Here’s where Americans are increasingly at risk for wildfires
Storm debris, population growth and dry conditions are all contributing to a vicious fire season in the South.
What old trees can teach us about modern wildfires
A recent study underscores how humanity’s success in extinguishing fires has allowed dead wood and other flammable material to pile up in ecosystems, putting communities at greater risk of catastrophic fires as the planet warms.
Northwest Forest Plan advisers told their committee will be disbanded
Federal officials are preparing to disband an advisory committee tasked with guiding policies for millions of acres of national forests in the Pacific Northwest, according to two committee members.
Tribal leaders, environmental advocates, timber representatives and local government officials were among the 21 members of the Northwest Forest Plan federal advisory committee. They’ve been meeting in person over dayslong meetings since summer 2023, hashing out how to tackle wildfires, pests and diseases across nearly 25 million acres of national forests in Oregon, Washington and Northern California.
Wildfires rage across the Carolinas; South Carolina governor issues state of emergency
Dozens of wildfires raged across North and South Carolina on Sunday, prompting officials to issue evacuation orders and open emergency shelters as both states and much of the Eastern Seaboard contended with dry conditions and gusty winds.
Thousands flee after Japan's biggest wildfire in decades
TOKYO: Thousands of people have been evacuated from parts of northern Japan as the country's largest wildfire in three decades raged unabated on Sunday (Mar 2) after killing at least one person, officials said.
Around 2,000 people fled areas around the northern Japan city of Ofunato to stay with friends or relatives, while more than 1,200 were evacuated to shelters, according to officials.
The Firefighting Fire Sale: After U.S. Forest Service layoffs, will for-profit contractors protect you from wildfires?
For-profit operators don’t have an obligation to stage equipment in risky areas or dispatch support to other locations — private businesses can simply decline a contract if the job isn’t profitable. The free market might not make saving your home an attractive proposition.
Reducing federal land management — whether that’s selling off public lands or turning control over to states — fragments oversight and reduces resources. Unlike the Forest Service, which has coordinated interagency support, many states lack the funding, staff, or infrastructure to handle large-scale fires
‘You are not alone’: U.S. Forest Service chief’s blunt goodbye message to workers
Forest Service Chief Randy Moore wrote the email after thousands of agency employees were fired amid President Donald Trump’s effort to downsize the government.
Mass firings hamstring federal land agencies and wildfire response
From dispatchers to radio operators, trail crews to scientists, fired employees worked a range of important jobs needed to plan prescribed burns, organize suppression efforts and protect landscapes and communities against the growing threats of catastrophic fire.
“People living in fire-prone areas need to be aware,” the dispatcher said. “There might not be people to come help you anymore – you are going to be more on your own than you’ve ever been.”
Forest Service layoffs and frozen funds increase the risk from wildfires
Despite being in office for less than a month, the Trump administration has already made the United States more exposed to catastrophic wildfires in ways that will be difficult to reverse, current and former federal employees say.
Trump funding freeze halts wildfire prevention work
The Trump administration has halted funding for federal programs to reduce wildfire risk in western U.S. states and has frozen hiring of seasonal firefighters as part of broad cuts to government spending, according to organizations impacted by the moves.
The Oregon-based non-profit Lomakatsi Restoration Project said its contracts with the federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to reduce hazardous fuels in Oregon, California and Idaho, have been frozen.
Oregon senators call for federal firefighters to be exempt from hiring freeze
Oregon U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have joined over a dozen other lawmakers, all Democrats, in calling on the administration to issue an exemption for thousands of seasonal firefighters so federal agencies can prepare for “what’s expected to be another devastating wildfire year.”
“The Administration must not sacrifice the safety of the American people for the benefit of implementing a political agenda,” their letter reads.
Loper Bright opens scrutiny of Forest Service's war on wildfires
Environmentalists say USFS abuses discretion to favor logging. Loper Bright offers new avenues to challenge project studies
The US Forest Service is fighting to keep in place a plan to raze the equivalent of 500 Central Parks in California’s forests as wildfires ravaging the southern part of the state put a spotlight on the agency’s management of these natural disasters.
Federal firefighters fought L.A.’s blazes. Then came resignation offers.
Federal firefighting teams are already underpaid and suffering from attrition, firefighters and union leaders said. Shrinking those forces, they said, would hamper the country’s ability to respond to another life-threatening blaze as climate change causes fire seasons to lengthen.
Trump orders USDA to take down websites referencing climate crisis
On Thursday, the Trump administration ordered the US agriculture department to to take down its websites documenting or referencing the climate crisis.
By Friday, the landing pages on the United States Forest Service website for key resources, research and adaptation tools – including those that provide vital context and vulnerability assessments for wildfires – had gone dark, leaving behind an error message or just a single line: “You are not authorized to access this page.”
USDA ordered to scrub climate change from websites
The directive from USDA’s office of communications, whose authenticity was validated by three people, could affect information across dozens of programs including climate-smart agriculture initiatives, USDA climate hubs and Forest Service information regarding wildfires, the frequency and severity of which scientists have linked to hotter, drier conditions fueled by climate change.
They helped save L.A. Will California ever pay them fairly?
Thanks to a state constitution that allows forced labor as a form of criminal punishment, California’s incarcerated workers are regularly deployed to complete dangerous, necessary work, from manufacturing key medical supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic to ensuring that sanitation systems continue to function. But the state’s century-old incarcerated firefighters program, the largest in the country, stands out in its scope. According to some estimates, it accounts for nearly a third of California’s total firefighting force. In a state where destructive wildfires are common and growing more frequent, they are vital workers. They typically make less than a dollar an hour.
New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants
The research, conducted by a team from the University of Southern California and published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, found that between 2009 and 2021, wildfire retardant application in the U.S. released at least 380,000 kg (more than 400 tons) of at least four toxic metals into the environment. Toxic metals — like cadmium, chromium and vanadium — accumulate in ecosystems and organisms and are linked to organ damage, cancer and neurological disorders.
How wildlife survives after wildfires
Fire is a serious problem for humans, particularly when they build in fire-prone areas, and the losses of life, property and economies can be immense. The Los Angeles wildfires that occurred in January 2025 are predicted to have cost in excess of $135bn (£109.7bn).
However, it is not intrinsically a problem for wildlife. One study, which looked at the results of 31 research papers from 1984 to 2020, found that 65% of studies did not report any animal fatalities as a direct result of fires. Many species have a strategy for evading the fire itself, ranging from simply running away to hiding in burrows underground or sheltering in the treetops.
Global warming set the stage for Los Angeles fires
A new attribution analysis found that climate heating caused by burning fossil fuels significantly increased the likelihood of extreme fire conditions.
The Tongva’s land burned in Eaton fire. But leaders say traditional practices mitigated damage
“It’s important to listen to Indigenous voices and to understand that the knowledge that communities hold is thousands and thousands and thousands of years of knowledge,” she said. “I think that listening and allowing that knowledge to be practiced is really the key to the future of wildfire.”