SF News Truck Fire In Sonoma County Sparks One-Acre Wildfire; Firefighters Quickly Contain It Due to Favorable Conditions A vehicle fire in Cloverdale caused a bit of panic Wednesday afternoon as Sonoma County braces for another dramatic fire season still ahead.
SF News Growing Washburn Fire More Than Doubles in Size, Threat to Nearby Giant Sequoias Increases The Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park measures over 1,800 acres as of Sunday afternoon — more than doubling in size from the day prior — and remains completely uncontained, extending ever so slightly now closer to Mariposa Grove... where some 500 mature giant sequoias are rooted.
SF News Amador County Wildfire Raging at Nearly 3,500 Acres, About 15,000 People Are Without Power A sudden wildfire in Amador County forced nearly 100 July 4th beachgoers to coop up inside a PG&E power plant for safety on Monday afternoon and evening, and the fire has since grown exponentially in size.
SF News Bay Area Fire Departments Kept Very Busy By July 4 Fireworks, Which Caused Hundreds of Fires Hundreds of fires caused by illegal fireworks (and illegal bonfires in the middle of streets) peppered the entire Bay Area Monday night, leading to some very busy firefighters across the region.
SF News Thursday Morning What's Up: Oakland School District Moves Ahead With Closures The Rices Fire in Nevada County is being held at 900 acres, the body of a missing Oakland teenager has been found in waters of Alameda, and the Oakland school board voted for a third time to move ahead with closing or consolidating around 10 schools.
SF News Humpday Headlines: Wildfire Near Nevada City Grows to 769 Acres The Rices Fire has been burning since Tuesday in Nevada County and is now threatening over 500 buildings, SF street vendors of often stolen goods remain defiant in the face of a new crackdown, and Nancy Pelosi just received Holy Communion in Rome.
SF News Day Around the Bay: 100-Acre Fire Burning In Winters Near Solano County A 100-acre wildfire is burning near the edge of Solano County in Winters, the Edgewood Fire in San Mateo County has reached 42% containment, and one person was critically injured in a house fire in SF's Mission District today.
SF News Congress Steps In to Save Sequoia Trees, As Nearly 20% Have Been Killed By Wildfires California’s giant sequoia trees were once considered practically immune to wildfires. But after several thousand were killed by wildfires in recent years, a new bill in Washington hopes to protect and preserve the mighty sequoias.
SF News PG&E Not Only Caused the Massive Dixie Fire, a New Report Says It Also Was 'Excessively Delayed' In Responding to It PG&E is once again on the defensive following the release of a state report on the 2021 Dixie Fire that not only suggests the utility was negligent in its tree-removal program, which helped spark the fire, but also that their response the day of the fire was "excessively delayed."
SF News In Ominous Sign for This Fire Season, Two Brush Fires Break Out Next to Homes In East Bay Subdivisions In One Day Firefighters in Contra Costa County were battling two vegetation fires Wednesday that broke out dangerously close to densely populated subdivisions, in Antioch and in Bay Point. And a third fire also broke out today in Livermore.
SF News Humpday Headlines: Napa Wildfire Reaches 570 Acres, Evacuation Order Lifted The Old Fire in Napa is now 15% contained and Tuesday's evacuation orders have been lifted, Oakland is limiting rent-controlled rent increases to 3%, and the Marin sheriff has agreed to stop sharing license plate data from highway cameras with federal agencies.
SF News Thursday Morning What's Up: Three Wildfires Break Out Around State Three fires are burning around the state after Wednesday's winds including one that's destroyed 20 homes in Laguna Beach, Catherine Stefani likely tops London Breed's shortlist for Boudin replacements, and a retail theft ring was busted in Pittsburg.
SF News Thursday Morning What's Up: Vegetation Fire Contained Near Altamont Pass A wind-whipped vegetation fire grew to 50 acres last night in eastern Alameda County, Twitter released decent earnings for the first quarter of 2022, and Alice Waters' new LA cafe has opened and isn't that exciting according to one Berkeley resident.
SF News PG&E Agrees to $55 Million Settlement to Make Criminal Charges Disappear in Dixie Fire and Kincade Fire Two settlements for two different wildfires that impacted six different counties will halt several separate criminal investigations, as PG&E will pay $55 million to settle criminal allegations in the Dixie and Kincade fires.
SF News Illegal Marijuana Farmer Found Guilty for Starting the 2020 Dolan Fire The Dolan Fire that killed a firefighter and 12 California condors was started intentionally, and the 31-year-old illegal marijuana grower who started it was found guilty of arson on Thursday.
SF News Report: Wildfire Smoke Could Double or Triple in Coming Decades, Causing More Wildfires The dirty air from wildfire smoke could occur two to three times more frequently a generation or two down the line, thanks to a vicious cycle that makes the smoky air itself cause more wildfires.
SF News The Dixie Fire Was Officially the Most Expensive to Fight in U.S. History The firefight in last year's Dixie Fire, which was paid for by the U.S. Forest Service using largely contracted local and private firefighting services, cost almost $640 million and ranks as the most expensive in history.
SF News Fire Near Big Sur Now 55% Contained; Was Sparked By Ember From Burn Pile The Colorado Fire, still burning since Friday in Monterey County, was sparked by an ember from a burn pile on a nearby residential property, according to Cal Fire.
SF News PG&E About to Finish Criminal Probation for San Bruno Explosion, Judge Says They're Still a ‘Menace to California’ During its five years of criminal probation, PG&E has been blamed for more than 30 wildfires, destroying 23,000 homes, and killing 113 Californians, raising questions about the effectiveness of corporate probation.
SF News Yep, PG&E Lines Responsible for Dixie Fire We already knew, less than a week after the record-shattering Dixie Fire began last July, that PG&E would likely again be to blame for starting the blaze. And now Cal Fire has confirmed it with the conclusion of their investigation into the fire.
SF News Father and Son Arrested on Suspicion of Starting the Caldor Fire in August A father and son who were in the vicinity of the ignition point of the massive Caldor Fire in August, and who made the first 911 calls about the wildfire, are now under arrest and set to be charged with wildfire arson.
SF News Up to 5% of World's Giant Sequoia Trees Killed This Year In KNP Complex and Windy Fires Collectively, the KNP Complex and Windy fires burned over 185,000 acres in California — damaging at least 28 giant sequoia groves. And it's now believed that around 5% of the world's giant sequoias died as a result.
SF News Fawn Fire Arson Suspect Deemed Mentally Unfit to Stand Trial Well that was quick! 30-year-old bioengineer-turned-yoga instructor Alexandra Souverneva, the sole suspect in September's Fawn Fire, has been deemed mentally incompetent to face trial by a judge in Shasta County.
SF News 30 Years Ago, A Firestorm Swept Through the Oakland and Berkeley Hills It was originally called the Tunnel Fire, because it broke out near the Caldecott Tunnel, but over the years it's become better known as the Oakland Hills Firestorm, or the Oakland-Berkeley Firestorm, since the inferno didn't respect city limits.
SF News Newell Fire In Napa County, Possibly Caused By Arson, Reaches 132 Acres The Newell Fire, which began as a quickly moving grass fire Monday evening in American Canyon and was soon threatening homes and American Canyon High School, is 60% contained and only reached 132 acres as of Tuesday morning.