfire in the history of California.
The problem? During the fire, Verizon throttled the department’s “unlimited” data once it reached its limit.…
We have some bad news about the future of the terrible wildfires in the Western U.S.
The flames scorching the Western U.S. aren’t expected to relent anytime soon.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) gave its monthly U.S. climate report on Thursday, and they used the opportunity to show that the next coupl…
How long does it take for today’s violent wildfires to go out?
When a massive wildfire erupts in the United States today, it can leap over formidable rivers, produce whirling tornados of flame, and cause tens of thousands of people to flee.
These modern infernos — enhanced by a warming climate that makes for profoundly parched land — are burning over twice as much land than they were in the early 1980s, breaking all-time records.
After flames spread over tens or hundreds of thousands of acres, it can take quite a bit of time for the fire to finally go out. How long, exactly?
The length of any individual fire can vary quite a bit, Stephen Pyne, a fire historian at Arizona State University, explained in an interview. But more telling numbers can be seen in a decades-long, growing trend. On average, individual fires today burn for a significantly longer time than they used to. Read more…
More about Science, Global Warming, Climate Change, Wildfires, and California Wildfires
View More How long does it take for today’s violent wildfires to go out?