While only nine cities in the Bay Area allowed to sell "safe and sane" fireworks (i.e., sparklers, fountains, snakes, and flowers [psst, you can totally turn the latter into a mini bottle rocket by drilling a small hole in the end of the cylinder]), one of those cities, Watsonville, might curb their fiery Fourth of July fun. According to the Merc, a ban on the sale of fireworks in Watsonville might take place since......

If you've noticed over the past couple of days, it's smells a bit smoky, a bit ashy in Baghdad by the Bay. It seems, according to CBS 5, Northern California is suffering from about 950 wildfire right now.The top half of the state is, in essence, on fire. Yikes! So far, Carmel Valley residents have been forced from their homes due to the massive blaze in the Los Padres National Forest over in Monterey......

Last night's five-alarm wildfire in the San Bruno Mountains, which threatened homes in South San Francisco, has been 75 percent as of this morning. The crisp weather and fog -- which has mercifully killed this past weekend's vile heatwave -- has helped firefighters attack the blaze successfully. A total of 300 acres have been scorched so far. Brisbane residents who were asked to evacuate their home were allowed to return just before midnight last......

A wildfire on San Bruno Mountain may threaten some homes on the South side of the mountain along Sister Cities Blvd tonight. These shots, taken by a reader on Drake Avenue (across Hillside) at around 8:35 p.m., show the fire heading close to South SF as "numerous firetrucks rush[ed] to the scene along with several helicopters on hand to battle the flames from the air." The area is a new development of million dollar homes and are "in the line of fire."...

A fire has torched 75 to 100 at least 500 acres in Larkin Valley of Santa Cruz County between the Watsonville airport and Seascape Golf course, according to ABC 7. Also, parts of Highway 1 are currently closed in both directions in the area. (Northbound traffic, though, has been diverted at Miramonte Avenue and southbound traffic at San Andreas Blvd.) Evacuations have been orders for a few residences of the area. According to TV......

Just letting you know that the fire -- which as of late this afternoon has consumed thousands of acres since it started at around 5:30 a.m. this morning -- is "completely out of control" as of 4:30 p.m. San Francisco firefighters have been deployed to the scene. What with the serious winds blowing in the area, no one knows just when the fire will start to die down. Wineries have been lost, homes and......

For those of you with large animals (i.e., horses, emus, et al.) or even not so large animals (i.e., Sprinkles, et al.), a Capitola reader just informed us that you can take your beloved pets to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds....